After my bus and boat adventure through Laos, I was ready for the jungle, zip-lines (strapping yourself to a wire a sliding along the wire from one point to another), and gibbons (a type of monkey) that the "Gibbon Experience" in northern Laos seemed to promise. The first day was a mix of an extremely long hike down a dirt road to a trail, where the rain began to come down hard and we found ourselves slopping around in the mud and becoming more and more agitated with each slip in the mud or thorns in our hands from trying to grasp something to prevent a wipe out.

Finally arriving at the camp, they split us into two groups, and, relieved, we went off to our respective tree houses, which was simply a wooden platform built high in the trees with a thatched roof and a sheet to separate the wide open space where everybody ate and slept together from the toilet and shower. After taking a shower, we were all able to calm down, and enjoy some rice, cabbage, and carrot dinner before settling in for the night. The night was not quiet though, the girls squirmed with almost every noise and then large rats made their way up into the tree house to scavenge, which nearly set about a frenzy, but everything eventually settled down.

The next morning, one of the Laos guys zip-lined in to bring us breakfast, and then we set off back down the slippery, muddy trail to fly along the zip lines and eventually make it to the other group's tree house for lunch. After lunch the two groups split again, and we began our long hike all the way around the jungle. However, while walking along Kelly and I decided that we really wanted to be with the other bigger group, and she came up with an idea that I thought would be awesome but a little leery about and was one of those moments when a kid says, "Hey Dad, watch this!" which is usually followed with a trip to the hospital.

The idea was that we could leave in the night and zip-line and hike across the small mountain ridges until we made it to the tree house furthest out where the other group was going to be staying for the night. This all sounded grand except that we could barely get across the slick, mud-laden trails during the day much less at night with only one headlamp, no guide, and once we crossed the first zip line there was no turning back and no way of going to get help without continuing the entire trail, which would leave the other person alone in a jungle with actual tigers for at least 3-5 hours. So, while these thoughts along with thoughts of other treacherous night treks of my past ran through my head, she told me that it was perfectly OK if we did not go, but she would not have even considered doing it if it had been anyone else. Words like those strikes the chords of nearly every male, usually to his demise, but I told her that if it was not raining and if she was willing to run (a few kilometers uphill in the mud) and make it to the last zip line before all the light of the sun was gone, then I would do it.

We made it back to our tree house, and it was not raining but the sun was beginning to set. So, we talked about whether we could make it for a second, and I said, "Let's go." Within a flash Kelly had everything packed up and even packed us dinner, and so we set off running. It was more slippery running through the mud, and it also made our running a lot more strenuous, but our momentum over the slick kept us from completely wiping out. As we made our way across the ridges from one zip line to the next, I could not believe how fast we covering this ground that literally took us hours earlier in the day. Finally, we arrived just as it was getting dark at the last zip line that spanned 275 yards from the ridge where we stood over a ravine to the tree house on the ridge of the other side with probably a 200 foot drop from the middle of the line to the ground at the bottom of the ravine. There we decided to scare the group and began working out a plan.

We dressed ourselves in whatever black clothing we had and then covered our faces and arms with black mud all the while occasionally screaming animal noises out to the tree house to make them tense, which was then turned on us. As we waited until it got completely dark, the jungle became more and more alive with noises, and a fire fly through the jungle was interpreted by me to be a person carrying a flashlight, but Kelly thought it was the eyes of one of the wild tigers sneaking up to eat us. It nearly brought her to tears, but she held firm and we stuck to the plan. Being hooked up and ready to race off regardless of whether the firefly was a person or a tiger, we started out over the ravine slowly going hand-over-hand until we were at a comfortable height over the trees to ease Kelly's fear of the tigers and then waited a little while longer.

It took us over an hour suspended over the jungle to finally reach the tree house. Once there, we had to wait a while under the tree house because our legs had gone completely numb and limp from being strapped tightly into the harnesses on the adventure across. We finally re-gained feeling in our legs and resumed our plan by pulling out the ipod and some speakers and playing "Roxanne" under where they were all seated. The girls could not figure out what was going on, and the guys were wondering which one of them was trying to play a trick on the rest. Then they all gathered together and realized that it was none of them and that the sound was coming from underneath, then I began banging on the hatch that led up to the tree house from the zip line. This, of course made them all scared, and it was not until Kelly and I began screaming at them, that a couple of the braver guys ventured over to open the hatch. We then forced the hatch open and jumped into the midst of them looking like jungle people completely dressed in black and covered in mud! They all jumped back for a second, and then recognized that it was Kelly and I.

The night finished off well, and even though none of us ever saw a gibbon, we all regard the experience as one of our best. Also, the eleven of us that were in the tree house that night all became good friends, and we ended up traveling together throughout Asia. Now, our group is moving from Huay Xai on a two day slow boat with the locals down the Mekong River to the old Laos capitol, Luang Prabang.