Day 1 started in Houayxay, a small border town across the river from Northern Thailand. Two groups of about 8 people met in the Gibbon office for breakfast and a short instructional and safety video about how to zip-line. We then loaded into the back of two vehicles, none of us really knowing or being told what was coming next. Before we knew it, we were still in the back of a covered, yet open air, bed of a pick up truck 3 hours later heading deeper and deeper into Northern Laos. Throughout the 3 hour journey, the landscape and villages got more and more desolate. Rolling hills turned in to densely covered mountains and acceptable towns turned in to third world villages complete with wood huts and no electricity. We finally stopped for a "short" break in a very small roadside village. We ended up sitting here while we waited for our driver to help the local villagers lift two gigantic logs into the bed of a truck way too small to carry it. Good times.
When we got back in the vehicles, we thought we were going to continue on the mostly paved road, but we were wrong. Still having no idea how much further we had to go, we took an abrubt left turn onto a dirt road and immediately started crossing a river...with no bridge! That's right, our truck just drove directly into the quick, deep brown river with water over the tires and before we got over the shock of what was happening, we had made it across. At this point I should point out that it was rainy season in the Laos jungle, which made the trip very different than it could have been. Our first eye-opener of rainy season was when we had to all unload the vehicle when we hit the first serious uphill section of the road. The driver tried to get the truck up the hill on his own, but he couldn't. Instead, we spent the next 20 minutes pushing the two trucks up the hill, just so we could literally slide down the other side. Fortunately it was the only time we had to actually push the vehicles, but the next hour had more of the same over and over again.
We finally got to the end of the road, where a small and pleasant village sat on a small stream. The village is part of the Gibbon Project, which has provided them with a school and assistance in transforming their economy from one based on slash-and-burn farming, logging and poaching, to one based on sustainable, conservation focused activity.
So here is where the trekking began, and again we had no idea where or how far we were going. The first thing we had to do was cross the stream, which meant either embarrassing the group by stopping to take your shoes off just to put them on 15 secons later on the other side, or to just suck it up and walk across. So we all just sucked it up and walked across, and had sopping wet feet for the rest of the day. In reality, it didn't really matter because the entire trail was covered in mud everywhere we went. All kinds of mud. Mud puddles, wet mud, slick mud, sticky mud, soft mud. It was a weird contrast with the hot air that made you absolutely covered in sweat within 10 minutes, especially with the extra weight of the pack on your back. It was also the kind of mud that was home to hundreds and hundreds of leeches, which you'll hear about later. The first part of the trail brought us through some of the farmland of the village, including some beautiful rice fields. We slowly started climing in elevation toward the basecamp of the true Gibbon Experience, wherever that was.
About an hour later, we reached the basecamp for the Gibbon Experience. It was here that we received our harnesses for the zip-lining and was told to split into two groups as we would be staying in two different tree houses. There was a group of six dutch girls that all bonded immediately, which left 8 of us to join a group of our own. It consisted of me and Nat, an Irishman, two Hawaiians spending a year in Japan teaching English, and three Danish friends travelling the world for the better part of a year. It ended up being a great group of people and we had an amazing time with eachothers company.
So once we started hiking again, we were all beginning to wonder when the zip-lining would start. Well, it came soon enough and we were naturally all a bit nervous about the first leap onto a small wire while only being attached by a few pieces of hard-core fabric. We had two guides with us at the time, and the first one quickly showed us how to connect to the line and then took off! He eventually yelled OK from the other side and it was time for the first person to give it a try. The zip-lining was by far the best part of the entire trip. You can go zip-lining in any touristy adventure park where you get to climb some stairs and then zip down a controlled line into a padded landing. This, however, was the real deal. It was a cable tied to a tree on either end, a small wood platform (if your lucky) to jump from, and an exhilerating free-ride with nothing but you and the sound of the cable until you reached the other side. An extreme rush with spectacular views...and the consistent hesitation to look down. Truely an incredible experience that fortunately didn't end for three days!
Our guide used our camera to snatch this video for us!
We quickly passed Treehouse 1, which is where the Dutch girls were staying for the night. At this point we figured that our treehouse, #7, would be right around the corner. So we excitedly walked through the jungle enjoying the surroundings and looking above for our 2-night home. And we walked. And kept walking. And zip-lined a few times. And kept zip-lining. And hours later, soaked with sweat and covered in mud, we finally arrived at treehouse 7. The treehouses are pretty amazing structures. The only way in and out of the treehouse is by zip-line, and you literally are on the top of a huge tree towering above the jungle in a wood house built into the branches. Ours, which comfortably slept 8, was two stories high, and was complete with a solar generator, a gas stove, a sink and shower with running spring water, and a "toilet." The treehouse was set with coffee and tea and some local forest fruits that we began to devour immediatley. Soon after, our dinner was brought to us by one of our guides that was prepared in their hut nearby. We decided to all shower and clean up before enjoying dinner, which consisted of a huge basket of rice and four side dishes to share.
The next day our guide showed up at around 6am ready to go Gibbon hunting. Unfortunately, this wasn't really communicated ahead of time and he never woke everyone up, so half of us sat around wondering what was going to happen while the other half got some extra sleep. Eventually he left and breakfast showed up a little while later. Breakfast consisted of the same thing we had for dinner, with a slight change to one of the side dishes which was egg. The morning was quite surreal as the entire treehouse was surrounded by thick fog. The zip lines away from the house dissipated just meters away and only a few trees were visible in the near distance. Over the early morning hours, the fog slowly lifted accenting the layers of valleys, hills and mountains in the distance. It was stunning!
We eventually left the treehouse to explore some more of the zip-line network and make our way to visit some of the other treehouses. Light raining was falling, but it was a nice relief to the hot sun so no one really cared. We eventually made our way through the mud and zip lines to treehouse #3. This treehouse was quite a bit smaller than ours but did offer an even more outstanding view! While we were hanging out in the treehouse, we decided to take our shoes off and Nat found one of her socks covered in blood! She took her sock off to find a blood sucking leech resting on the top of her foot after it had been peeled off from between one of her toes. After the "leech incident" we were on leech watch with every step we took for the next two days. And we saw a lot.
The best zip line in the entire network was one that stretched across a huge valley offering the best view possible of the hills and valleys in the distance. The feature that made it the best was that it was actually two separate zip lines connected to a single tree half way across the valley. So we got to zip line across to the first tree, unhook and re-hook to the next zip line, and then go for another ride right away! Similar to the way our treehouse was, it was definitely the scariest platform to jump from. Most of the time you would run and jump from the ground or a platform near the ground. Things are a little scarier when you have to just jump (or sit and nudge your way off) a small platform from the top of a tree. I would often stand there and hesitate for a few seconds (or minutes) before I finally took the leap of faith.
For lunch, we made our way to treehouse 1 where the dutch girls were staying while they went to our treehouse for their lunch. Although it was a different cook that prepared our lunch, it was basically the same thing, yet again. Treehouse 1 was very nice and even had a house cat! Apparently the cat helps keep away insects and rats. Having lunch at treehouse 1 meant we had a long trek (and many zip lines) to get back to treehouse 7, so the afternoon was spent enjoying the sound of the zip and avoiding the mud leeches as much as possible. The longer the day went on, the less any of us cared about being smelly and dirty...and believe me, we were all of the above. After we got back to our treehouse, our guide left us but told us to feel free to explore the zip-lines surrounding our treehouse. So we all went for a couple laps on the zip-lines, which really never got old. By this time it was sunny and a very nice evening. We enjoyed the same dinner again and made ourselves struggle to stay up until 9pm by playing a card game that we pretty much made up as we played. It was entertaining to say the least. During our card game, we all saw something flying around the treehouse out of the corner of our eyes. Well, we thought it was flying, but in reality it was a huge spider slowly coming down from the straw ceiling on it's web. I thought it was a double dragonfly, so that tells you how big the spider actually was. Luckily it quickly retreated under the floor.
That night we had some thunder and lightening, and some rain, which all made us worry that our trucks wouldn't be able to navigate the road in to the village to pick us up which meant we would have to walk it. But before we headed out, we all got up at 6am to go on the Gibbon hunt. This consisted of our guide taking us on a trail deeper into the jungle very quietly and slowly listening for gibbon sounds and watching anything that moved above us. At one point we stopped for about 10 minutes while our guide got really excited and pointed into the bush. We all stood there wondering what he could see, and eventually some kind of chicken bird walked out and crossed the trail. That was about it. The day before we did see a pretty neat flying squirrel creature, but we all felt the experience was well worth it regardless of the lack of wildlife.
After breakfast, we made our way across the zip-lines and hiked through the jungle back to the basecamp where we had a small break and gave up our harnesses. We then walked through the lower elevation heat back to the village, where we were happy to see our vehicles awaiting us! They had brought in a new group of gibbon experiencers who were just starting their hike. Our group emerged from the jungle hot, sweaty, and dirty as could be, while these fresh trekkers were in the process of taking off their shoes to cross the stream. One of the girls even had her boyfriend carry her across. We were so happy to see the stream and the vehicles that we jumped in the water with all of our shoes on and started scrubbing off our legs and shoes from the layers and layers of mud they had collected that morning. The newbies were pretty much in shock...!
Our vehicles made it out of the village and through the muddy road without many problems, I guess because it was mostly downhill. All of us wanted to just crash and take a nap, but most of us were unable to due to the bumpy and crazy road. We were all excited to cross the river without a bridge again as well, which was just as exciting the second time around! Lunch awaited us when we returned to the village, and then we had a couple hour drive back to Houayxay. During lunch we exchanged details with our new friends and bid our goodbyes as some of them were staying there and heading in the other direction.
I know this post is a bit long, but I wanted to be quite detailed as there isn't a lot of good information out there on The Gibbon Experience. Their website is pretty basic, so the best way for travelers to learn about the experience is by blogs like this one. Overall, the experience is totally and completely worth it. If you go during rainy season, be prepared for some dirty and hard work. If you go during dry season, it's probably not near as strenuous. Either way, you should be fit enough to hike both up and down decent elevation gains for many hours each day. You also can't be afraid of heights or anything else that you might be afraid of while zip-lining. Be prepared to see bugs, insects, millipeeds, spiders, leeches, and hear all kinds of crazy sounds. Finally, don't expect a nice romantic getaway sleeping in a treetop house with food served to you at your will. You will be sharing with strangers and it's a very social environment. If you're going to want your boyfriend to carry you across a little stream so you don't have to take your shoes off, this trip is probably not for you. On the other hand, you're not completely roughing it. I would call it a guided trek, but there is obviously some fun thrown in and it's not like you're climbing Everest or anything. Pretty much everything you need will be provided for you (food, bedding, water, harnesses, towels, etc). Just bring some rain gear and anything else you'll want while you're in the jungle for 3 days. There really isn't a need to bring a huge pack with you at all...in fact one of the guys in our group just brought a small bag he carried with his hands (although not recommended for zip-lining purposes). Leave everything at the Gibbon office and only bring a change of clothes or two and some essentials (like deodorant which will make your housemates like you better). Feel free to comment here if you have been before and have additional comments, or to ask me any questions!
For more information on the Gibbon Project and the Bokeo Conservation Project, you can check out their website: http://www.gibbonexperience.org/.
