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Gibbons!!
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Well - the moment we were all waiting for (some more eagerly than others!!) has arrived.....we've been to the Gibbon Experience. (http://www.gibbonx.org) It was actually so much better than I had expected - well, me being scared of heights and all. It was absolutely marvelous though!!
First day we left Houay Xai and drove for about two hours to get to the starting point of the trek. We had to trek for about two or three hours to get to a small waterfall with a swimming pool. A couple of the group went swimming (Malcolm included) but the rest of us simply stuck our toes in to the freezing water and said "no thanks!". After that we were introduced to the zip lines (insert scary music here). Of course, as with everything in life, they didn't take us to a nice easy zip line first.....we went on the longest and highest one in the park. This particular zip line is about 150 meters high and nearly a kilometer long. Holding you onto the zip lines is a waist harness, a couple of pulleys and a bit of bicycle tire as a brake. EEK!! Malcolm did a perfect job right out of the gate, but I panicked a bit and used my brakes so ended up having to have a guide come out and help me in as I was stranded quite a ways out. Oops.
The rest of the first afternoon we spent zipping through the trees, and eventually we arrived at our treehouse for the night. Malcolm and I were treated to our own bungalow, which was very nice. Although the toilet had a view that left a bit to be desired (it hung out off the side of the treehouse!) The guide brought us our dinner and we had Ovaltine to keep warm. No electricity in the trees, so we were to bed pretty early - never mind the fact it was freezing cold as well!
Next morning we were up early in the hopes of seeing some animals from our treehouse. Saw a few birdies, but that was about it. We headed out for breakfast at about 8:30 with the rest of the group and then immediately off on the trek to the treehouse for the second night. It was a good two to three hours of fairly hard going to get there, but the second treehouse was amazing! It was in a really tall tree in the middle of a valley of sorts, so it stood out above all the others and gave amazing views. This time the treehouse was much bigger, as it housed 8 people. Still the loo left a bit to be desired - the squat was right next to the side of the treehouse and right next to the zip line out. There was a shower, but if you looked down you could see right through the floor to the trees far below. Not that any of us showered anyway - that would require removing all layers of clothing and it was FAR too cold for that! We all spent the evening playing cards and drinking Ovaltine trying to stay warm.
At some point during the day Malcolm had spoken to our guide about the possibility of going somewhere to hopefully see the gibbons. There are only about 100 gibbons in this area so sightings are really rare, but Malcolm knew how much I was hoping to at least hear them. So, our guide and Malcolm cooked up a plan in which we set out at 3:00am for a trek in the jungle in the dark for about three hours to hopefully hear and see the gibbons at dawn. It seemed (if not cruel to get up that early) a sort of logical enough plan to me......until about twenty minutes after we left our treehouse when I asked our guide how often he did night treks. "Never" was not the answer I was hoping for to say the least! Still, we all made it in one piece, and we were so incredibly rewarded for our efforts as we not only heard the gibbons, but we saw one male and one pregnant female swinging through the trees. It was amazing! And the sounds they made - I can't even begin to describe it - at some points it almost sounded like a computer game or possibly a modem dialing?! It was really out of this world!
We arrived back at the pickup place tired, dirty and sweaty and really rather pleased with ourselves about midmorning. We got back to Houay Xai at about 2:00pm and took the boat across the river to Thailand and are staying tonight in Chiang Khong. Tomorrow morning we will be hopping on a bus to Bangkok in anticipation of Adie's (Malcolm's mum) arrival on Tuesday.
Love to all -
K & M
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