the gibbon experience.

sunday morning. We woke early and got to the bus station half an hour before we were meant to leave. Apparently eveyone else had a similar idea, because by the time we got on the bus there was only one seat left. Thinking id be standing up the whole way, i braced myself for the journey, but I shouldn't have been so doubtful of the lao way because they had it all covered. Plastic chairs were loaded into the aisle for those of us unlucky enough to have missed out on a seat. It wasn't so bad at first-before we started moving-but after the first three blind corners my poor chair legs were barely hanging in there, let alone my screaming arms. every corner I was up on two legs, trying my hardest not to snap the flimsy plastic seat or end up on the people next to me, all the while determined to maintain some level of composure. After about 2 hours, we arrived at our destination. A dusty little unknown village called don chai, nestled cosily against a roaring highway. Before leaving luang nam tha, we had experienced a little bit of trouble explaining to the driver that we wanted to get off there, (this is where we would be picked up the next morning by the gibbon people) but we figured it couldn't be too hard to spot. Realisation dawned on us when we were promptly offloaded under a sign that read 'don chai' on the edge of a highway, literally in the middle of nowhere. To try and avoid looking like lost fools to the other people on the bus, we stuck our chins out and began walking purposefully in one direction only to find about 10 bamboo huts and a pack of mangey dogs. Shit. Luckily, there were some monks watching us from a temple up on a hill and they started yelling to us, 'where you go?' All we had was a piece of paper saying 'mr I-deng's guest house and restaurant' and so Claire yelled out 'do you know mr I-Deng?' They all pointed immediately back the way we had come, and so we lumbered off like unco-ordinated turtles under our packs, asking anyone we saw if they knew mr I-Deng. The highway was so dusty that every 30 seconds we were enveloped in a gigantic plume of dirt as a semi trailer roared by, just you're averaged roadside village experience. Everyone just kept pointing down the road until the very last place, where we finally found the elusive 'restaurant and guest house' which would be more adequately described as 'dusty shop of random snacks with a little room in the back.' We plonked our things down and got some lunch, and then were joined by mr I-Deng's two young daughters- Ghanda and Aiv. They taught us to speak a little lao, and also gave us a lesson in traditional dance. We made origami and played cards, and the next morning the younger one got me to braid her hair for school. So cute! At about 11, we were picked up by the people from the gibbon experience and drove along the most ridiculously steep and bumpy track until we reached a little village. We walked from there into the jungle for about 2 hours, until we reached a cool little waterfall. From there, we hiked up a maze of steps to our first zip line. excitement rippled through our group of 8 as one by one we clipped ourselves on to the wire and made the leap of faith off the platform. When you jump, you shoot forward instantly, flying through the trees on either side of you until suddenly they disappear and you're 100m above the jungle canopy, flying over a valley between two mountains. The view is breathtaking, and you have to pinch yourself to get your brain to realise it's actually happening. A few more zip lines later and we saw our treehouse. It was so great -very tarzan- with a little kitchen, table and mosquito nets hanging from the roof over our beds. The shower was the best though; two walls behind you, but infront was just a small railing and then the most incredible view of the jungle, from a cool 70m up. The next few days were amazing, zipping through the jungle on about 20 different wires, fighting off leeches, climbing mountains, eating jungle food and ducking through the dark caves made by the thick bamboo plants that bent over the path. It was an experience like nothing else, and by the time we got back to little don chai our bodies were aching and we were covered in mud to prove it. We got what tasted like the best meal of our lives, and then steeled ourselves for the bus ride back up to luang nam tha. Waving goodbye to the others, who were going to huay xai, we asked Mr I-deng when we should expect the bus to luang nam tha. "Oh maybe 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, sometimes 3 or 4" came the reply, accompanied by vague gesticulations and a little chuckle. So we decided that all we could do was wait and hope to flag down the bus (because it wasn't actually stopping) when it went by. As we waited, a shiny silver van pulled up outside the shop. The first man to topple out was a beaming chinese man in a hawaiian shirt, clutching a glass of bubbly. "hey hey!" he yelled, raising his glass, still beaming, doing some awkward kind of grapevine step across the dirt in his loafers. He was closely followed by a gaggle of men in ralph lauren polo's, the kind of rich business men who go on holiday but can't bring themselves to unwind enough to go without a button up shirt. within seconds they had swarmed the building, plucking bottles of scotch from the shelves and acting all charming-or so they must have thought. Having just come from 3 days in the jungle, the last thing we felt like doing was posing for photographs with drunk, over-friendly chinese men. One guy was trying to communicate something in broken english, and kept sliding up along the seat. A lady who must have been his wife started saying "my husband" and bending and straightening her elbow. I couldn't decide whether she was threatening us or just demonstrating that her husband has quite a good range of motioon in his joints. Who knows. About half an hour after they left, we spotted the rickety old bus motoring down the highway with a gigantic cloud of dust billowing out behind. I darted out onto the road and waved it down, and we climbed aboard amongst bags of rice, computer parts and confused people who had though we were missionaries. Go figure. We got back safely to luang nam tha and had the best nights sleep in a good week, all in preparation for our journey onwards.