Luang Nam Tha and Huay Xai (1 - 7 November 2007)
Every time that I think the transport we are using cannot possibly get worse, I am taken aback! The boat that we took from Muang Ngoi arrived too late in Nong Khiaw and we missed the bus to Luang Nam Tha. ‘Luckily’ there was a pick-up that was willing to take us and six others on to Udomxai (half way to Luang Nam Tha) where we could get a bus to Luang Nam Tha. The pick up was a Shawngthaew (small truck with two benches on either side with a little canopy to keep the horrid sunlight or rain at bay.
So eight of us squeezed into the Shawngthaew; our luggage tied onto the roof. On the way we picked up another local lady who miraculously wringed herself into the already chock-a-block Shawngthaew. And so the journey began… the fumes from the Shawngthaew seemed to creep into the furthest part of our lunges and we had to cover our mouths with whatever we could find. Then it started raining! We did not get too wet, but it was extremely cold and off course, no one was prepared for cold whether in Laos at this time of day! This trip took three and a half hours… I was so happy when we arrived in Udomxai - I very nearly kissed the bus driver who was going to take us to Luang Nam Tha, but I refrained (I do have a boyfriend you know!) Eon washed his hair that night and the shampoo foam was a nasty black colour from the fumes!
We arrived in a very cold and rainy Luang Nam Tha at 20:00 and checked into the first guesthouse we could find. We spent three days in Luang Nam Tha, doing absolutely nothing! It was raining all the time and our prospects of doing hiking here faded as the rain came down. At least we got to catch up on our website posts - Eon spent nearly four hours at the internet café 
So next on the list was Huay Xai, a little town known for two things: over land border crossing to Thailand and ‘The Gibbon Experience’. Ever since we started planning this trip, I remember Eon talking about the Gibbon Experience and how he would love to do this. But it always seemed to be a bit too expensive for our tight budget, so I never really gave it a second thought. Seeing that we did not do any hiking in Luang Nam Tha and lived slightly under budget up to now, we had the chance to splash out and decided that we would do the Gibbon Experience after all. To put things in to perspective for you - the Gibbon Experience costs about the same as one week’s accommodation, travelling costs and meals!!! ($150 per person)
The Gibbon Experience is a two night/three day wander into the jungle where you sleep over in ‘sky scraper’ tree houses overlooking the jungle canopy. The transportation mode between the tree houses is where the actual adventure lies - you ‘zip’ from one tree house to another, many, many, many meters above the ground. We arrived at the offices to be informed that the Gibbon Experience was booked up three weeks in advance, but we could put our names on the waiting list for the next day. Should someone not pitch, we could go in their place. So the next morning we had all our belongings packed and waited at the offices. If we cannot go on the Gibbon Experience, we would cross the border into Thailand.
And yet again on this trip - we were at the right place at the right time! Two people did not show up so we very excitedly filled out all indemnity forms, made the payment, stored our big backpacks and took only the necessities for the next two days in a small daypack and jumped into the jeep with the other 10 people in the group.
We have heard horror stories about the hike into the jungle - ‘attack of the killer leeches’ or seven hour hike all uphill’ or ‘never seen so much mud in my life’. But it turned out that we still had fantastic luck - it stopped raining a day ago, so the jeep could take us most of the way. We only had to do a two hour hike and it was not too muddy or slippery. There were some leeches (one got right through Eon’s hiking sock and left a lot of blood on his trousers), but ‘killer leeches’ - not exactly.
We really had a great group: three lovely Irish girls, two interesting, alternative Americans, a sexy Austrian guy, an English girl who have travelled extensively and used to teach in China, two English guys and the reincarnation of Crocodile Dundee.
Our group stayed in three tree houses: Tree House no.1 took six people and because it was the first zip line that we took, we did not want to stay there - we wanted to do some more zipping before ‘settling in’. Eon and I did not have much of a choice, we were granted Tree House no.2 also known as ‘The LOVE hut’ as it can only accommodate two people. The remaining four people went to Tree House no.3. Our 25 meter high tree house had an open area bedroom/kitchen (2 small mattresses on the floor with a mosquito net to keep most creatures out, a gas stove, cooler box with a big hole in and a shelve with four mugs, two forks, some candles and mosquito coils) and a bathroom downstairs (a shower, blocked basin and squat toilet). The guides deliver breakfast and dinner to your tree house each day and lunch was a social gathering in tree house one.
The tree houses are all built in high trees on top of a hill, which sets up the most breathtaking views of the jungles’ valleys and tree canopies. To ‘zip’ means that you wear a harness (like you would in rock climbing) and you attach your harness to a cable that runs between tree houses and platforms about 50 to 100 meters above the ground (there is a whole network of these cable lines through out the jungle). You zip in and out of your tree house and take zip lines over the valleys to visit the people in the other tree houses. Each tree house is at least a half an hour’s hike from each other, so you need to take at least five zips to get from tree house no.1 to no.2. The zipping is exhilarating - it combines heights with speed while offering a magnificent view!
After exhausting ourselves with the hike and an afternoon of zipping, Eon and I retired to our tree house and had an early dinner. By 18:30 it was already dark and we climbed into bed. As we settled in, we heard some scratching sounds and we got very excited, thinking we might have a monkey, maybe even a gibbon, in our tree house. We quietly reached for our torch and FLASHED!! No - it was no monkey - instead we had visitors of another kind. Something that looks like a mouse but the size of a rat! And it had the cheek to come sniff around for our food! The noise was really disturbing, and even though it woke me up every hour or so, I made my peace with that. But when the little buggers decided to join me in my bed, I threw a tantrum of note! I woke Eon, not by actually trying to wake him, but by my sudden ‘IT IS IN THE BED!!!!’ shriek and we tucked the mosquito net as deep under the mattress as possible. I just could not fall asleep after that (paranoia), so I did what any girl in distress would do - I took two Adcodols - and I slept until sunrise
The next morning we got up at dawn to watch the sunrise from our tree house. The guide brought our snacks (fruit, sweets and condensed milk) and asked if we wanted to go for a walk. We happily accepted and zipped down. We took the first zip and when we got to the connecting platform, we heard the gibbons singing (yes, they actually sing - the female in a high long tone, followed by the male singing in low shorted tones). Our guide got very excited and browsed through the valley below us - instructing us to keep very quite. Then, from nowhere, I saw movement in the trees ahead of us. I followed the movement and then I saw them - two black gibbons (males). The guide signalled to us to manually pull ourselves on the zip line until we got to the middle of the valley to get a clearer view. And there they were - males and females - playing in a bare tree just below us. It was stunning! Only after the whole episode had passed, did I realize how fortunate we were to see this - apparently it is not a common phenomenon and we were the only people in our group that saw them.
Yes, our second day on this adventure started out great! The rest of the day we just spent zipping around in the jungle - doing loops, running back up the hill to do another loop. It turned out that I had some natural talent for building up speed on the zips - I would always make it to the next platform or tree house without having to pull myself to the end (most of the others could not do this). But my arrogance was nipped in the butt… At about 16:00, I was quite tired and said to one of the Irish girls that I am only going to do this long, fast zip one more time. And then the unthinkable happened - I went so fast that I was unable to break. When I realised what was happening, I did what any idiot would do - I grabbed the cable with my bare hands! Firstly I drove the pulley right over my hand, cutting into the flesh and secondly I went slamming into the tree. I acted all calm and collected until I saw Eon and just burst into tears (please have a look at my battle-scar-photo).
I look back at the Gibbon Experience as one of the greatest things I have done in my life! I definitely recommend it to anyone travelling in this area - it is worth every penny.
So three fantastic days came to an end and so did our Laos trip. When we returned to Huay Xai, we crossed the border via Ferry into Thailand.
Click on image to view Gibbon Experience Gallery: