The AMAZING Gibbon Experience (minus the gibbons)

Monkey on her back
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Feb 15/07

Wow, it's finally here. I've been looking forward to this since I found it online in October. We met up at 8:00, a small group of 9 ready to hike. First, we got a safety lesson on video, complete with instructions not to run over the monkeys. Then we loaded up into the back of a truck, and headed out. 3hours of bumpy, dusty roads winding through the Bokeo Conservation area brought us to a small restaurant in Baan Dang (?) where we picked up 2 more travellers to join us.

The road became a track at this point, heading through the river, and up into the forest. The final stop was a small village. There we started hiking. After about 1/2 hour, they fed us lunch, and then the hills began. On the brochure, it stated lots of hiking...mostly uphill. And were they ever right. The hills were brutal, so steep that they had carved steps into them at times. We hiked up for about an hour and then stopped at a small fenced area called the "School, kitchen, etc". Here, we got our harnesses, and were instructed on their use. Leaving the building, one of the monkeys (not gibbon) hanging around jumped onto the top of one of the girls packs and would not get off. She ended up carrying it for about 10 mins uphill, before it moved to another pack, and eventually up a tree. At that point we had reached the first zip line.

The first zip platform.... a big step
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One by one we climbed up the platform, hooked on and stepped off into midair. The first zip was short, we could see the tree we were going to. The first step off was the hardest, but the ride was incredible. Arriving at the tree, the guides immediately attached my rope to another line, barely giving me a chance to look around the treehouse before urging me to jump off. I looked down, and realized he wanted me to climb up onto a tree branch and leap off into nothing. Well, here it goes..... This zip was much longer, and the end of the line disappeared into the trees, with no end is sight. And it was REALLY high up. This time I actually looked around, and when I came to a complete stop about 10 feet from the platform, I got a bit nervous. But I spun around and pulled myself backwards, hand over hand, until the guide could get a grip on my harness and pull me in. It was an uphill battle, and my arms were shaking when I got there.

Me, zipping in
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The afternoon went on, more hiking, more hills, more incredible zips and spectacular views. The group of 11 split into 2, with one group of 5 heading for one treehouse, and the group of 6 going to another. My group of 5 hiked till about 4:30, finally zipping across to an incredible treehouse, reminiscent of "Swiss Family Robinson". We had a shower and bathroom with a view, two levels, and 360degrees of panorama over the forest. We settled in for the night, while the guides jumped out of the tree to get our dinner. Every time someone zipped in or out, the whole tree shook. They came back with a wonderful selection of stir fry and rice, and we were happy to do it justice.

Treehouse 4 (the first night)
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One of the guides (nicknamed Mr. Giggles, for obvious reasons) pulled out a deck of cards and asked me to play memory with him. Then I taught him Go Fish. When it got dark, we lit a candle and chatted around the table until it went out. That was 8:30, and seemed like a good time to sleep.

Feb 16/07

I woke to hear the hooting of gibbons, squawking of birds and the sounds of the forest waking. Unlike roosters, the forest animals seem to wear watches and understand that they are not supposed to make noise before 6:30. At 7:00, we zipped out into the misty forest to go for a morning hike. It started with a loooonnnngggg downhill, which we knew meant we'd be climbing soon enough. At the bottom, we followed a creek along the valley floor, until Mr Giggles pointed up. Nope, not at a trail, just straight up the side of the hill. I had thought yesterdays hiking was tough, but here there was no trail, so we were crawling under bamboo branches, over logs, and slipping down as fast as we scrambled up. I was slower than the others, so one of the guides stayed with me (the man with the golden teeth...cause he had golden teeth). He spoke no english, and didn't want to be in front of me, so he'd wait until I turned around then grunt and shake his head, and point out that I was going the wrong way. I'd backtrack down to where he was and take the other route. Eventually he went ahead, and that was a better system (less backtracking for me). After about 10 mins, he stopped and pointed up. "Monkeys" was all he said. I asked "Gibbons?" and he shook his head. "Monkeys". We watched the branches moving high up in the trees, and then he waved me on.

Treehouse 5 (night 2)
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Now, a word about the program (from our sponsors). The Gibbon Experience was set up to teach the local people in the Bokeo Conservation area that there is a better use of the forest than slash and burn logging. It was started by a French guy who taught the people how to run the program. The guides are all local tribesmen who grew up in the area. They are all little, little guys. Mr. Giggles is about the size of mom (all of 5feet tall) and wiry. They're like little monkeys on the ropes, when they arrived at the treehouse this morning, one was smoking as he zipped in, and the other was eating a mango. They hike in plastic flip-flops, and make no sounds. I was wearing my hiking shoes and could barely keep up with him on the hills, I was slipping so much. And I couldn't walk silently to save my life (or see a gibbon). The ground was covered in dried leaves, but they seem to be able to float over then.

Treehouse 5 from below
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K, back to normal programming. We returned to the treehouse just around 8:30, and the guides brought us breakfast. Unfortunaly, this was the only down part of the trip. Eastern breakfast. Ugggg. It consists of rice, stir fried veggies, and pretty much the same thing as supper. I like it, but it's not breakfast food. Give me toast any day.

After we packed up, we jumped out of our treehouse for the last time, and headed for the waterfall treehouse. After 1 hour of hiking, we crossed the other group who were headed for our treehouse. A water and banana break followed (the bananas pulled out of a nearby tree) and then we split again.

The second treehouse was more simple than the first. It had no running water, and the toilet was down on the ground (at the bottom of the hill). But there was a waterfall and swimming pool. We arrived hot and sweaty, and gladly took advantage of the pool immediately. It was only 1:00, though we were sure that it had to be later than that. Mr Giggles asked if we wanted to go for a hike in the afternoon, and see more of the forest. Mike agreed, but the rest of us spend the afternoon napping, reading, writing, and randomly taking gratuitous zips across the lines for no reason at all.

We had races along the zip lines, took a lot of video footage while zipping  (thank goodness for digital cameras) and generally relaxed. It was a fantastic afternoon. Supper arrived right on time, and tonight we were able to stay up late. We were up until TWO candles burnt out (9:30).

Feb. 17/07

Today, we had to leave. We packed up and jumped out for the last time. Ooops, forgot something, had to go back. Oh, nope, didn't foget it after all. Zip again. And again, just for fun. Eventually we left. There was only one big uphill to start the day off, then it was downhill all the way home. The last hour was walking through corn fields along the valley floor. We got back to the village around 10:30, and had an hour to wait for the truck to arrive.

We left at 11:30, and dropped Mike and Nicole in Baan Dang (?) at 12:00, for a bus to China. Another hour of driving took us to a small bar on the side of the road. Anna, Leeanne and I were left there with the instrucitons "Wait, 1 hour. Hikers". This was cause the driver had to go pick up the other group of 6. They had hiked out to the road (6 hour hike), where we had hiked back to the  village.

And so we waited, and waited and waited. 5 hours later...the was starting to set. There were no phones in town, and the cell coverage sucked. We had no idea what to do, but the locals at the bar (the only one who spoke any english) suggested hitching a ride into town. Then he left, taking his communication skills with him. So, we waved down the next lorry going by. The driver spoke no english, neither did his friend, but we were able to figure out they were going to Huay Xai and far more importantly, they'd take us along. So we climbed in, squeezed together on the bed behind the seats. And thought about all the movies involving hitchhikers and ax-murderers. We quietly discussed whether or not to tell our mothers, since this was DEFINATLY in the category of "Things My Mother Said I Shouldn't Do While Travelling". And then we listened to the driver talk to his friend. Since the only other Laos work (or Thai word) that I know other than hello and thankyou is "foreigner" (falang), it was easy to follow the conversation. It was something like this.

" blah, blah, blah, falang, blah, blah" Laugh a lot, look in the back seat. Repeat.

Hmmm, not a comfy situation, but they dropped us at the edge of town, safe and sound....and 7km from where we wanted to be. So, we stared walking. By this time, it was DARK. After about 40mins of walking we succeeded in flaggin down a pickup who dropped us at the Gibbon office around 7:30. The office staff was starting to get worried about us, as the truck wasn't back yet either. Eventually the whole story came out, the road had been blocked by a tree, and the driver had to wait until the hikers realised they had to hike out to him (not sure why he didn't go get them). That took a few hours. All the time, we'd been thinking that someone had broken a leg, or that the truck had rolled and killed them all...they'd been thinking the same.

The company bought us dinner and we shared our stories before a much needed shower and sleep.