We spent two nights in Chang Rai but didn't actually see much of it - Just a few restaurants in the vicinity of our hostel, the surrounding roads and the hostel room itself. Mark met up with us on our second night. He had spent 2.5weeks in the south of Thailand and flew up from Bangkok to spend the next 2 weeks with us in Laos. The plan was to head straight through to Laos the next day in order to check in for our Gibbon Experience which we were lucky enough to have gotten place on for the 7th of Jan.

Within 4 hours we had walked to the bus station in Chang Rai, caught a local bus to the Thai border city, Chang Kong, caught a boat across the Mekong River to Huay Xai in laos, organised visas, drew Laos local currency and checked into a hostel. Not bad going. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of food - all the meals we had at different restaurants on the one long road making up the village were fantastic. We signed ourselves in for the Classic Gibbon Experience which entailed signing our lives away through a indemnity agreement. We have been looking forward to the GE for months and it was finally one sleep away!

At 8:00am we were at the offices to watch a safety video and were on the road in an open van by 8:30. The journey to our trekking start point was windy and dusty but the scenery made up for it - We were driving along a road bordering the Nam Kahn national Park - hectares of mountains packed with dense green foliage of every shade. About 20 minutes away from our trekking start point we were faced with a bit of a hurdle - literally. A huge tree had fallen down across the only road to get there over night. The 2 van full of backpackers (15 of us in total), watched helplessly as the guides attempted to move the trunk by tying it to the van with a rope and driving the car - but to no avail. The car may as well have been an ant trying to move it - the tree did not budge an inch. We were not equipped with an electric chainsaw and any attempt to try saw through the trunk with a hand held would have taken hours. So plan B was to build a road around the fallen tree. This sounds easier than it actually was as the right side of the road was a mountain face and the left side had a pretty steep embankment. All the boys in the group lent a hand sawing the fallen trunk, heaving the pieces of the trunk out of the way (some of the pieces needed 6 big guys to move them!), cutting down the shrubbery and trees in the way of the new path, and hoeing the ground on the embankment to create a ramp for the van to get to the newly created, hand-made road. After about 1.5hours and a lot of sweat and car pushing, the cars eventually got around and we were back on the road towards the Gibbon Experience.

Our group of 15 trekked for about 1.5hours through wide open fields and dense jungle to get to the equipment shed where we receieved our harnesses. At that point we were split into 3 groups - 2 people had the 'honeymoon tree house', 8 others headed towards tree house 7 and us 3 along with Katie and Henry from Guernsey started our adventure to get to Tree house 3. At this point, I should probably describe what the Gibbon Experience actually is. It was launched as a conservation project to protect the hundred or so endangered Gibbon Monkeys in the park from extinction. The park was furnished with a number of large tree houses, each completely isolated from the next, at the tops of the biggest trees with views of the vast jungle below. Now, in order to get to these tree houses you clip yourself, with your harness, to a cord, jump off a ledge and pretty much fly across a tree filled canyon between two high points.....about 150metres above the ground!!!! The park has been fitted with 22 separate zip lines - and that's how you spend your day - hiking between the zip start points and flying across the the jungle!

Our first attempts were all with trepidation. Its a strange feeling to go against your instincts that tell you not to jump off a ledge 150metres above the ground. But was it worth the few anxious moments before the jump - its the closest thing a human can get to flying because unlike bungee jumping or skydiving, you are not falling. Instead, you sit in your harness and glide through the sky - it is trullly exhilarating. At first, we weren't making it all the way to the other end and were having to pull ourselves in with our arms and we were also spinning around as we went across. But pretty quickly we mastered the art and were running between zip lines to try get in as much air time as possible. The longest zip was just short of 500metres - the 20 or so seconds it takes to get across feels like forever but once you've reached the other side it feels like it was way too short and so you run back up to the start point to do it again! The views from that high up were truthfully breathtaking - greenery against the brilliant blue sky for as far as the eye could see.

After a few hours of trekking and zipping we made it to our tree house. We knew to expect something spectacular but there is no way we could have envisioned our surroundings. The sun was setting and the sky was orange and pink and the lush forest went on forever below us. No picture could ever do it justice! The house was equipped with 5 solid mattresses and linen, mosquito nets, a table and chairs, a kitchen with a sink and cutlery and a shower/toilet area that overlooked the entire jungle. For obvious safety reasons, it was forbidden to zip at night and so we were tree bound from sunset till sunrise. Our guide, Toun, bought us our dinner and left us for the night. We tucked in, played cards, spoke and laughed until bedtime approached...at 8:30pm!!! Clearly building roads, trekking and zipping are pretty tiring activities.

On day 2, toun took us on a strenuous walk through the jungle before breakfast to try catch a glimpse of the elusive Gibbon. We didn't actually see any but most groups don't - they are so rare that a sighting is a serious bonus to the trip. The whole day was filled with zipping. We all particularly enjoyed a circuit of 4 zips in a row. You run off onto the first, which ends in a massive tree high above the rest of the canopy. From there, you attach yourself directly onto another cord and zip off to the other side. A short walk up leads you to the third line which takes you back to the same tree in the middle and from there back to the start point. We must have each done the circuit at least 5 times. The feeling of flying is addictive! That night it started to rain and we fell asleep to the noise of the falling rain and the sounds of the jungle Not a bad way to spend a day.

The rain didn't stop all night and was still going when we woke up on the last day. Our usual view of greenery was replaced with thick white clouds hovering over the canopy. Our first zip of the day was literally into the clouds - we could not see 5metres in front of us which is a scary thing when you know you are approaching a tree at a scarily fast pace (zipping when the cord is wet yields a much faster ride). But just in time the clouds thinned out and we could always judge our distance and stop well in time before any tree slamming occurred.

We arrived back in Huay Shai in the late afternoon. The 3 day Classic GE far exceeded any of our expectations and believe me when I say they were high! We were so happy yo have been able to share the experience with Mark - He has a larger than life personality and is always the life and soul of the party - we laughed the whole way through. Our group was completed with the 2 'non-couple' Brits who we got on so well with. The 5 of us met up again for sundowners at our Hostel overlooking the Mekong River and were joined by a Dutch Couple, Jay and Jeanette, who formed part of the other group of 8 on the GE. The 7 of us would land up travelling together for the next few days. All in all - a once in a lifetime, unorgettable experience shared with some fantastic people. Definitely in the top 3 best things weve done so far!