Elite Traveler November-December 2015

elite traveler NOV/DEC 2015 ISSUE 6 113

It is normally the thrung thrung karmo – the black-necked cranes that spend winter in Bhutan's remote and majestic Phobjikha Valley – that draw the eyes of its inhabitants skywards. When they fly in from the Tibetan plateau each autumn the great birds allegedly show their respect by flying three times around the 400-year-old Gangtey Goenpa monastery, which sits on a ridge at the valley's northern end and dominates it both physically and spiritually. But, as the sun rises over the snow-powdered mountains on this chilly morning, the peasant farmers and early-rising schoolchildren are staring at a very different apparition high in the sky. A huge red translucent globe is passing serenely overhead. They don't know it, but they are witnessing the inaugural flight of the world's highest commercial hot air balloon service. The balloon drifts southwards, following the Nakey Chhu river as it uncoils through meadows and pastures. From the wicker basket we enjoy spectacular views of the valley's forested flanks – the lair of leopards, bears and boar. We glide over white-walled Bhutanese farmhouses with ornate wooden eaves and windows, and colorful murals depicting tigers, dragons, snow lions, mythical serpent-eating garudas and giant phalluses celebrating fertility. As we pass silently over thickets of colorful prayer flags that commemorate the dead, and over small gold-roofed temples, horses, cattle and the odd yak, a pack of dogs bark manically at the red menace above them. The balloon is emblazoned with huge gold dragons, and the occasional blasts of flame from its butane cylinders resemble nothing so much as dragons breaths, which is entirely appropriate for a country known as Druk Yul – or The Land of the Thunder Dragon. Apart from those blasts, we move so smoothly and silently that it seems to be the ground that is moving, not us. But we have soon left our pickup truck far behind, bumping along a dirt track. We can vaguely hear our team of wildly enthusiastic helpers laughing and shouting as they splash along the boggy river banks, desperately trying to keep up. Finally Cary Crawley, a professional balloon pilot from Britain, lands us in a meadow, the basket bumping three times along the frosty grass before coming to rest on its side. It was only a short, experimental flight, but we are all thrilled – even the two officials from Bhutan's Civil Aviation Department who are “inspecting” a means of transport they have never seen before. “That was fantastic,” my daughter, Hannah, exclaims. “How exciting was that?” my hostess, Khin Omar Win, asks. “I told you we'd do it – and we did,” Omar's husband, Brett Melzer, declares triumphantly. For the Melzers, the flight is doubly exciting: it is the culmination of a quixotic decade-long venture and – provided a licence is forthcoming – they now plan to officially launch the service in spring next year. The Melzers are an unusually determined and resourceful couple. She was born in Burma, raised in London and met Brett, then a footloose Australian, while working in Yangon in 1997. Together they launched balloon rides over Burma’s famous Bagan temple complex. Balloons Over Bagan flourished, so for their next venture they built the luxury Malikha Lodge in the northern Burmese jungle that was accessible only by air. In 2009, however, a regime crony who owned the airline that served the lodge forced them to sell it to him by suspending all flights. Undaunted, the Melzers turned their attention to Bhutan – another exotic and little-known country that was opening up to the world. They had Crawley scour the tiny, crumpled kingdom of plunging valleys and soaring mountains – often called the Switzerland of the

Left: Buddhist monks gather around the grounded balloon Top: The balloon is decorated with huge golden dragons Above: A birds-eye view of the valley with the Nakey Chhu river snaking through it

Photos: Ken Spence and Kristen Elsby, Getty Images