With a final blast of flaming gas, and just as the sun rises over the snow-powdered mountains to the east, we begin to float upwards. The inaugural flight of the world’s highest commercial hot-air balloon service is under way. On the ground, our team of young helpers whoop with excitement.

For the next hour we drift down Bhutan’s majestic Phobjikha Valley, savouring a bird’s-eye view of the Himalayan scenery unfolding around us. To the north, the 400-year-old Gangtey Goenpa monastery stands on a ridge, dominating the valley. On each side the valley’s forested flanks — home to leopards, bears and boar — rise steeply to the skyline. Below, the Nakey Chhu river meanders like a silver ribbon through pastures and water meadows.

As the sun burns away the mist, we drift silently above thickets of colourful prayer flags, gold-roofed temples and white-walled Bhutanese farmhouses with ornate wooden eaves and windows. We glide southwards over horses, cattle, the odd yak and a pack of dogs that bark furiously as the huge red translucent globe passes above them. Early-rising schoolchildren stare at the apparition in the sky. A peasant farmer stands in a field and watches — one presumes in amazement — a sight the likes of which he would never have seen before.