Well what a full on week so far!! Saturday morning we headed off on the Gibbon Experience bright and early after being warned that we would have to walk 7 hours into the jungle due to heavy rain overnight. The rain meant the truck couldn't cross the river so we were driven about 60kms out of Huay Xai with our guides and set off for our long "walk".

Now I have no problem with walking for 7 hours BUT what we went through was not a walk it was like an army assault course and we didn't reach our treehouse until 8pm after being dropped off at 11am!!! The tracks were muddy beyond belief, clambering up steep hills, sliding down others. We did hear a few Gibbons in the distance though...

We trekked and ziplined the last hour in darkness, to finally see the treehouse as we went out on the last line was amazing!! Dinner was waiting for us although it was very little and consisted of rice and a lot of cabbage mainly. Not a happy bunch of campers I tell you!! THEN the shower was freezing cold and only dribbled out with the toilet (that would be the seat on the ground with a hole in it) was stuck between 2 branches which took some navigating!

Day 2 began with rice and cabbage and some other vegetables ... no singing gibbons... and off we zipped. We trekked about 3 hours through more mud and leeches leeches and more leeches YUCK YUCK YUCK. We stopped for lunch (rice, cabbage, cabbage,cabbage and some other vegetables) and a swim in a waterfall which was bliss.

We did the longest zip today - 380 metres long! Most of the lines are about 150 metres high and up to about 250 metres long I would say. These would have to be the highlight.

No rain today so we had fingers crossed they would be able to get the truck in at least part of the way to collect us. However, after our dinner of rice (you guessed it) cabbage and a couple of pieces of sausage the rain came in buckets along with the rats, huge spiders and grasshoppers on steroids.

Day 3 started at 9am in silence as we all knew what was ahead of us. Still only a few gibbons in the distance... we stopped for breakfast again by the waterfall (I won't insult your intelligence by telling you what we had for breakfast) And off we went. 7 hours later we were back at the roadside shop having a well deserved beer lao. Arrived back into Huay Xai at about 6.30pm and met TRacy before finding somewhere to stay. Our room a Sabaydee guesthouse was only 260 baht (NZD$12) between us and even came with drugs in the drawer that we promptly threw out the window!

We had a celebratory dinner with some of the guys from the Gibbon experience before being caught in the rain and locked out of our guesthouse!

Tuesday morning we got a tuk tuk to the slowboat landing and headed off down the Mekong towards Luang Prabang to meet Teresa. We spread out on the floor and although it wasn't comfortable it was nowhere near as packed, cramped and hellish as I expected it to be.

We arrived in Pak Beng at about 5pm (2 hours ahead of what we were told which was a huge bonus). Pak Beng is pretty much halfway between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang and you have to stay there when travelling by slowboat as they can't be on the river in the dark.

We stayed at the Salika Villa guesthouse for 200 baht between three of us - only NZD$2.60 each! The electricity in Pak Beng is by generator and only between 6.30pm and 11.00pm so it was a walk, dinner and a fairly early night for the 3 of us.

The boat took off again at 9am on Wednesday and we managed to get comfy seats in 2 rows so we could swap and take turns having a row to ourselves to stretch out and sleep (well I did ha ha what a surprise) We arrived in Luang Prabang at about 5.30pm being met at the landing by Teresa.

Teresa's guesthouse had no rooms so we found another at 60,000 kip - USD$8 between 3 of us. After showering we met Teresa and went to the night market and I got a duvet set, pants and a scarf (god knows where its all going to fit!)

Luang Prabang is fantastic, really laid back with a strong french influence. Great food and shopping although not as cheap as other places but much better quality.

So... today is Thursday (I think) and we have moved guesthouses to Villa Lao Wooden house which is a tad more upmarket than our last weeks accommodation! I have discovered I have lost my camera charger so found a shop to do it for me today although they did a quick swap but after discussing it for 10 minutes gave up and just hope it keeps its charge!

We have booked a bus to Vang Vieng tomorrow where we will stay and go tubing on the river stopping at bars on the way down - sounds like great fun! From there we will carry on by bus to Vientiane and fly to Hanoi on Sunday afternoon.

So thats me in a nutshell and I will write again soon :)