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Have just got back from 3 days on the gibbon experience, which was amazing. We arrived at the Thai/Laos border after a 6 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai and after managing to stay balanced while trying to climb onto a longtail boat with my backpack on we had left Thailand behind and were on our way to Laos.Getting a visa was pretty straight forward apart from having to pay an extra dollar in 'overtime' because we'd arrived after 4pm. We checked in at the gibbon experience office and guesthouse before going out to experience our first taste of Lao food. I decided to sample the Lao version of chicken and cashew nut which ended up being quite different from the Thai version- the seemed to have run out of cashews so had decided to replace them with peanuts instead. Not quite as tasty as the real thing but still pretty good!
The next morning we were shown a quick safety video for the ziplining and were made to sign a waiver to say that anything that happened on the trip was our groups own fault and not the company's! After that we we shown to a Songthaew and had an hour and a half drive before having a quick stop. The roads in Laos aren't great but they are at least carrying out roadworks to improve it. The only trouble is that they dont stop people driving on the roads that they are creating/repairing so we we driving between tiny gaps made by diggers and steamrollers and hoping that there wasn't another car, cow or chicken coming the other way. We stopped at a local shop to get some snacks and then it was back in the truck to drive through a river crossing and then an hours drive up steep slopes of mud, some of which had sheers drops on one slide- not got when you're sliding all over the place in the mud as it had chucked it down the day before. It was a bit of a nerve wracking experience at times and we did have to get out a couple of times to push the truck out of the mud when it had got stuck but we all made it in one piece apart from a few bugs in the eyes.
After getting some tips from the group that were at the end of their trek, we were off, into the jungle and it was only about 20 minutes before we were all out of breath and in need of a rest!!! Luckily our guide noticed this and we got told that we could rest by the river for a while and then brought out a huge bag of baguettes for our lunch. I don't know if it was a particulally well made sandwich or if I was just extremely hungry but it was almost as good as my mums home-made chicken tikka sandwiches! After that it was another hour of struggling up hill and trying not to slip over in the mud before we were given our harneses and then another hour before our first zip line, followed by a few more to get to the tree house we would be staying in for the night. All of the bruises, sweat and leeches trying to crawl up my trousers became worth it. The views as you zip over a valley are spectacular but when you're viewing them from a tree house that's probably 5 stories high, they're simply breath taking. That night, the guides zipped our dinner in along with some fruit and snacks and then left us with a bottle of wine between 8 of us to enjoy before climbing into our mosquito nets for a well deserved sleep.
The following day was much the same as the first although, with more rain, more mud and more leeches although we did get to go down to see the waterfall in the park before lunch when it stopped raining for an hour. Unfortunately the rain meant that the solar power in our new tree house wasn't working and by the time the sun had gone down, neither was the water but we had another bottle of wine to make it better and spent the evening in torch-light chatting around the table. Someone had the good idea of shining the torch onto the roof which was when we all saw what was sharing the treehouse with us to get away from the rain- approximately 3 hunstman and 2 unidentified spieces of spiders. After that the group seemed to disperse pretty quickly into the safety of our mosqito nets and made sure the net had been tucked in all the way round our matress!
Our last morning was pretty easy, the sun had come out the the walking was mostly down hill. By this time, we had all become pros as controlled skidding down the mud so everyone managed to get back to base camp without adding any more mud to their clothing. We we're waiting about half an hour for the new groups to turn up, bringing our transportation home with them and when we did arrive, we just looked at each other and started giggling. There was a groupof girls that had turned up in tiny hot pants and vest tops. They were at least wearing trainers rather than flip-flops and one of them was slightly more prepared by wearing knee high soocks with her hotpants. :) I would have loved to see them at the end of their trek. We were all pretty well covered up but still pretty bruised, biten, in some cases battered from tree branches or suffering from leech bites so I don't know how they would have fared! By the time we got back to Huay Xai, we were all looking forward to having a hot showers and getting some well deserved rest!
- comments
Maureen What an experience that was Karen!!!reads like an endurance trial, but so glad it was all worth it..you wont notice the "pot holes" here in the roads after all that..felt sorry for the girls in hot pants!!not the best idea..glad you are back safe etc...love Maureen
Margaret Loving your pics Karen! Looks as if you are having a GOOD time. Lots of love Margaret x