.Applause to Kunal Lama's well-placed vitriol ('Pico makes an ass of himself', #288) ". It would have been better if it had been published in Time itself. I had written the following letter to the Time editor but it wasn't published:

'In his essay A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Pico Iyer misleadingly suggests that as Bhutan is opening up to tourism, Nepal is closing up. True, due to Nepal's unstable political situation, there has been a drop in tourism. But it's not so that 'streets are silent after dark'-at least not in the vibrant capital Kathmandu where the beat still goes on till the wee hours. Catering to the exclusive niche upmarket, Bhutan still limits the number of tourist arrivals, while Nepal welcomes any and all with open arms. And while it may have been true that 16 years ago, Nepal incarcerated Christian missionaries, it is doubtful whether missionaries of any stripe would be welcome in tiny Bhutan. The so-called Hindu kingdom of Nepal is actually a multicultural society where Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims live in harmony. Furthermore, in Nepal the media is free to criticise the government and even the monarchy-a freedom not enjoyed by its neighbours. While Bhutan may deservedly enjoy its hot flavour-of-the-month tourism status, there is no need to denigrate Nepal as a perennially attractive destination.

Daniel B Haber,
Kathmandu

. What a coincidence to read Kunal Lama's retort to Pico Iyer, because I had written a similar letter to Time which the editors in their wisdom didn't deign to publish. Maybe you wil, just to show Mr Lama is not alone:

'After reading Pico Iyer's piece on Bhutan in your latest issue it pained me to see the author become the latest victim of the King of Bhutan's public relations stunt of promoting 'gross national happiness' and 'abdicating' his power. Iyer admits to having fallen into the trap of the Bhutanese regime's traditional method of telling the world how great it is by running Nepal down. Nepal has its problems and it is trying to resolve them by having democracy restored. But please don't compare it to South Asia's police state. Besides, it is hard to swallow gross national happiness when it comes from a regime that has made at least 110,000 of its southern citizens unhappy by driving them out of the country. This the world's biggest refugee crisis in per capita terms and it was masterminded by King Jigme of Bhutan.

Ina Petersen,
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