
YANGON -- A hut in Kawhmu, a town 90 minutes by car from Myanmar's commercial capital, Yangon, seems an unlikely symbol of the country's economic transformation, but it is.
The village's general store sells a panoply of daily necessaries and snacks. Sachets of instant coffee and detergent dangle from the wood and bamboo ceiling. Although the scene looks rustic, beneath the surface, the shop and many others like it are modernizing.