Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around theworld, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan--said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Long isolated fromindustrialization and just beginning to open its doors to the modern world, Bhutan is a deeply spiritual place, devoted to environmental conservation and committed to the happiness of its people--in fact, Bhutanmeasures its success in Gross National Happiness rather than in GNP. In a country without a single traffic light, its citizens are believed to be among the most content in the world. To Lisa, it seemed to be a place thatoffered the opposite of her fast-paced life in the United States, where the noisy din of sound-bite news and cell phones dominate our days, and meaningful conversation is a rare commodity; where everyone is plugged indigitally, yet rarely connects with the people around them.

Thousands of miles away from everything and everyone she knows, Lisa creates a new community for herself. As she helps to startBhutan's first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a country that had been shielded from its effects. Immersing herselfin Bhutan's rapidly changing culture, Lisa realizes that her own perspective on life is changing as well--and that she is discovering the sense of purpose and joy that she has been yearningfor.

In this smart, heartfelt, and beautifully written book, sure to please fans of transporting travel narratives and personal memoirs alike, Lisa Napoli discovers that the world is abeautiful and complicated place--and comes to appreciate her life for the adventure it is.

From the Hardcover edition.

Napoli writes how--caught in the grip of a mid-life crisis, cynical about work, and depressed about her love life--a chance encounter with a handsome stranger leads to the adventure of a lifetime in Bhutan.

\LISA NAPOLI is a journalist whose last staff job was on the public radio show Marketplace. An early chronicler of the dawn of the World Wide Web as a columnist at the New York Times CyberTimes, she has also been the Internet correspondent at MSNBC. She began her career at CNN, worked in local news in North Carolina, and has directed several documentaries about Southern culture.www.LisaNapoli.com

The thunderbolt, part one — "Welcome, Jane!" — Radio Shangri-La — Beware the emadatse — God of the night — Bhutan on the border, or, the start-up country — The symphony of love — My best friends in the world right now — The thunderbolt, part two — Dawn of democracy — America 101 : "that's cool!" — Baby-watch.