Zippity Do Dah in the jungle

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Hello Everyone,

I would first like to say the Gibbon Experience is a must for ANYONE who finds themselves in Northern Laos. This was one of those "Best things in life" but unfortunately "not free" ... however, well worth the money spent!
This is going to be a long one but good 😊 I promise
Before I tell you about this amazing jungle adventure I would like to tell you now because we are out of Laos the warm welcome we had! I didn't want to mention this earlier for my parents and for Mark's sake or anyone else who might be worried reading it. When we arrived and got on our first bus I failed to mention the man wearing a lovely, brown, long shirt with an AK-47 poking out of the bottom. I instantly felt sick to my stomach and wanted to jump out the window of the bus thinking it would be safer on the side of the road then on this bus with this man and his gun. I was freaking out and of course, Adele being the cool, calm and collected one was telling me not to worry... it didn't help... I was still worried. So I made for a breakway to the back thinking it would be safer back there with the 2 Irish guys. I would now like to inform you about the purpose of this man with the gun and tell you what no one told us... JOS and MATT--- Where was the GUN warning?!?! These men with such gigantic guns are on the buses in order to protect us (there were a few incidents on the buses a couple of years ago where some people (both Laos and foreigners) were killed from rebels attacking the buses). So it is a safety precaution!!! Good to know... would have liked to found this out before hand). So another day, another bus, another AK-47 right! 😊

Now that I have said that...moving on... we had the most exciting, painful, exhilarating, nerve racking time in the Bokeo Forest😊 A once (maybe twice, *hint hint*) in a life time experience! We spent 3 days and 2 nights up in the canopy of the trees with all the wildlife you can imagine and more you had no idea even existed. Getting to the forest was part of the fun as well. It was about a 3 hour drive down a very unfinished road on the back of a truck with a roof and some wooden benches. There were 6 of us and our back packs crammed in. One of the girls on our trip had food poisoning so she made the trip even 'more colorful and entertaining' being sick out the back of the moving truck going about 60km/h on a MUD ROAD... we made a few stops! Made it to a village where we then had to cross a shady foot bridge, hike through some corn fields, rice paddies and through a small stream to get to the next landcruiser. Here we packed about 15 people into the back of this vehicle (10 people for the trip and some locals). There was this poor old man who was about 80 years old who was rammed in here with us against the door and any bump we went over he bashed his head off the window... yikes... at one point he grabbed onto one of the aussie's we were with and put his head between his legs... all of us were scared that he might not make it to the next stop... fortunately he did as we all did. We had some work cut out for us though, a few times getting out to stop and push up the hill through the thick spattering mud... this was the start of being dirty and only the start! Made it to the next village where we then had some guides lead us through the forest, streams which were just about waist high, more mud, more corn fields and more rice fields where after an hour and a bit we came to a "kitchen house" to suit up for the zipline! This is still quite new and the guides are all Laos so they are fresh in the stages of learning English... with this being said, the instructions for the harnesses and riding of the cables is a little bit sparse...this is where the nervousness comes in! So suited up and ready to go we trek again to the first platform... I believe I was second to go... So many things I have said before that words cannot describe. This is a feeling again I won't be able to explain... such a rush, a high, a bit scared but so relieved that everything is in working order and you are 200m above ground on a cable wire in the middle of no where overlooking all the dense, lush green forest that surrounds you. Pictures or videos won't even be able to do this justice so you will have to experience it for yourself!!!!! Each and everytime I was very nervous to start but once you are zipping it is truly amazing!
So we dropped some people off at the first tree house and then made our way zipping and trekking to tree house 3, which was where we stayed for the 2 nights. We had heard from previous tours that 3 was the best so of course that was our destination. It was the best and it was also the furthest from everything! It was pretty late in the day and getting dark so we didn't have much time to zip around so had some dinner in number3. I am not one who likes the taste of Mekong rice water and vegetables so I have to say the food was not that great! What you ate for breakfast you also ate for lunch and dinner! Yikes!
So you think when you are a little kid you have built the best tree house, times that by 100 and that is where we slept. Literally out in the open with nature and its inhabitants! This place has a kitchen area with spring water taps, a large open area for sleeping and eating and take a big step up and you have your bathroom- yup an open shower and a squat toilet with an open drop 40m down😊 With some crash mats for a bed and some misquito netting it was quite luxurious😊 We spent the night with an Aussie couple who were great people to share the tree house with. Thank God we had a guy! Once it got dark, we sat around in candle light (yes a little dangerous in the forest) and talked before it was bed time... around 9 (early to bed in the jungle). Misquito net tucked in, all the bugs cleared from the bedding and flashlights on we were ready. I was quite surprised with how quiet it was in the forest - some birds, some trees falling, some rain, some thunder, some tree mice, some bats, and critters crawling... the first night we had what we thought was a huge spider in our tent but according to the aussie standards this was nothing!
Up early for a day of zipping and trekking in the rain after breakfast with some of the guides! We talked to them for a while about their family, work and daily life... we asked them what they would do if a snake were to bite them or what we should do... chopping off your arm was one option and eating 10 tablespoons of salt and finding a swarm of red ants to roll in was your other option...hmmmmm what to do?!?! Talking to them was very entertaining and difficult at the same time!
After zipping all day, I don't think I have EVER been dirtier in my life (even as a child). There was not one part of my body where I wasn't covered in mud but Adele however, managed to WIN THE DIRTY AWARD! 3 days of wearing the same dirty, smelly clothes was not easy nor nice! So night 2 we were sitting around just talking right before bed when a monster sized spider (even to the aussie's) creeped by us, thus making it a little more difficult to fall asleep😊
Up early again on the day of our departure to trek and zip back to TH 1 for breakfast... mushed bananas, more sunflower seeds and dirty rice...ahhhhh 😞 So it was time to off load our harnessess back at the kitchen house which I forgot to mention also houses a gibbon, a monkey and an 8 month old bear that you can touch 😊 It was pouring rain and was not a nice day and we were told that if the rain was too heavy we would have a 6 hour hike ahead of us. Each of us was dredding this because it was a strenuous hike in the mud going up and down!
I should tell you one thing I didn't want to share... While on the zip lines, green means go, red means not to go.... when you are a little bit nervous you are not always thinking clearly and when it is raining it adds to how you feel about being so high up on these thin little cable lines.... anyways I ended up crossing on the longest cable 400m long going THE WRONG WAY.... WTF.... I panicked of course and then had turn and climb the wire the enitre way back from which I came... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm note to self..... check the red and green next time! This was SCARYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY 😊
Another interesting story... so I had to use the washroom at the kitchen house and waited for Adele to come down with me... it is like an outhouse but squat toilet. So she is on one and I am in the other... Adele hears the bell on the bear and says "oh the bear is coming" I quickly try to make sure the door is closed while still in the 'position' and before I know it the bear is pushing the door open and coming in... not finished yet I am panicking as to what i should do with the bear which is now in my bathroom space... he stands up (he is not too big yet but he is a damn bear) I am screaming for Adele to come and help me while I am trying to pull up my dirty wet pants.... So the bear decides to bite my arm a few times and Adele is trying to shooo it away with a tiny stick.... I am freaking out right now thinking what if he takes a chunk out of my arm... Adele saved my life and we managed to escape from the bear... quickly making our way up the steps. A bit of a run in.... no big deal right?!!?
The monkey was quite the character, he jumped on my head a few times and hung from my arms which I wasn't sure abuot at first thinking of how dirty he was but I was lucky compared to Adele who got peed on by the baby gibbon. Time to go and say good bye to all the creatures in the wild which I didn't think I would ever have the chance of coming into such close contact with!
We started the 6 hour hike and about 1/3 of the way into it we saw the next group coming in the landcruiser so thankfully we didn't have to finish the hike by foot! It was quite the full ride back so 2 of the people we were with had to ride the roof which I made sure not to be one of them! A long ride back in the heavy rain and then to get back in the back of the truck and on the wooden bench for 3 hours to bruise my back and legs even more. We were hoping to make it in time to cross the border but we missed it by a half an hour!
SORRY FOR THE LENGTH....
I'm finally in Thailand now and will soon be on the beach to relax for a couple of days 😊
Hope you are enjoying your summer

Shawna

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