Gibbon Experience

In the north-west of Laos there is an amazing national park, Bokeo, where a unique trekking experience has been set up. I was lucky enough to find a place on the Waterfall Experience so packed my bags and set off. I arrived early in the day from Luang Nam Tha to a tiny little town (two shops!) where I stayed overnight with the Irish girls. At lunch time, a previous Gibbon group arrived for lunch, along with a couple of Aussie girls who had pulled out of their trek due to paralysing fear... Not a great beginning, however the others raved about their experience so we boarded the sangtheaw to head into the jungle with a mixture of trepidation and excitement.
After travelling along winding and dusty roads for about 40 minutes, we arrived in a little village where groups of people lay exhausted on the grass. We met our guides then ventured forth, walking through corn fields initially, then crossing a few rivers via cantankerous bamboo bridges and plunging through massive clumps of bamboo.
We climbed steadily into the mountains, sweating and panting until we reached a small hut and were fitted with abseiling harnesses. Heading into the jungle again, we eventually came to a wire attached to a large tree. The wire was very long, disappearing into the distance through the trees. One by one, we were attached to it and encouraged to leap off the small wooden platform into the unknown. The zip wires were awesome! Once attached, I was flying through the air, high above the treetops and able to see out to the mountains either side, and rivers far below. I took some video footage and photos, but they cannot convey the experience fully (just make sure you book in when you are next visiting Laos!).
After some trekking and zip wires we zipped into our accommodation for the night - a double story tree house complete with bathroom overlooking a magnificant view, comfy beds and dinner and breakfast delivered via zip wire from the nearby forest kitchen. The jungle sounds during the night were awesome and I wished for some decent recording equipment to bring it home with me.
The next day we trekked early in the morning along slippery paths (actually, we slipped along trekking paths) in search of some wildlife. We were able to hear the Gibbons but didn't see any creatures. After breakfast we hiked to the next tree house and then had lunch and went swimming in a bone-crunchingly freezing river below the waterfall. One of the guides had built a bamboo raft for us so we spent time navigating the river in it. Very refreshing and lots of fun.
On day three we packed up and walked back out of the jungle, taking in the sights and sounds. The experience overall was great, but the downfall was the lack of communication from the guides. I wished that my uncle Stu had been there to name and explain the flora (some of which resembled plants from the daintree)! After arriving back at the village, exhausted from all the trekking, we stopped for a tasty fried rice then made our way over the border into Thailand.
I am now residing in sunny Chiang Mai, where I will be sitting a vipassana retreat for the next 21 days at the International Buddhism Centre at Doi Suthep so, no blogging for a while! I will emerge from retreat on the 16th March then fly to Nepal on the 20th!