Six AM in Sallghari, Bhaktapur after a night of un-seasonal post-monsoon showers. As the first rays of the sun break over the Valley, a crowd of curious onlookers gathers to watch the first flight of the season for Nepal's only commercial hot air balloon flight by Balloon Sunrise Nepal. The flight team takes notes on the wind direction as the smaller pilot balloon gently glides into the morning air. The larger 90 ft by 60 ft rip-stop nylon hot air balloon is slowly getting ready for take-off as the burner beneath it pumps 210,000 cubic feet of Liquid Petroleum Gas and a pinch of nitrogen into it. A small group of tourists eagerly waits for the captain, Suneil N Singh Thapa's order to board the wicker basket that will take them floating to about 6,000 ft above the Valley. The weather is exceptionally clear this autumn morning and the flight promises a grand bird's eye view of the Himalaya, including Everest in all her morning glory.

The balloon has now been filled and is gently tugging at the ropes that fix it to the ground. The group hurries in to fill up six-and-a-half by four-and-a-half feet wicker basket that carries six passengers, an altimeter, a barometer, VHF and UHF radios, and a global positioning system (GPS). After going through a brief landing exercise and last-minute instructions, the ground crew frees the ropes that anchor the balloon to the ground. The balloon season has begun.

In a country whose scenery is worth paying a king's ransom to see, this is a great enterprise. And though in Nepal every successful business is copied endlessly, the six-year-old Balloon Sunrise Nepal is the only company that offers hot air balloon flights over the Valley. The company, started by Phintso Lama, owns two balloons, one of which recently reached its 1,000 hour flight limit. The other is going strong at just over 380 hours flying time to its credit.

If you're thinking of getting into the act, be warned. It's an expensive business-one balloon and its accoutrements costs $100,000. It is much cheaper to simply take a trip-$195 for foreigners, and IRs 4,500 for SAARC citizens for a one-hour flight. Not cheap either, but this gets you transportation to the take-off site, breakfast, and a certificate to show off to friends. Some times, the winds carry the balloon further than expected-but no fear, your craft carries enough fuel to be airborne for two-and-a-half hours. "This is the oldest and safest means of air travel but in case anything should happen, every flyer has an insurance coverage of $20,000, like for commercial domestic flights," Captain Thapa tells his passengers

Suneil Narayan Singh Thapa was a captain in the Royal Nepal Army until he took a hot-air balloon flight in 1996. He was hooked. The next year he quit the army and went to train for his private pilot license in Melbourne. Two years down the line, he was abroad again, to get his commercial pilot's license in California. This is Captain Thapa first season in full command-after almost five years and some 300 hours of ballooning-and he looks thrilled.

As the balloon slowly gains height, floating with the wind, the Valley below looks like a patchwork of Lego art interspersed with lush green carpets. To the east is the sun rising over Nagarkot and to the north, the mountains changing shades from misty blue to majestic golden. The Langtang range comes into view and there, just on the horizon, Everest hovers into view with her pre-winter patches of snow and rocks. Climbing at an average speed of 600 ft per minute, the balloon will soon reach a height of 6,000 ft above the Valley. "Part of the adventure of balloon flying is not knowing what your final destination is," says Captain Thapa, narrating a trip when they were blown out of the Valley to Dhading. But this is not really a problem, as the retrieval crew is always in contact by radio and can be told where to come for the pickup. The hour passes by so swiftly, one barely notices the balloon being gently lowered down. "I thought I was afraid of heights, but it was so peaceful," says one flyer after her feet are back on terra firma. The whole affair is incredibly smooth-from being airborne to landing, there is nothing jerky about the experience.

Thus comes the flight to an end, with a prayer praising the wind for its softness, the sun for its blessing, yourself for flying so high and so well and the powers that be for joining you in your laughter and setting you back gently on to Mother Earth.