Part one of a two-part documentary exploring the country in the aftermath of the recent humanitarian crisis in which thousands of Rohingya Muslims were driven from their homes by the military. Simon visits Burma's Buddhist heartlands, including the ancient capital of Bagan, and meets the city's controversial nationalist monks. While the region affected by the military crackdown is off limits, he is able to visit the world's biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, and meet people traumatised by the violence.
The second of a two-part series, in which adventurer and broadcaster Simon Reeve travels deeper into beautiful and troubled Burma. Simon journeys up the vast Irrawaddy River to the old royal capital of Mandalay, home to an exotic market for precious jade. In Burma's mountainous highlands, he experiences the country's vibrant ethnic heritage at an extraordinary and explosive fire-balloon festival, then visits an elephant sanctuary and finds out how a growing tourism industry is helping them survive after working for decades in the logging industry. Burma is a melting pot of different ethnic groups, and having seen first-hand the suffering of the Rohingya people on the first leg of his journey, Simon now travels secretly into one of Burma's many other conflict zones to meet a huge rebel army who have been fighting the Burmese military for decades. Simon goes on combat patrol into the jungle with the rebels and learns why they have been fighting the longest-running civil war in the world.
