Burma (Myanmar)

A land of 2,000 temples, struggling to move beyond its past and rightly wary of its future. I feel fortunate to have visited twice during the few years its people had the chance for a new beginning. I remember asking the young man who took me on a day-long bike tour whether he believed the nascent democracy would last. He looked around to see if anyone was within earshot, shook his head, and said that he and his fellow citizens could only hope. Now, the democratic experiment that never really had a chance to come into its own, is over.