#gibbonexperience

[keepingitneutral]

Bokeo Nature Reserve, Huay Xai, Laos

[catch-e-poley]

Let me see you get LAOS

As well as truck loads of banter and spiritual enlightenment this blog aims to be educational too. Did you know Laos is the most bombed country in the world? You did? We’re not the first under 30 Brits to come to South East Asia? Well either way, you know how much Americans hate communism? Well they tried to bomb the fuck out of it in Laos. There’s still a lot of UXOs there as Team America World Police went for a scatter gun approach to politics, but they’ve sent learnt their lesson on this barbaric approach…

After a satirical, witty, political start I’ll update you on our latest adventures. In Laos we stopped off in Huay Xui to zip line through jungles and sleep in a tree house. It’s called the Gibbon Experience, you can see Gibbons in the trees. We obviously didn’t see any but you can’t ride a Gibbon through a jungle like a zip wire. Shoka bruh. We then got an overcrowded slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Probang. We decided against the fast boat as deaths are apparently common…

In Luang Probang we finally had the chance to enjoy some wine after a long stint of national beer. The great thing about colonisation (apart from everyone speaking English) is the spread of European delicacies to far reaching places across the world. We can admire European architecture, food and drink but in a tropical climate. That’s why I love Gibraltar so much.

We visited a beautiful waterfall in Luang Probang with a bear sanctuary. You can also give monks rice out of your bare hands at 5am… an unmissable event, we gladly missed.

Finally we (I) kayaked down the Mekong river and sampled some local, undrinkable whiskey. Up next, Hanoi and the much hyped about Vietnam.

[eatplaylandon-blog]

Zippin through the jungle canopy. #laos #gibbonexperience #ziplining (at The Gibbon Experience)

[bigadventure2016]

Laos - The Gibbon Experience - Day Three

May 13 - We woke up early again this morning hoping to catch a sight of Gibbons. Unfortunately we could only hear them. Our guide decided to take our group on a short hike to see if we could see them, as they sounded like they were close by. Unfortunately, we still didn't see any :( We had our breakfast at the treehouse then packed up and got ready to make the trek out. We waited at the village where we were initially dropped off, said goodbye to our guides and then piled into the songtauw pickup trucks. Michael and I scored the inside cab all to ourselves (unfortunatlely no air conditioning for the way back, but it was still a more comfortable ride than the back would have been). We stopped for lunch at a cafe (rice and fried vegetables), got some lychee popsicles to go and drove back to Huay Xia. We were able to take showers at the Gibbon Experience's office, and rearranged our bags for our journey to cross the border into Thailand.

~ Leah

Leah leaving our treehouse on an early morning trek to try to see gibbons

Treehouse #2 - known as the baby-maker or honeymoon treehouse designed for two people

Trekking out of the jungle

Our group from treehouse #7 - from left to right is the couple from France, Kent from London, Ontario, Canada (of all places), our junior guide, us, another couple from Canada (recently moved to Hamilton, Ontario), Jonas from Sweden, and our seniour guide

Photos from around the village

[bigadventure2016]

May 12 - Leah approaching zip-line nexus tree

[bigadventure2016]

May 12 - Mike approaching a zip-line nexus tree to which six zip-lines are attached (3 “in”, 3 “out”)

[bigadventure2016]

May 12 - Leah approaching the end of a zip-line. At the end of this clip you can see the zip-line harness gear used.

[bigadventure2016]

May 12 - Mike zip-lining through the jungle