University Avenue , Yangon ( CNN ) -- I am surfing the Internet from Aung San Suu Kyi 's garden . That sentence implies several minor miracles . The fact that I am in the country at all is surprising . I was deported for my reporting on the repression here ... twice . Now I have been invited back with the White House press pack , my past `` sins '' apparently forgotten . To be here at this most famous house is strangely moving . I 'd driven past it on numerous occasions when Daw Suu was under house arrest -- the secret police watching the entrance , whispering into their radios , as they saw a car full of Westerners approaching . You could n't even stop on this part of University Avenue in those days , let alone wander around the manicured garden of `` the Lady . '' Now I am waiting for her most famous visitor yet -- U.S. President Barack Obama will be stopping here for a chat . Read more : Obama to urge Myanmar not to extinguish 'flickers of progress ' It is the historic culmination of three years of hard diplomacy . The U.S. policy of sanctions was clearly failing : punishing the people and leaving the elite free to plunder the rich resources of this benighted country . In 2009 , the White House initiated a review of policy towards the country it still stubbornly calls Burma . It resulted in a significant shift toward Myanmar . Engagement was the watchword . But few dared to predict how quickly events would move . Officials here are frank about their astonishment . Do n't forget it was only just over two years ago that Suu Kyi was still under house arrest and the whole road map to democracy seemed a sham . Now she is not only free , but meeting leaders around the world . She is an elected member of parliament , and President Thein Sein has even talked about her one day being a future leader . It 's important not to get too carried away . Poverty is still endemic , 25 % of the country does n't have electricity , healthcare is parlous , ethnic conflict still stalks verdant hills in the north and what amounts to ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims continues in the west . The Army still controls politics and business . Hundreds of political prisoners languish behind bars . But there is something in the air here that has been so desperately lacking in the past : hope . Read more : Myanmar 's president grants prisoners amnesty . Its enticing scent is wafting through the carefully-tended roses of Daw Suu 's garden . And there 's something else in the air here too : Wifi ! In a country where Internet access is restricted , slow and very expensive , the fact that I can email photos and text wirelessly in a garden -- in Myanmar -- is incredible . Another minor miracle . Let me say it again : I am surfing the internet from Aung San Suu Kyi 's garden .
CNN 's Dan Rivers back in Myanmar after being deported ... twice . He 's emailing from Aung San Suu Kyi 's garden ahead of a visit by Barack Obama . U.S. president is on historic trip to Myanmar Monday as part of Asian tour . Obama is first sitting U.S. president to visit Myanmar after years of repressive military rule .