We decided on cheating the clouds, left early morning and were on launch before they could call it a day for us.
The landing area is surrounded by terraced paddy fields and tea gardens. In flight view is almost hypnotic, a million shades of a very fertile valley dotted with some of the biggest monasteries.
The pilots exquisite point of view is a rare privilege shared only with birds. The local pilots flew tandems for toourists and a new chai shop at the landing has become the pilot adda.