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.
U.S. President Barack Obama hugs Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after making a speech at her residence in Yangon on Monday, November 19. Obama met the democracy icon during a historic visit to Yangon aimed at encouraging political reforms in the former pariah state.
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You couldn'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.
Don'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 doesn'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.
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Local residents gather outside Aung San Suu Kyi's house as U.S. President Obama met with her on Monday.
U.S. President Obama is greeted by Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence in Yangon on Monday.
U.S. President Obama shakes hands with Myanmar's President Thein Sein in Yangon on Monday.
U.S. President Obama and Myanmar's President Thein Sein hold a meeting at the regional parliament building in Yangon on Monday.
U.S. President Obama speaks at the University of Yangon on Monday.
U.S. President Obama (3rd L) and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (front R) are escorted around the grounds as they visit the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon on Monday.
U.S. President Obama performs a ritual as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks on at a visit to the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon on Monday.
U.S. President Obama is greeted by a local woman as he arrives with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday.
U.S. President Obama waves after stepping off his flight.
U.S. President Obama is greeted by a contingent at the Yangon International airport on Monday.
Local residents line up along the street with cameras as Obama's motorcade drives to the Parliament House in Yangon.
Local residents wait in anticipation as Obama's motorcade drives to the Parliament House in Yangon.
A girl holds American flags that she just purchased at a flag shop as Yangon, Myanmar, prepares for Obama's visit. Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar, also known as Burma, during his four-day tour of Southeast Asia, which will also include visits to Thailand and Cambodia.
Two men silk-screen Obama T-shirts at a shop in Yangon on Sunday in preparation for Obama's visit.
A Burmese woman fixes an American flag onto a wooden stick at a flag shop in Yangon on Sunday.
A Burmese man walks by graffiti depicting the U.S. president on Saturday in Yangon.
Kyu Kyu Mar, owner of Super silk screening shop, holds a T-shirt printed with an image of U.S. President Obama on Friday in Yangon.
A Buddhist Monk reads a local newspaper carrying a picture of U.S. President Obama in downtown Yangon on Saturday.
A Burmese worker is seen in a flag shop surrounded by American flags on Friday in Yangon.
Cups printed with pictures of US President Barack Obama and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi are displayed at a shop in downtown Yangon on Saturday.
T-shirts printed with pictures of US President Barack Obama and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at a shop in downtown Yangon on Saturday
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