When Arker Kyaw heard President Barack Obama was coming to Myanmar, he gathered 15 cans of spray paint and headed for a blank brick wall under cover of darkness. Kyaw, whose passion is graffiti, labored from 3 a.m. until the sun came up. Passing taxi drivers and the occasional pedestrian gave him signs of encouragement as Obama's grinning, uplifted face took shape against a background of the American and Myanmar flags, AP reported.

"I wanted to welcome him," said Kyaw, a 19-year-old with a sweep of styled hair and a penchant for skinny jeans.

The next day, someone a rival graffiti artist, suspects Kyaw scribbled over his handiwork with a can of black spray paint.

He is already dreaming up another wall painting of the president, a shout out from the youth of Myanmar, whom he hopes Obama will glimpse during his six-hour visit to the country, the first by any U.S. president.

Word of Obama's historic visit has spread quickly around Yangon, which is readying itself with legions of hunched workers painting fences and curbs, pulling weeds and scraping grime off old buildings in anticipation of the president's Monday, Nov 19 arrival.

Some here read symbolic value into Obama's itinerary. Obama is scheduled to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as President Thein Sein, who is widely credited with driving the country's recent political and economic reforms. He will also deliver a speech at Yangon University, which has been a seat of opposition since colonial times.