Bokeo Province - The Gibbon Experience - Bokeo, Northern Laos - 'When the wheels touch ground'

Bokeo Province (Laos)

When you feel like its all over, there’s another round for you – aka ‘I have mad ziplining skills’

Lunch: (noun) A meal eaten in the middle of the day.

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Sounds simple enough, a very basic construct really. Of course, there’s a number of ways to have lunch, different means of enjoying, sharing and partaking in lunch. In the current circumstances we were in a tree house, some 60+ mtrs off the ground in the middle of the Lao jungle, sharing offerings made by our Lao guides with two Swedes and two Dutch (persons). What the feable definition does not advise you of however is the transfer of insidious Lao superbugs, the kind that have you fearing a casual stroll down the street due to the overwhelming sense of paranoia that a rear end catastrophe may happen at any moment. Sure, my cohorts and I have debated whether this lunch was the actual protagonist, the Lao smoking gun  that had the weakened bowels of these meek falang. I believe that the perpetrator was the meal that we had at lunch in tree house #6 on the second day, either way, impending evil was only a short 12 hours away.

Impending death - Our lunch being zipped in, day two of the Gibbon Experience

The drop-in point - Treehouse 6 exit

Yeah, I have mad ziplining skills!

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Leaving the deconstruction of the Seconds from Disaster programme aside for the moment, the actual afternoon of the second day was an absolute highlight. Ja Lee took a few of us around the zips in the immediate area and then we were let off our leashes in order to take on the Experience at our own pace. As per earlier mentions, being airborne and flying 50-100mtrs above the forest floor was just an amazingly unique and exhilarating situation to be in. Knowing that you’re one of only a handful of people in the area and that you’re the only person in the world experiencing that place, at that moment, at that time, well, as Bruce McAveney would have said, ‘It was special’.

Jase and Audrey in treehouse 6 - I know how Jase just loves photos of himself!

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All of the while, all of the way, rotting a little with each breath, impending death was creeping up on us gradually. As the sun dropped and the chorus of the nocturnal beings of the Lao jungle took over, the struggle of one man to deal with an internal Lao uprising was too much. Jase was the first to succumb to the Lao bomb that dropped in our serene tree house. Splitting the quiet of the house with a far reaching and resonating guttural spew over a hive of what probably would have been fairly content wasps, I think we all felt for the fallen soldier in his time of need, and yet I’m sure we also all thought something that we dare not say aloud, ‘Are we to be next?’. Oh yes my friends, the death cab had arrived through the thicket of undergrowth and had somehow located us in the middle of the wilderness , ‘You son of a bitch!’

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I dropped off a little early from the dinner gathering. For some reason I wasn’t into it, feeling a little worn, I exited so as to reside under the false security of the canopy over my sleeping quarters and aimed up mentally for the next day. This however was my departure point dear friends. As my eyes closed and I waited for sleep to take me away my mind was already having dialogue with my stomach. It wasn’t until a few hours later that my conscious mind reported back and informed me that ‘aforementioned stomach’ had taken a detour down a dark Lao street earlier in the piece and was last seen in the hands of a strangely charismatic Lao man, promising culinary delights from some exotic hawkers fair. My mind, knowing the score and its limited capacity to deal with the situation, stood up at that point and played the only card it had left in its deck, flat out denial. It went something like this;

‘Henry, now stomach is reporting some difficulties, I suggest we shake this off and sleep through the night, that’s my firm recommendation’.

Personally I thought that was the most reasonable option also, I turned on my mattress, took in a few deep breathes and played the game that ‘mind’ had set out for me. A little later my mind came back with an update;

‘Henry, stomach has returned from his little journey, he’s not looking good, there’s things going on in here that make no sense, I’m confused, it’s your call Captain’.

Oh f***, when my mind checks out and I need to make the call myself, well then, I know I’m screwed. The assessment was this, five to seven steps to the bathroom, grab the torch hidden under my pillow, ignore the wasps that may be wanting to make a run directly for my oesophagus once my mouth was open and then set off a spew like I’ve never quite achieved in my life before! And so it came to pass, that on this morning, at N20'29" - E 100' 45", I hurled all over the makeshift bathroom and onto the tops of the trees and hidden Gibbons living in the earthy shelter of the leaves below. It was my Apocalypse Now moment, the point in time where my reality was now shot and I was living in the world of the Lao parasite that was playing a symphony of violence on my internal organs.

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Almost like doing a walk of shame, I crashed back onto the mattress where JJ was hidden in her own cacoon of safety. She asked if I was OK. I think my reply was something akin to, ‘Yeah, am feeling awesome’. The rest of that night was a nightmare, not just for me but for several others also. It was hell in there. In the fog of war all I could really recall were the sounds of violent bombs being dropped in the bathroom and the groans of surrender coming from all around me. As my mind meandered through its own internal maze of sickness clouded philosophy all I could really lock in on was the attempt to navigate my/our way out of the jungle in a few hours time. Freakin’ Gibbon Experience hey, right now it had my balls in its hands and for the love of all things wholesome, it wasn't letting go…….

South America - The genesis for the Year Full of Saturdays

South America - where it began

SAnguine repose

'Well, I learned a lot...I went down to Latin America to find out from them and (learn) their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries'

Ronald Reagan (40th American President)

The South American dream? Where did this decision come from and why am I breaking with my Lao story? Well, I just want to get it down at this point in time so I can remember where and why I pulled the trigger on a potentially life changing experience. So here goes...

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A few weeks ago now I was sitting outside the UTS library with a friend of mine from work who’s also studying law, albeit through another university. Also, when I say friend please read (girl that I tried to asking out but who in turn graciously shot me down),it’s cool, don’t cry for me, there’s meaning and purpose everywhere in this world, you just need to look hard enough. Anyway, we're chatting away she commences telling me about her escape plan for next year and how she intends on leaving work in order to travel though the Middle East for 3-4 months. Great idea obviously, and then comes the weird request of;
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‘You should travel with me if you’re going to be in Spain, we’ll run amok, it’ll be fantastic’

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and my head has switched to high alert with the internal monologue going something like ‘You realise that you turned me down two weeks ago and now you're asking me if I'd like to go travelling with you? That’s stylishly weird lady, but OK, interesting concept’.
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In any case after the conversation I walked away into the night, giving it slight thought but not much more than that, until IT happened.I started to ask myself questions that I'd never before seriously contemplated. Why couldn't I take three months off? In fact, why couldn't I take 6-9 months off? Where are the stop signs in my life right at this point? So what if I postpone the completion of my law degree by six months and I ditch work in order to do something that I have always wanted to do!

Now I have a subtle mental shift as the questions come at me thick and fact, I then ask myself, ‘if I had six months where would I actually like to go?’, and the obvious answer to me, the place that had captured my imagination ever since that atlas table had made its way into my room for the purposes of study had been the mysterious continent of South America. Once the idea crystallised and I mentally challenged all those elements that were suppose to barriers to me achieving ,(living the dream), is when I realised that they were  all just excuses and were no real barriers at all.

Aside from these logical components however I can’t find any more reasoning to pin my thought processes on, well other than the fact that for me, right at this moment, the decision feels right and I guess more than anything else, more so than any other time in my life, I’m being a little selfish and allowing myself to act upon that. Something of an anomaly for me but its simply that feeling that has allowed me to make up my mind in such an unequivocal fashion.
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So, how’s this going to logically work out then? Well, I’ve had Spain & Morocco on my agenda ever since the South African World Cup deal fell through. I guess after copious amounts of sangria and dodging mobile phone thieves to commence this trip during July 2010 I’ll pull up in Belgrade for 4-6 weeks in order to spend time with my family before moving on and setting my sights and bearings south-west, after that, I don’t really know, or really want to plan for actually. I have ideas of where I might go and what I’d like to learn whilst I’m away but this is no Contiki tour and if the wind blows in a certain direction then I might just follow. So for now, I have one eye on the countdown lock for July 2010 and I’ll be pushing for a redundancy at work to back me up. As for the 6-9 months? Well, I really have no schedule or deadline for completion, it could very well be less but it could also be longer than that, we’ll qualify that result on the other side of... here.

Bokeo Province - The Gibbon Experience - Bokeo, Northern Laos

Bokeo Province (Laos)

N 20'29", E 100' 45" - Special Relativity

The Waterfall Gibbon Experience:

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The Waterfall Gibbon Experience takes you deeper into the reserve, trekking for two to three hours per day along the Nam Nga River.

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The waterfall tree house has a fresh-water swimming hole at the bottom, the other shows sunsets overlooking several valleys. Two groups of 4 people depart on alternate days at 7.30am for two nights in Bokeo reserve, swapping tree houses on the second night.

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My, how quaint it all sounds. A leisurely stroll through the Lao jungle, amongst the birds, gibbons, Disney cartoon like faeries, surrounded by the overwhelming perfume of lilacs and frangipanis. Dipping your feet into the cool, Mt.Franklin like spring water just bubbling up from the depths of the pristine limestone caves just metres below the golden Lao earth upon which you tread. That my friends was the Gibbon Experience sell, it was the special relativity sales pitch of modality, wonder and acceptance within a utopian frame of reference, but I digress!

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We had bunkered down in tree house # 5 for the night after walking, zipping and ‘blaking’ (The Lao versio of breaking) for somewhere close to five hours. The accommodation itself was kind of surreal, it takes a moment for you to check yourself and then you realise, it's a bloody tree house in the middle of the Lao jungle! Soaring above the jungle and jutting out of the canopy, it’s basically a large wooden platform with I guess brush or bamboo type thatched roofing. Stairs led down from the main platform to a smaller space which was a semi private bathroom area, totally open to the elements. In the main housing area we were equipped with non transparent canopies, (aka white sheets), which hung above the soft foam mattresses and bed sheets that we had laid out on the floors. This was to be our sleeping quarters for the evening.

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Having the sun dip on us and the jungle awaken with the onset of nightfall was fascinating. Hearing bizarre calls of what we thought were gibbons way off in the distance was incredible but hearing the rustle of branches about 5mtrs from your head with what sounded like a creature of large-ish proportions was a little unnerving. As the group settled in and did their best to tuck in their sheets under the mattresses so as to avoid the approaching army of Lao jungle critters, it felt as though that we were getting pulled deeper into the web of all things nocturnal and the later it got, the more sounds that you heard, each closer to your own personal space than the previous sound. Smaller creatures and then larger ones made their way amongst our bags, making sounds that most of us chose not to follow up with actual wildlife sightings. I guess the thinking was ‘well if I don’t acknowledge that they're there then they're not and hence they wont do jackshit to me’. I do recall during the middle of the night that some type of creature flew into the house, (I assume a bat), and carried off another creature squealing for its measly life. That’s the Lao jungle however, you can't mess with it because it's hardcore and badass, carried off into the middle of the night like some right wing political hit carried out by the Argentine junta. The next time you’re seen it will be at the bottom of a river, disembowelled, entrails lingering at the scene of the crime,gruesome.

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On a much brighter note howeve the sun brought with it a magical and mystical sight. The deep forest mist within the valley was pierced by an orange-reddish ball of light, creating with it an image that you wouldn’t dream could be possible outside of constructed works of fantasy.

Outside of the experiences that you gain on a journey it’s those unique images that stick with you, (or with me rather), that in turn push me along on to my next adventure and have me becoming the ever increasing travelaholic.

Sunrise over the Lao Jungle - Bokeo Province - Northern Laos

Somewhere about 7am the buzz or whir on the zipline signalled the arrival of our breakfast and the start of day 2 at the Experience. This was to be our ‘zipping’ day, something that I’d been looking forward to for sometime. As the group got ready and slowly filed up onto the platform, readying themselves to get online and step off into the abyss, you could see the levels of anxiety starting to rise and the mental preparations that people were going through in order to find that ‘ziplining safety file’ that they’d stored in their mental H:Drive. I was last to leave tree house #5 that morning, a little disconcerting in that our Lao ninja guides weren’t there to offer their final assessment on whether my equipment was ‘good to go’ or whether my fall from the tree house was going to be ‘good to go’. One thing I knew that I had have right was the safety clip, so ‘hey stuff it’, ‘zip on my friends’ , out of T5 and above the trees – AWESOME.

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This morning, in the words of the all inspiring king of the understatement, Ja Lee, was going to go something like this, ‘Maybe we walk 30 mins, then we zipping, then up 20 mins, then zip and then down 30 mins’. As I mentioned briefly in my last write up, when he said it in that comfortable Lao accent, well it sounded like a stroll in the par and whilst today was not to be ‘Hell Day’ the bullshit assessment that he’d always provide in regards to the degree of difficulty meant that by the end of the Experience I could have ripped his nuts off!

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Zip # 3 for the day was a damn beauty. A few steps off the dirt runway and then a launch into the air. Flying above the valley, appreciating how picturesque and how unique the experience was in turn just imparted a unique sense of freedom, if only for a moment, and then you slowdown, realising that you won’t make the end of the zipline and that you’ll need to drag yourself in  to the end point hanging 60mtrs above the ground virtually upside down but again, what to say other than AWESOME!

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On this day however the journey to tree house 6 wasn’t particularly pleasant for some. As the sun got higher in the sky and we exerted ourselves with uphill climbs, our energy levels were depleting dramatically leaving us weary, worn and exhausted. A gentle, soothing stroll in the wilds of Lao? I’d say for half the team they’d give me the big f*** you for saying such a thing. The photo of JJ below tells the story, even taking a photo of her in this situation meant that I was going to have hell to pay at some time in the near future (meh, still, I took my chances, lol). In any case a long while after our guides had estimated that we'd  arrive at our port of call for the afternoon/night, we actually did, bloody hell, someone should really buy them a clue! When it comes to estimating the duration of a walk they were off by such margins that the use of their information caused more ill feeling and frustration than anything.

Henry you bastard! Taking a photo of me now means that I kill you tomorrow~

The walk continues...on to tree house #6

Now tree house 6 was a gem. It kind of stood out on its lonesome with the zip approaches coming from deep within the jungle and then breaking out in open air before making its way into the house. Inevitably, well for most people, you’d get caught a few metres short of the end of the zip and you’d need to turn around and pull yourself in hand over hand. Again, doing that, realising that you’re clipped onto the line by a harness and safety line, then looking 60-80 mtrs down to the forest floor, was (to use a word other than surreal), phantasmagoric.

Jase zipping in to treehouse #6

Much like the tree house of the previous night, tree house #6 was built in much the same manner/style. Two zip lines in and one out, all dangling well above the canopy and providing dramatic viewing whichever way you were going. Most of us just chilled for an hour or two on our arrival, relaxing and taking in our surrounds. Ja Lee had offered to take us for a zip line tour later in the afternoon, but until that time, it was rest, recuperation and a spot of lunch,(oh dear…lunch), what evils that food had lurking for us beneath its inviting aroma and warmly goodness ,evil, evil Lao delights, how you mocked me, how you treated me like your tree house bitch! This however will be a story to be told on another day.

Treehouse #6 - Bokeo Province - Northern Laos