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Published: February 20th 2007
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Next stop after Luang Nam Tha was the Gibbon Experience, however to get there we had to travel three quarters of the way to the Lao-Thai Border and stay in a village called Ban Don Chai - sounds easy. We all arrived at the LNT bus station nice and early (we saw some monks collecting alms so it really was early!), we were the first ones to buy tickets for our bus so we relaxed and got some breakfast. After seeing the bus we tried to load our bags on only to be told that we weren't going to be on this nice comfortable looking bus but that one over there which looked distinctly less uncomfortable - but it would do. I popped off to the bank (which took about 45 minutes to withdraw some money) and no my return I found that we had been relegated once again to a saengthaw - and one which was rather full at that. I ended up squeezing onto the end of one of the benches half on the seat and half on the metal at the back - I was lucky. Two of the guys had to stand up on the bumper at
the back!
Apart from half of the road to Ban Don Chai in the process of being built, the cold and the rain we kept our spirits up, after all we were sure we had broken the record for the number of people to travel in one - 22! Including a Lao lady we called Mary who certainly knew how to make the most of the space in a crowded saengthaw - she took no prisoners!
Ban Don Chai was a tiny little village with no guesthouse but we stayed at My My Boons house and they were very welcoming. So much so that when Mr My Boon turned up he took us for a trip in his pickup to see some of his friends and to show us the new guesthouse that he was building - and the obligatory shots of Lao Lao (the home made rice whiskey that is cheaper than water in Laos).
It was an early night with no electricity and the whole family sitting on the veranda in a 'when are you going to bed' way. As expected we also had no choice in it being an early morning the next day
because the cockerals in Lao seem to like too start crowing at 4am (which I dont understand because sunrise isnt until 6.30!) and they don't stop until every last soul is awake!
Anyway we were picked up without a problem and went for an hour along bumpy tracks until we got to the edge of the jungle where we started our hour trek (mostly uphill!) to the Gibbon Experience!
We sat down in the kitchen/sleeping area and were given a brief introduction where we told that 40% of the money that we were paying goes to protecting all of Laos forests, then we headed to the first zip line into tree house 1 - I was quite nervous but the others all did it easily so the guide clipped us on and it was soo much fun!
Our treehouse was amazing - it was three floors and 40 metres from the ground. We didnt hang around long though as were to be shown the rest of the zip wires that we could use - 9 in total. This time however there was no-one else to clip you on so it was quite scary trusting that you had
done it right but you did soon get the hang of it.
The views from the zip lines were absolutely amazing, we would be going across valleys 150m up and along 300m wire looking over completely uninterrupted jungle - so exhilarating and fun and amazing - lots of superlatives!
We didnt do much more zipping on day one but headed back to the treehouse for a very brisk shower and dinner. That night though we were under attack by a swarm of bees that was under one of the branches so it put a dampner on the evening and after a few games of cards it was off to bed!
Next morning we were up early and went for a trek (uphill again) to try and see some gibbons. Unfortunately they were not very near but we did hear them singing which is quite unlike any other animal noise - a bit like a siren. The rest of the day was spent playing on the zip lines whilst the bee problem was sorted out. It was such a fun day!
That evening we were joined by a couple of the guys who worked there because it
was Gareths's birthday and Ju (one of the Lao ladies) came out with this amazing fruit cake platter(pieces of fruit and sweets) with candles on which looked amazing. It was a good evening with some lao lao being drunk too.
Day three of the Gibbon Experience was another early morning but no walk this morning, we zipped over to tree house 2 instead and sat and watched the view. In the morning the mist is all below the tree tops which makes the view even more breath taking. On our return to the tree house for breakfast we were on one of the middle platforms and we heard the gibbons, they were really close and their singing was really loud - a very memorable experience.
Whoops i forgot to mention the being chased by a bear and jumped on by monkeys!
The monkeys returned to the village with us on our way out and we then all headed to Houi Xay where only Helen and I were staying in Laos.
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