Photojournalist and Editorial Photographer Hanoi Saigon Vietnam Photographer Justin Mott: Photojournalist and Editorial Photographer Hanoi Saigon Vietnam Photographer Justin Mott

The military junta has ruled Myanmar since 1962. Challenges to the junta are quickly thwarted with a heavy hand. Information coming and going is monitored closely. Journalists cautiously sneak in and out but many are blacklisted after reporting about the political situation.

The country is a traveler paradise with all the treasures of Southeast Asia but without all the pirates (tourists). Young novice monks can be seen traveling in groups with their saffron robes in a perfect composition just waiting for Steve McCurry to photograph them.

The former capital city of Yangon, while not without its beauty, is developmentally stalled in the past with beat down cars cruising by crumbling buildings. No ATM’s can be found; a visitor must bring all the money he/she needs with them.

Wherever you go you will rarely have a smile unreturned and it’s easy to have a look around and feel that every thing is just fine and dandy. It’s easy to forget the 2007 Saffron Rebellion. It’s easy to forget that the country’s beloved Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest for the better part of the past 2 decades before her release in November or 2011.

The following collection of images is called MYANMAR: ON THE SURFACE and its is meant to represent life as outsiders are allowed to see it(if you accept that smile from a stranger and never scratch deeper).