Myanmar

Bourdain ate: prawn curry, rice, beer.

“The Sofaer building was once one of the swankiest department stores in Rangoon. A century ago in Kipling’s poem, ‘Mandalay’ was beckoning the overheated imaginations of a generation of young Englishmen. Here you could buy fine Egyptian cigarettes, French liqueurs. The floor tiles were shipped over from Manchester. Now people live here. A half-century of a pariah state has left very few of these buildings in good repair. And there are divergent views on whether to preserve them. For many, a reminder of colonial subjugation; for others, vestige of a golden time.”

Bourdain had: tea, mohinga (fish-based soup with rice noodles), bean-jam pastries, fresh tandoori bread. Breakfast date: U Thiha Saw, executive director of the Myanmar Journalism Institute, veteran journalist, and former editorial director at the Myanmar Times.

Bourdain had: chicken necks and cold beer. Lunch date: Philippe Lajaunie, restaurateur, former owner of Brasserie Les Halles in New York, and longtime friend of Bourdain.

Tony visited this town during Thadingyut, the Full Moon festival celebrated by Buddhists at the end of October. He ate street food and watched the human-powered ferris wheels

Bourdain had: tea-leaf salad. Lunch date: San Zarni Bo, renowned astrologer and three-time convict.

“A thousand years ago Bagan was the capital under a long line of Burma kings. It’s the sort of place where the old coexists with the even older. As elsewhere in this part of the world, in many of the Buddhist temples here, far older animist, spirit-based beliefs coexist with more recent Buddhism.”

Tony ate at a small food stand near the Bagan Palace ruins and called it the best restaurant in the country so far. He had chicken curry and raved about all the small accompaniments served.

Tony and Philippe visited the palace ruins and admired the structures

Tony met with a local punk band at this night market.

Tony and the punk band ate barbecue at this stand in the night market.