Into Laos. The Gibbon Experience

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Well, after a good uncomfortable 8 hr bus ride, doors wide open and kids every 20 minutes throwing dirty Thai water into our bus for the Asian new year, we arrived at the border of Laos. Longest 8 hrs of our lives. Somehow, Geneve and I ended up being the most wet and irrated out of everyone on the bus. Oh well!

So we stayed in this tiny little village called Huay Xai. Hit the sack early because the next morning, we left for the Gibbon Experience. Just the most incredible 2 to 3 days. We took a hardcore 4 X 4 for 2 hrs over intense mountainous roads, then another 1 hr over backroads that only this truck could handle.

We got out at the most remote village I've ever seen. Hiked a good 1 hr up the mountain to another little village. From there, we got harnessed into our gear for Zipping around the forest! We stayed in the first tree house so our walk was pretty short. The only way to get into our treehouse was from these cables suspended over the Laos Jungle. Gen and I had the top room wit hthe best view while a couple from Finland stayed downstairs, along with a girl from Germany and another girl from USA.

Once we were all settled in, we went zipping and hiking throughout the forest. Picture 500 to 1000 M long cables and we are flying over the jungle. Super intense!!

Now if sleeping 150 ft high in the air isnt scary enough, both nights we had massive thunder and lightening storms. Seriously, we were freaking out the first night.

The 2nd day, we woke up at 530 to go searching for gibbons in the forest, which are small monkeys. After 2 hrs of hard core trekking, we came back with no sightings but a great thrill of walking through the forest. The rest of the day we spent glidding over the forest, going more trekks and just taking it all in.

The 3rd day, nobody wanted to go for an early morning trekk to see the gibbons except for the true adventeres, Geneve and I. We went with our guide, pure Laos kid, and came super close to seeing the Gibbons. Our other friends, 2 guys from Calgary and 2 girls from Britain did their own hike with their guide. At one point, their guide starts loosing his mind and for 15 minutes, they were instructed not to move because they could hear a tiger crowling within about 20 ft!!! But they couldnt tell where it was, needless to say, they were freaked out.

So ya, great time in the jungle. We were super happy to do it, super tired afterwards.

We stayed with 2 guys from Calgary, the 2 girls from Britain and a couple from Oz and took the slow boat for 2 days down the Mekong River to where we are now, in Luang Prabang. We spent the night in another remote town for a huge 3 $ for both Gen and I. The lady even made us lunch in a baggy for the next day.

Great time so far, this city we are in is super chillax and we have some even more fun stuff planned ahead. Till then.

I'll put up more pictures once we find an internet that isn't working on a 1990 dial up connection.

Cheersl

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