Myanmar, previously called Burma, is the most secluded country in South-East Asia, a land of poverty toiling under the yoke of a brutal and paranoiac military dictatorship. It is also the land where Buddhism blossoms, a country of countless pagodas and monks who flood the streets at dawn, begging for alms. It is a country where lavish pagodas are built or repaired in villages with no running water, of a capital with constant power cuts which boasts the largest golden temple in the world.

The inhabitants of Myanmar practice all the rituals of Buddhism as in Thailand or Cambodia, but they are also...