|
 |  | |
|
|
about Asia Buzz
Walkabout: Bhutan Takes the High Road
This tiny Himalayan kingdom wants to preserve its culture
By DAFFYD RODERICK
November 24, 2000
Web posted at 2:10 p.m. Hong Kong time, 1:10 a.m. EDT
|
INTERACTIVE |
|
Ticked off at Asia Buzz? Turned on? Talk back to
TIME
|
|
From afar, there's little to separate Nepal and the kingdom of Bhutan. The
Himalayan countries are squeezed between behemoths China and India, are
beautiful, and have rich Buddhist traditions. And it seems there's little reason
to ponder the two tiny and poor countries that have little impact on the world
stage.
| |
 |
TIME Asia's weekly travel column
Walkabout: Melatonin Mayday
Why I took drugs in Malaysia
- Friday,
November 17, 2000
Walkabout: Pigs in Flight
How to avoid jetlag -- and avoid bad breath
- Friday,
November 10, 2000
Walkabout: Death by Economy
There's a new danger in the sky. It's called media hype
- Friday,
October 27, 2000
Walkabout: From A to B
Move the damn airport closer!
- Friday,
October 20, 2000
Walkabout: Open Skies
Pack a parka, we're going polar
- Friday,
October 13, 2000
For more travel tips from TIME Asia, visit our Travel Watch archive
|
|
ALSO IN TIME |
Asia Buzz
Find insider views on current topics from TIME Asia's correspondents
|
|
ASIAWEEK |
Intelligence
The story behind today's news from the editors of Asiaweek
|
|
But up close, it becomes clear that the two are mirror images -- and are
symbolic of a coming crisis in tourism. Walk through the streets of Kathmandu
and it's difficult to not be bowled over by street kids trying to sell you hash,
Swiss army knives and Tiger Balm. In Thimphu, Bhutan's capital, you'd have to
explain the concept of street kids, and hash is tough to buy. In Kathmandu, your
eating choices include several provinces worth of French cuisine, a couple of
sushi options, and a cafe that does a delightful -- if vaguely dubious --
blackened cod. In Thimphu, the palate is a bit more restricted, consisting of
that global favorite, Bhutanese cuisine.
The difference between Nepal and Bhutan is that the first has let the world in,
while the second has largely kept the world out. Last year, the more than
500,000 visitors to Nepal largely went where they wished and could survive on
$10 a day if they had to. The heinous results are predictable. Despite the
backpacker creed of "you don't change Nepal, Nepal changes you," low-rent
visitors have trampled all over Nepal's culture and done irreparable harm to the
environment, especially along the banana pancake trail known as the Annapurna
Circuit.
Bhutan had a big year last year, receiving a whopping 7,158 tourists -- about
30% from the United States -- and took in $8.7 million. Visitors are required to
book through one of about 30 sanctioned agents and must follow an officially
approved itinerary; costs are covered by a minimum daily tariff of $200.
Talking to Bhutanese tour operators at the World Travel Mart in London last
week, I asked why their country had made the choices they had about outsiders.
Why not just open the country up and let the market work it out? I may as well
have suggested they depose the king. "We can't open the floodgates and allow all
kinds of people in here, like they do in Nepal," said Dago Beda, director of
Etho Metho, a Thimphu-based tour company. "Our fragile mountain ecology could
never survive that kind of pressure."
And while it's a bit late for Nepal (and Phuket and Boracay and Kuta and Maui
and...) to learn by Bhutan's example, it doesn't have to be for the rest of us.
Ticked off at Asia Buzz? Turned on? Talk back to
TIME
Write
to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com
Search
for recent
Asia Buzz
TIME Asia home
|
|
LATEST HEADLINES:
|
Click Here for the latest regional analysis from TIME Asia
|
|
|
