Destination: Bhutan

Is Television Destroying Bhutan?

The Himalayan kingdom is touted by adventure travel companies as a more exotic and remote alternative to Nepal and Tibet. But the country is changing fast, thanks in no small part to TV, introduced just four years ago. So how have Larry King, the Rock and Bart Simpson altered life in the country? Crime and drug use are up. And a third of Bhutan’s girls now want blonde hair and lighter skin, according to one unofficial survey. “There is something depressing about watching a society casting aside its unique character in favour of a Californian beach,” Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy write in a fascinating story in the Guardian (UK). “Cable TV has created, with acute speed, a nation of hungry consumers from a kingdom that once acted collectively and spiritually.”

Tags: Asia, Bhutan, China, Tibet