Lisa Napoli Talks About Bhutan and Radio Shangri-La

Lisa Napoli in Bhutan, Her Adopted Country

It’s almost off-season here in Telluride, the time many people in these mountain towns are heading out for extended trips to far-flung destinations. Aah yes, there are people lucky enough to go to Bhutan, a country the size of Switzerland, sandwiched between India, China and Nepal, in the Himalayas—the mountains are always calling. So I thought it fitting to make my Travel Fun interview with Lisa Napoli, author of “Radio Shangri-La:  What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth,” available to you now. It’s a terrific book for armchair travelers as well, a delightful read that allows you to visit one of the most exotic countries in the world without ever leaving your living room. Just click on the play button below.

Lisa talks about how she worked for public radio for years and then all of a sudden was given the opportunity to head off to Bhutan to help the Bhutanese with their burgeoning radio station. (At that time—in 2007—they only had one station for a country of over a half million inhabitants.) As she recounts in her book and in our interview, this period in Bhutan turned out to be a life-changing experience for her. I chuckled at so many of her descriptions of her time—and the cast of characters—at the radio station where she worked in Bhutan. Some of them—especially the more quirky people and the locale—reminded me of life here at KOTO, our own little public radio station in T-ride.

Here’s a glimmer of what Lisa shares about travel to Bhutan, a devout, Buddhist country that was closed to the outside world up until forty years ago:

-Bhutan does not keep track of it’s GDP. They do, however, measure GNP or Gross National Happiness. What is that anyway?

-Most people have to go through a tour operator to travel to Bhutan.

-What does the $200./day tourist tax entail?

-Listen to what Lisa likes the most about this intriguing land.

You’ll also hear Lisa read a couple of excerpts from “Radio Shangri-La:  What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth.”

Click on the play button below to listen to my interview with Lisa Napoli.

Thank you to Lisa for the above photo.

Phallus Symbol: A Part of Bhutanese Life (Note the T-Mobile Card Next to It)

Thank you to Sharon Shuteran for the above photo that she took of this “sculpture” on the doorway of a shop in Trongsa town. Sharon travels to Bhutan regularly to do service work, a domain that is still quite closed in Bhutan. Listen to her story at Service Travel:  Two Different Approaches. Lisa refers to the proliferation of phallus symbols a fair amount in her book. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have the nerve to ask her about them on air. Apparently they’re used to ward off evil spirits.

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