Myanmar’s junta says everything’s back to normal. Yangon clubbers don’t believe it’s true

In a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dance floor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew.

Lasers streak the smoke-filled air and music is cranked up to 150 decibels, according to one DJ – as loud as a jet engine at take-off – but the weekend clubbers slumbering on sofas dotted around the warehouse-sized Yangon venue do not stir.

“That became a habit, they’re used to it,” said one 29-year-old veteran of the capital’s elite party scene who, like other interviewees, requested anonymity for security reasons.

The frenzied but furtive social scene contradicts the message from Myanmar authorities that the country is back to normal.

Five years after a military coup, they point out that they have held elections, installed a new government and ended Yangon’s lingering 1am to 3am curfew.