Well that was the worst bus journey to date, but in a weird way also my fave. Proof that I really can sleep anywhere, and also I know when I'm 80, thinking back it will bring a smile to my face.

So got taken to the bus station just after 6pm for my 7pm bus to Huay Xai, where the Gibbon Experience is. Loadssss of time, I thought. Well, a guy showed me straight to a minivan, which was about to leave and was very much full. And when I say full, I mean every seat was taken and the isle was piled with 20 passengers luggage. But in true Asia style they found a seat for me. Well it was a fold down seat, with only half a back rest, not great for a 13 hour night bus!!!! Never the less I sat down and mentioned the bus was leaving early, to which someone said "no, this is the 6pm bus to Chiang Mai". Umm. Couldn't say where I was going, so showed the name to the driver, to which he shook his head. Ok. So I shouted the guy who showed me to the minivan, to which he said "same same, no worries". So well that's what I did, I sat down, knowing I was probably on the wrong bus, going to the wrong place and had no worries. I'll sort it out in the morning I thought. Ended up folding my 'seat' back away and lying on the floor of the bus for some sleep. Haha makes me laugh just writing it. But as always it did work out ok. I got off the minivan before the Thai boarder and got in a tuk tuk, ad found myself a private room with a bed in Huay Xai. Relaxed for the day, checked into the Gibbon Office, and made use of good wifi by skypeing some of the fam.

So the Gibbon Experience... Definitely a highlight of the trip and one of the coolest things I've ever done! Drove deep into the Bokeo jungle, then had an hours trek going even deeper in. Then, well it's hard to explain just how incredible it was. Spent three days trekking and zip lining through the gorgeous jungle. Reliving childhood dreams by sleeping in an amazing treehouse, where the only way in and out was through zip line. Slept outside with just a mosquito net covering each of us. and woken up to the most tropical sounds I have ever heard! And the shower, o my! Was cold but it didn't matter because it was all outside and overlooking the jungle. By far the best shower ever.
Down side to being in the jungle, we had a few encounters with creepy crawlers, a spider was found near my bed and was so big, it made one of the other girls heave.

Coolest thing was being in charge of our own zip lining. So we had to attached it, check it and unattached it all by ourselves. Felt like a right ninja zip lining myself from tree to tree.

So glad I did the two nights, meant I had time to spend the afternoon in the treehouse reading and watching the sun set and afternoon. Also had two mornings of gibbon watching, and on the second day, we spotted them. Bonus.

It was the prefect way to end my time in Laos. Leaving now to head back into Thailand. It's going so fast now!

X