教你如何乘熱氣球遊不丹王國

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.

隨着熱氣球最後轟地一聲點火成功，旭日慢慢東昇於白雪皚皚的羣山之上，我們乘坐的熱氣球開始上升。全球飛行高度最高的商用熱氣球處女航正式拉開了帷幕，地面的年輕助手們見狀都歡呼雀躍。

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.

在接下來的一個小時裏，我們將沿着不丹雄偉壯麗的富畢卡谷地(Phobjikha Valley)一路飄遊，從空中欣賞綿延不絕的喜馬拉雅山(Himalayan)的壯美景色。極目北望，映入眼簾的是有着400年曆史的岡提堅帕寺廟(Gangtey Goenpa Monastery)，它矗立於高高的山脊上，俯控了整座山谷。山谷兩邊，林木茂密（它們是豹子、熊以及野豬們的家園），直插雲霄。俯瞰地面，則是蜿蜒曲折、緩緩流淌的納凱曲河(Nakey Chhu)，它如同銀色絲帶般穿行於牧場與溼草地之中。

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.

隨着薄霧散盡，豔陽普照大地，我們靜靜飄遊於高空，地面的朵朵五彩經幡、座座金頂寺院以及不丹的特色白牆農舍盡收眼底。向南飄移時，只見牛羣馬羣、怪異的犛牛以及一羣狗漸入眼簾。狗兒看到空中飄過的紅色半透明巨型熱氣球后，狂吠不止；早起的學童出神地望着空中的“怪物”；站在田間地頭的一位農民也驚訝地擡望半空————他平生可能從未見過這類稀奇玩意兒。

A narrowing of the valley funnels the breeze. Soon we are travelling at four or five knots, but so smoothly it seems that the ground, not the balloon, is moving. Our pick-up truck has been left far behind, bumping along a dirt track. Our young helpers, dressed in a traditional Bhutanese ghos, are splashing through bogs, laughing and shouting as they struggle to keep up. Finally Cary Crawley, a professional balloon pilot from England, lands us on a meadow sandwiched between the river and a tilled field, the wicker basket bumping three times along the frosty grass before it comes to rest on its side.

陣陣微風順着漸趨狹窄的山谷吹拂而來。沒過一會兒，我們就以每小時八公里左右的速度飄移，但身處四平八穩的熱氣球裏，感覺是地面、而非熱氣球在移動。我們的皮卡已被遠遠甩在後面，在土路上不住地顛簸前行。穿着不丹傳統幗裝(Ghos)的年輕助手們笑着喊着，使勁跟着熱氣球奔跑，在沼澤地濺起片片水花。最後，來自英國的專業飛行員加里•克勞利(Cary Crawley)把熱氣球停靠於河流與耕地間的一塊草地上，載人的柳條筐順着結霜的草地衝撞了三下，才最終側停住。

It was a short, experimental flight, but the six passengers are exhilarated — even the two civil aviation officials “inspecting” a means of transport they know absolutely nothing about. “Unbelievable!” cries my daughter Hannah. Khin Omar Win, one of the trip’s organisers, beams and asks rhetorically: “How exciting was that?”

儘管這是一次短時試飛，但熱氣球上的六位乘客卻是心花怒放————甚至兩位實地檢查指導的民航局官員也是如此，他們實際上對熱氣球一無所知。“難以置信！”我女兒漢娜歡呼道。本次旅程的組織者Khin Omar Win也是笑容滿面，反問道：“真有那麼爽嗎？”

“I told you we’d do it — and we did,” Win’s husband, Brett Melzer, declares triumphantly. The Melzers have good reason to be elated, for the flight is the culmination of a 10-year venture — or gamble — that can only be described as quixotic.

“我對你說過能行————我們成功了，”Khin Omar Win的丈夫佈雷特•梅爾策(Brett Melzer)得意地說道。梅爾策夫婦完全有欣喜若狂的理由，因爲該項目是他們推出熱氣球旅遊項目10年來的“巔峯之作”（抑或說是場豪賭），只可比擬爲“癡心妄想”。

Win was born in Myanmar but raised in London. In 1997 she met Melzer, then a footloose Australian, in Yangon, and left the UN Development Programme to help him pioneer balloon rides over the famous Bagan temple complex. As “Balloons over Bagan” grew, they branched out, opening Malikha Lodge, a luxury retreat in the jungle of northern Myanmar that was accessible only by air. But in 2009 flights were suspended and they were forced to sell the lodge to a Burmese businessman with close links to the military regime.

Khin Omar Win出生於緬甸，但在倫敦長大。1997年，她與單身漢梅爾策相識於仰光(Yangon)，於是她從聯合國開發計劃署(UN Development Programme)辭職，與梅爾策一起開創飛越著名的薄甘(Bagan)千座佛塔的熱氣球旅遊項目。隨着“飛越薄甘”旅遊項目(Balloons over Bagan)漸入佳境，他倆開始拓展業務————於是推出了穿越緬甸北部叢林地帶的豪華遊項目————Malikha Lodge，因爲抵達該地區只能乘坐熱氣球。但2009年，熱氣球旅遊項目遭“停擺”，夫妻倆被迫把豪華小木屋旅館賣給了與軍政府關係密切的一位緬甸商人。

Undaunted, the Melzers resurrected an idea they had begun work on in 2004: ballooning over Bhutan, another exotic, little-known country that was beginning to open up to the world. At their behest, Crawley spent six weeks scouring the tiny, crumpled kingdom of soaring mountains and plunging valleys created when the Indian subcontinent collided with Eurasia. A balloon could not take off or be retrieved on the rocky plateaux and snowfields of Bhutan’s highest peaks, or in its dense southern jungles. Phobjikha, at almost 3,000 metres above sea level, was the only valley wide and open enough.

但兩口子並沒氣餒，於是把2004年就已醞釀的想法付諸實施：乘熱氣球飛越不丹，這個不爲人所知的奇異國家開始慢慢向世界開放。在梅爾策夫妻倆的吩咐下，克勞利花了六週時間實地考察了這個地形複雜的小國。這裏高山深谷密佈，是印度次大陸板塊與歐亞板塊衝撞擠壓的結果。熱氣球無法在不丹白雪皚皚的高山之巔、岩石遍佈的高原以及叢林密佈的南部地區起飛和停靠。而海拔近3000米的富畢卡山谷地形開闊，是開發熱氣球旅遊項目的唯一理想地。

There were still problems. It was on the outer edge of the tourist circuit — a six-hour drive along the “national highway”, a twisting one-lane ribbon of crumbling tarmac, from Bhutan’s only international airport. The valley is also the winter home of hundreds of thrung thrung karmo — black-necked cranes with six-foot wingspans and flamboyant mating dances — so the balloon cannot fly until those endangered birds have returned to the Tibetan plateau each spring. But Phobjikha was, Crawley says, “the only realistic choice”.

但開發這裏，仍有不少問題亟待解決。富畢卡山谷地位於環形旅遊線路的外邊緣地帶————從不丹唯一的國際機場沿國道需6個小時車程，而所謂的國道只是一條蜿蜒的單車道瀝青碎石路。富畢卡山谷還是成千上萬黑頸鶴的冬季棲息地————這種名叫thrung thrung karmo的鶴翼展開達六尺長，能跳華美誇張的求偶舞————因此，必須等到這些瀕危鳥類每年春季全部返回青藏高原後，才能開展熱氣球旅遊項目。但克勞利說，富畢卡山谷是“唯一可行的開展地”。

The Melzers initially envisaged building a modest guest house for their ballooning clients but ended up creating a spectacular $4m 12-suite boutique hotel in this most improbable of locations.

梅爾策夫婦最初的設想是爲乘坐熱氣球的遊客建普通旅館，但最終的結果卻是在這異常偏僻的地區開辦了這座耗資400萬美元、共設12套客房的絕世精品旅館。

Gangtey Goenpa Lodge opened in 2013 and stands on the same ridge as the monastery, unsignposted and accessible only by a dirt track. From the outside, it resembles two Bhutanese farmhouses connected by a low barn. Inside, however, floor-to-ceiling windows offer sublime views of the cloud-wreathed valley below. The wood and stone is local, but the wood-burning stoves that heat each room come from Switzerland, the fancy bathtubs from the UK, and the fabrics from Australia — all shipped to Kolkata and trucked overland, along with the $100,000 balloon, which was made in Bristol, southwest England.

岡提堅帕豪華旅館(Gangtey Goenpa Lodge)開辦於2013年，與岡提堅帕寺院位於同一山脊，一路上並未設任何標識，只能藉助一條狹窄的土路抵達那兒。從外面看，它酷似由穀倉接連的兩座不丹農舍。但進到旅館內，從落地窗望出去，腳下白雲繚繞的山谷美景一覽無遺。蓋旅館用的木頭與石料都是就地取材，但取暖用的柴火爐、豪華浴缸以及客房紡織用品則分別產自瑞士、英國和澳大利亞————所有客房用品先海運至印度的加爾各答(Kolkata)，再由卡車經陸路運達；同時運抵的還有價值10萬美元、產自英國西南部城市佈列斯托爾(Bristol)的熱氣球。

Sara Rezgui, the Scandinavian chef, performs marvels with fish and meat imported from India because the Buddhist Bhutanese will not kill animals. Most of the 45 staff, even the masseurs, are villagers trained from scratch and delightfully eager to please. Because the aviation inspectors arrived late, Hannah and I had to spend more days than we bargained for in this luxurious retreat, which was certainly no hardship. It also gave us more time to explore a valley rich in unexpected delights.

來自北歐的大廚薩拉用從印度進口的魚和肉食做出了令人讚不絕口的美味佳餚，因爲篤信佛教的不丹禁止殺生。旅館共有45名員工。多爲本地村民（甚至按摩師也不例外），全是從零開始培訓，他們竭誠爲賓客提供貼心服務。由於民航局檢查人員與我們會合的時間比約定時間晚，我和漢娜只得在這豪華旅館多呆了幾天，旅館當然很開心，但同時也讓我們有更充裕的時間遊覽這條曠世美景不絕的山谷。

We watched maroon-robed boy monks hurling foot-long homemade darts at a distant target in a game called kuru. We watched two villages compete with astounding skill at the national sport of archery. Dressed in ghos and using bamboo bows, the archers regularly hit a small wooden post 140 metres away, prompting celebratory dances and songs from their teammates. Save for a single rifle shooter, Bhutan has sent only archers to the Olympics, but has never won a medal because Olympic targets are only half that distance.

我們觀看身穿栗色僧袍的小僧人正玩一種叫kuru的遊戲————把一英尺長的自制飛鏢擲向遠處的目標。我們也觀看兩個村莊在全國射箭運動會上決一雌雄，村民們箭術精湛————身穿幗裝的箭手使用竹弓，不斷射中140米遠的小木竿，引來自己隊友歡慶的舞蹈和歌聲。除了一名汽步槍選手外，不丹只派過射箭選手參加奧運會，但從未奪取任何獎牌，因爲奧運會的靶子距離只有70米遠，僅爲不丹的一半。

We explored the courtyards and temples of the ancient monastery as monks performed rituals with horns, drums and a mournful pipe called a kangling, made from human thigh bones. “We dig them up at night or import them from Nepal,” one official replied without a trace of embarrassment when I asked where the bones came from.

我們探訪了古寺院的庭院與廟宇，此時僧侶們正用號角、鼓樂以及小法號（kangling，用人的大腿骨做成，吹奏哀樂之用）舉行法會。當我問一位官員這些人骨的來源時，他毫無愧色地回答道：“我們夜晚偷挖墓園或是從尼泊爾進口。”

An elite set of young monks known as tulkus explained to us how they had been identified in infancy as reincarnated Buddhist masters. We visited (but could not enter) a meditation centre ringed by a barbed-wire fence where older monks live incommunicado in single cells for three years, three months and three days, eating food left for them outside the building.

年輕僧人中的精英————即所謂的活佛(tulkus)向我們解釋自己如何從小被確認爲已故藏傳佛教大師的轉世靈童。我們參觀（但不允許進入）了用鐵絲柵欄圍起來的閉關修行區，年老的僧侶呆在禁閉的小單間裏修行三年、三月或是三天不等，所需飲食就徑直放在修行室外。

There was one other place we could not enter: a chamber deep within the monastery containing a mummified “yeti”. There is certainly something there, though it is more likely the corpse of a deformed child. Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner saw it in 1991. “Nailed to the wall by the back of its scalp was the hide of a ‘red yeti’,” he wrote later. “I was trembling with excitement. Bones were still attached to the relic’s hands and legs, and from its head, which was largely bald, hung a long, black hank of hair.”

還有一處禁止我們進入：寺廟內藏有一具“雪人”乾屍的密室。這肯定確有其物，儘管乾屍更可能是殘疾兒童的屍體。意大利登山運動員萊因霍爾德•梅斯納爾(Reinhold Messner)1991年曾有幸目睹了真容。“後腦頭皮釘在牆上，實爲‘紅雪人’的皮，”他在書中這樣寫道。“我萬分激動，看到骨頭仍連於乾屍手腿，幾乎禿頂的頭部還垂下一束長長的黑髮。”

Legends and superstitions abound in these parts. The cranes, we were told, circle the monastery three times clockwise when they arrive each winter. Homes are adorned with murals of tigers, snow lions, dragons and mythical serpent-eating garudas, and of giant, erect, sperm-trailing phalluses (commemorating the “Divine Madman”, a 15th-century saint known for unorthodox teaching and sexual encounters). Doorways have raised thresholds to stop the stiff-limbed dead from entering.

傳奇與迷信交織其中。我們得知黑頸鶴每年冬季來此過冬時，會順時針繞飛寺廟三圈。房屋畫有老虎、雪獅、龍、傳說中吞噬毒蛇的銀翅鳥(garudas)以及勃起巨型男根（還噴着精液）的壁畫。男根是爲紀念15世紀的瘋癲聖僧(Divine Madman)，他以非正統方法傳法以及處處留愛而著稱。房子的門檻往往設得較高，以防殭屍進到屋裏。

We hiked through fragrant pine forests where rhododendrons were bursting into flower. We cycled to a hilltop at the far end of the eight-mile valley, where the lodge had prepared a picnic lunch served on a table laid with linen, glass and china. We encountered a village woman shearing a squirming black sheep, a young shepherdess guarding her flock from leopards and foxes, and a yak herder driving his animals up to the higher pastures for the summer.

我們徒步穿過芬芳的松樹林，看見爭相怒放的杜鵑花；騎自行車抵達山谷（總長八英里）盡頭的一座小山頭，那兒的旅館已爲我們備好了便當（桌子鋪了桌布，上面放着玻璃及瓷器餐具）。一路上，我們曾看到正給一頭扭動身軀的黑色綿羊剪羊毛的村姑、一位放羊小女孩（以防獵豹與狐狸覬覦）、以及正趕着犛牛羣向海拔更高的夏季牧場的牧人。

One night we forsook the lodge for a peasant family’s home — helping them milk cows and churn butter, sharing their rice, potatoes and arra (rice wine) as we sat cross-legged around their stove, playing grandmother’s footsteps with their four enchanting children.

晚上，我們沒住旅館，轉而留宿在當地農戶家裏————我們幫他們擠奶與攪酥油，盤腿圍坐在火爐旁時，品嚐他們做的米飯、土豆以及自家釀製的米酒(arra)，並與家裏四個可愛的孩子一起模仿老祖母的走路姿勢。

But the valley is changing fast. Electricity, TV and mobile phones have all arrived — though not yet the internet. The “national highway” from the capital Thimphu is being upgraded to two lanes. The peasants have discovered that potatoes are a lucrative cash crop, so they no longer live semi-nomadic lives and are building new homes with roofs of steel not wooden shingles.

但山村正在發生鉅變。如今家家戶戶通了電，用上了電視及手機————儘管還未接通因特網。連接首都廷布(Thimphu)的“國道”正在翻建爲兩車道公路。農民發現種植土豆是利潤豐厚的經濟作物後，放棄了昔日的半遊牧生活，轉而蓋起鐵皮屋頂的新居（而不是傳統的木瓦）。

Bhutan, a land sealed off from the world until the 1970s, is now joining it. The much-loved monarchy has surrendered power, volunteering democracy to a population with no experience of it. The young are migrating from the villages to Thimphu. Foreign visitor numbers rose from 23,480 in 2009 to 116,209 in 2013, and new luxury hotels are proliferating.

上世紀70年代前，不丹一直是個與世隔絕的國度，如今它開始向世界開放。深受國人愛戴的王室主動放棄權力，自願向全體國民實行民主，而該國國民以前從未享受過民主。年輕人不斷從農村移居廷布。外國遊客數從2009年的23480飈升至2013年的11.6209萬人，豪華酒店數激增。

In the face of such change, Bhutan is struggling to preserve its character and pristine environment — national dress is compulsory in schools and government buildings; the constitution requires 60 per cent of the country to be forested; tobacco and plastic bags are banned, and Tuesdays are dry. Mountaineering is restricted because it angers the deities who live on the snowy summits — at 7,570 metres Gangkhar Puensum is the world’s highest unclimbed mountain.

面對如此飛速的變化，不丹仍努力保護其民族性及原生態環境————學生和政府人員必須穿民族服飾；憲法規定國土的森林覆蓋率不低於60%；禁止銷售香菸與使用塑料袋；規定星期二爲禁酒日。國家禁止登山活動，因爲此舉會觸怒居住在雪山之巔的神靈————海拔7570米的甘卡本森峯(Gangkhar Puensum)爲全球未登頂的最高山峯。

Bhutan wants tourists, but not the mass tourism that so often destroys the very attractions it feeds off, so visitors are obliged to spend at least $250 a day.

不丹需要遊客，但不希望遊客大量涌入，擔心如此一來，會破壞賴以成名的絕世美景，所以限定每位遊客的日消費額不低於250美元。

To date its efforts are largely succeeding. Its spectacular dzongs (fortresses) and monasteries are not yet overrun nor ringed by tacky souvenir shops. Its many festivals and masked dances are still staged primarily for locals, and have not morphed into commercial shows for foreigners. Buddhism still dominates Bhutan’s way of life, and its people still seem driven more by their legendary pursuit of happiness than money.

迄今爲止，不丹的種種努力基本上奏效。它宏偉壯麗的城堡與寺廟沒有過度開發，也沒有被俗氣的紀念品商店所包圍。它的很多節日與面具舞主要服務對象仍是本國民衆，還沒有演變成爲服務外國遊客的商業表演。佛教仍在不丹的生活中佔據主導地位，國民似乎仍追求精神快樂而非金錢（這一點享譽世界）。

In a curious way the Melzers’ project supports the government’s goals. The 30-metre-high balloon makes a magnificent sight as it drifts silently down the Phobjikha Valley, enhancing not marring the natural beauty. The occupants of its wicker basket survey the valley without intruding on it. As befits a country known as Druk Yul, or “Land of the Thunder Dragon”, the balloon is emblazoned with huge golden dragons, and the occasional blasts of flame from its gas cylinders resemble nothing so much as a dragon’s fiery breath.

奇妙的是：梅爾策夫婦倆的熱氣球旅遊項目與政府目標“一脈相承”。30米高的熱氣球靜靜飄過富畢卡谷地時，顯得尤爲壯觀，而對於自然美景來說，這是錦上添花而非損抑之舉。柳條筐裏的乘客在不滋擾山谷的情況下，飽覽其絕世美景。在這個名符其實的“雷龍之國” (Druk Yul, “Land of the Thunder Dragon)，熱氣球上飾着巨型金龍，而高壓氣缸因點火而發出的陣陣轟響酷似巨龍之雷霆之怒。

Just as they greet the cranes each year, the monks appear to welcome this foreign body in their ancient domain. One senior teacher, Chogyal Zangpo, blessed the balloon before joining its second flight, and again after landing. “I’ve had a wonderful experience,” he said. “I’ve never been in the air before and I’ll remember it all my life. I often watch the birds flying above, so now I know what they see.”

正如不丹人會迎接每年前來過冬的黑頸鶴，僧人們似乎也非常歡迎外國遊客造訪自己的古老國度。一位名叫卻加爾•章波(Chogyal Zangpo)的高僧在乘坐熱氣球（這是它的第二次升空）前做了祈禱，待熱氣球順利着陸後，他再次祈禱。“我感覺妙不可言，”他說。“這是貧僧平生第一次升至高空俯瞰大地，我永生難忘。我以前時常看到鳥兒翱翔於高空，我如今感受更深了。”

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Martin Fletcher was a guest of The Ultimate Travel Company, which offers a 13-day “Bhutan Journey”, with four nights at Gangtey Goenpa Lodge, from £6,675 per person, including ballooning, private transfers, guides and all meals. Flights from London with Qatar Airways would add £1,220

馬丁•弗萊徹是The Ultimate Travel Company旅行社的遊客。該旅行社推出了爲期13天的“不丹行”旅遊項目，留宿岡提堅帕豪華旅館四個晚上，每位遊客的遊費不低於6675英鎊，這包括了乘坐熱氣球的費用、個人轉乘車的費用、導遊費以及全部餐費。從倫敦搭乘卡塔爾航空公司(Qatar Airways)的航班至廷布另需1220英鎊。