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Just came back from the Gibbon Experience in Laos... never have so many things attempted to kill me in one day and never has it been so much fun! The Gibbon experience is a ziplining thing like the Flight of the Gibbon I did in Chiang Mai, but you stay overnight in a treehouse. Seeing as I was shelling out more than 100 quid for this treehouse (the gibbon experience is quite famous, therefore expensive) seeing as I'd already been ziplining, I was expecting something pretty impressive, which is what I got but for pretty different reasons!
I think one of the main things about Laos is that the health and safety craze has stayed well well away, and you pretty much look after yourself... which is probably why so many people end up hurt in Vang Vieng. But I wasn't really expecting this attitude to ziplining considering the one in Thailand does pretty much everything for you and there is no way you are touching that safety line. But nope they just show you how to do it once, and you're off! It does make it way more exciting, and they're always there to check it for you if you want, and even though I thought it would be about the same as Thailand it was about a million times more impressive. The ziplines in Thailand just go between the platforms of trees, whereas these go between entire valleys, are all around 500m long and you have an amazing view way above the tree canopy, pretty breathtaking stuff!
The fact that the two guides didn't have a very good signalling system for when it was safe for the next person to go was a bit of an issue though, seeing as I completely failed to keep going all the way to the next platform almost EVERY TIME (Apparently losing that weight in Pai wasn't such a good thing?)! They just made a 'woo' sound to say it was safe, but any other sound would do too and everything carries across those valleys, so this meant a lot of people were sent straight after me when I was still hanging on the line. The first time I just had to pull myself along a bit faster which was fine but the second was pretty scary. We were trying a new cannonball position which somehow managed to make me go even less far and I stopped SEVERAL metres away from the next platform, shouting something like "OH WHAT" when I got there which obviously sent the next guy cannonballing off after me thinking it was a 'woo'. Everyone was screaming at him to brake and I was trying to pull myself along and he was coming really really fast and then the guide grabbed my backpack and dragged me up and it was ok. I shook for about half an hour after that, TOO CLOSE!
Dramatic near crashes aside, we arrived at our treehouse... 40m up and you can only get to it with the zipline, it has enough room for 8 people, a little kitchen with a sink and a bathroom with a working shower with an open wall overlooking the forest, I want to live there. The guides said they were due a storm that night and that if they needed to evacuate us they would come get us. So they left us alone to have dinner while we watched the lightning across the forest, which was quite cool. Once we'd finished the storm decided to start properly, and massive gusts of wind started blowing rain through the open walls, which was fun for a bit until we realised our beds were getting wet so we all attempted to put the mosquito cover thing over them and keep it from blowing off. That was fun for a bit too, until the wind picked up so much that even our very sturdy tree was swaying and hailstones started pelting down on us. We figured at this point that it was way too late for a rescue mission but nope that's when the guides turned up saying we should get on our harnesses and make our way onto land for a bit just in case, casually mentioning a few trees had fallen already... And that on the lines we wouldn't be able to see any more than a meter in front of our faces or use the brakes or hear anyone on the other side. Grand.
I wish I'd gotten a video of the panic after that as everyone tried to find their harnesses and their shoes: one girl saved the alcohol, another did a bit of washing up, I somehow, despite all the climbing forgot how a harness goes on and spent 5 mins trying to figure it out. Funny stuff. Of course by the time everyone was finally ready the storm had started calming down, and we didn't have to escape after all, gutted. It would have been quite an experience ziplining in a storm but the fact that zipping had almost killed me enough in the daytime meant I was pretty relieved! Anyway after that we got to work salvaging the beds, as mine was full of leaves and soaked through but some of the others were ok so we changed sheets and made the place a bit more presentable. Then we played some cards and laughed about it all and eventually went to sleep when I had lots of crazy malarone nightmares (it's worse than Lariam, I even dream when I'm awake now) and woke up to some bats flying around and trying to get in to the tents before deciding I didn't care and falling asleep properly.
Today we did a bit more trekking (the trekking in the first day was intense, but luckily the rest of the group hated hills as much as me so we had breaks) to see if we could see any gibbons. We didn't see anything but they'd told us we wouldn't so that was ok, you need to do the longer trip for that. Then we zipped a bit more, some 700m long and over rivers, and then swam in a lake which was SO NICE considering I'd never had a chance to try out this amazing treehouse shower everyone talked about cos of the storm and the fact that it was full of bees.
So now I'm back in Huay Xai which is a tiny town on the border between Laos and Thailand. Getting into Laos the other day was surprisingly trouble free, I booked a bus with only 10 mins to pack from Chiang Mai and followed an American couple though customs who explained where the hell I was supposed to go. Stayed in a hotel cos I wanted internet only to find there wasn't any. Again. I really need to upload photos before I lose them and I really could do with talking to people at home (just had my first conversation with mum for 3 mins on the phone, she told me not to do anything dangerous like wander down alleyways, hope she doesn't read this!) but that doesn't really work in internet cafes, so I wanted to buy a netbook, but apparently I won't be finding one in Laos, damn. A couple I met on the Gibbon Experience says they might sell me theirs in Bangkok though so that'd be good. The rest of the group were 5 girls from Newcastle (with 3 chemists!!!) and were lovely but unfortunately everyone's going the opposite way to me so I decided not to get the slowboat on my own which is what most people do and instead I'm now waiting for a bus to Luang Prabang, 12 hours long... wonderful.
- comments
Onon Glad to see the plans are back on track. I've now got work until next March so i won't be having a ltltie travel this year ..booo. Next year though .Sept time .maybe you'll still be out there and we can meet up again! See you in London before you go. Bet you can't wai to get outta Dodge!Lyndon
Damon glad you like watching my voedis Trips to thailand and laos was fun and treasuable i hope to go back again Trips over there isn't like what other people say that is was danger and that it was really expermental ..and i really like experience new things and living in the ancient fashion ways.. it taught me many things.. and when i came back home.. i was proud of who i am.. because of the value we have in USA compare to other there..
Matthew Butterworth Just wondering whether you'd reccomend the chaing mai or Laos gibbon experience. Is the extra money worth it?