Economic conditions at home drove them overseas seeking better job prospects. Post elections, some migrant workers told Channel NewsAsia they would head back home for half their pay, but that the government needs to effect the change they voted for.

After the October elections, which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won by a landslide, most Myanmar nationals are hopeful that the new government will be able to effect change substantial enough for them to return home. But faced with the legacy of decades of civil war and strained ties with the West, the new government has big challenges ahead of it.