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We stayed one night in Huay Xai (seems to be spelt differently in various places!) so we were there ready to start the Gibbon Experience early the next morning. The town is on the Mekong, and you can see Thailand the other side of the river. It therefore is mostly a border town, with a few hotels and restaurants, and in recent years has become the starting point for the Gibbon Experience.
We had a truck ride for about 80k to take us to the outskirts of the jungle, and then a 3 hour trek into it. There were 7 of us in our group (3 Brits and 4 Aussies) and we had 1 guide. We all got on really well which made the experience even more enjoyable. The trekking was quite tough as it was a lot of up hill and the humidity was intense, but being that far into the jungle was amazing. We had chosen to do the Waterfall experience, which has more trekking, but you get the reward of a waterfall to swim in! We went to the waterfall first and it was fantastic. The water was clear, but greenish, but it was so great to have it all to ourselves. The waterfall was only small, but there was a huge pool for swimming in at the bottom and a vine which you could swing off and lots of rocks to jump off. After this we were then given harnesses, and we had all bought gloves, ready to start going on the zip wires. I went first, and it was such an amazing experience. Some of the zip wires were probably 200 meters above the ground and it really felt like you were flying at times. The views were fantastic. To get to our tree house, where we were sleeping that night, we had to zip wire in, as it was the only way. The treehouses were really well constructed and designed. We had a double matress and bedding, with a dark, thick mosquito net that covered the whole thing, so it became semi-private as well as keeping out the bugs, as the treehouse was all open. The strangest thing was going to the bathroom. whcih was also open, so you could look out at the jungle whilst having a shower going to the loo. We just hope there was no-one looking in at us!
We spent the first afternoon zipping about on the wires and then headed back to the waterfall to cool off. The only annoying problem was that there were lots of bees aroung the treehouses during the day, especially the toilet, so we didn't want to spend much time there until it started to get dark and they all went home.
The second day we trekked to our secong treehouse, after a morning swim at the waterfall. We did some more zipping, and did a really high and long one, which me and Graham went back to several times. Graham also decided to try and video the experience. The problem was that he slowed down due to his position, and did not make it to the end of the wire. Then, as he was holding the camera, he could not grab the wire to stop himself rolling back! This meant he ended up quite far back up the wire, and this is why you need gloves, as you have to pull yourself upside down along the wire (like a Gibbon) to get to the end to unhook. Graham had only got one glove on as he was filming, and shouted to the next person not to come, as he was still on the wire, but the next person misinterpreted and thoguht he said it was ok to come. So, there was a collision! Luckily Andy, who was next, shouted to Graham to stick his feet out, so they banged their feet together to cushion the blow. Anyway, both survived and the video is good!
On the last day we got up at 4am to try to see some gibbons. However, we never found them. We zipped to various tree houses, and did hear them, but they just did not want to be found! The whole experience was fantastic, even though we didn't see gibbons. It was quite expensive, but worth every penny, so we would definately recommend it.
We then spent last night again in Huay Xai. We met up with a couple from the experience for dinner, and our guide was also out celebrating his birthday. We were so tired though that it was early to bed as we knew we had an early start in the morning to cross the border into Thailand and head to Chiang Mai.
Maggie x
- comments
Maggie I forgot to mention the leeches! They were everywhere in the jungle and most people got attacked. I thought I had done really well as I tucked my trousers into my socks and kept checking my shoes and kicking them off. Then at the last lunch stop I went to the loo and found that the top of my trousers were covered in blood and my t.shirt too. I then found a wound on my stomach where a leech must have filled up with my blood then dropped off! So, I now have a dark bruise on mu stomach. I don't know how he managed to get there!
Helen Wow! The Gibbon Experience looks and sounds awesome! Definately worth every penny what ever you guys paid :-) Looking forward to seeing you guys in October, if you come back :-)
Andy Feetom Looks like an absolutely incredible experience, I would have puked in my own face in that zorb but would have loved the zip wires-awesome! Did ya see the original funky gibbon? ha! x