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

Bokeo Province - The Gibbon Experience - Bokeo, Northern Laos

Bokeo Province (Laos)

N 20'29", E 100' 45".

The Project: Poaching, logging and slash-and-burn farming are destroying primary forest and its inhabitants in South East Asia. The team at Animo have long been looking for innovative methods to solve this problem.

A concept emerged; with the local people we build tree houses and a network of zip lines through the canopy of Bokeo Nature Reserve. We provide accommodation in the treetops and local guides ‘fly’ you over the forest to meet the wildlife. The funds received are reinvested to protect the forest.

This is The Gibbon Experience.

This is where it started, well, it wasn't so much the concept of assisting the local people with deriving something from their natural environment, other than slashing and burning for the sake of farming, it was more the kind of surreal concept of sleeping in a tree house 50mtrs above the ground and zip lining between tree houses that captured our imagination, the bi-product of a tourist stimulated economy was thankfully the happy end result for the Lao people in this part of their land. Something that I believe we were more than satisfied to participate in but more regarding the tree houses and zip lining later on.

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08.03.09 - Day One of the Gibbon Experience

The Gibbon Experience was the sole reason for our little group flying into the remote outpost of Huay Xai, although I'm sure that Jase wanted to check out Luang Namtha at one stage also and that would have been an alternative option for him had we have decided not to have gone Gibbon hunting. So the four of us arrived at the offices of the Gibbon Experience all primed for what we believed was going to be an exhilarating experience, providing us with the opportunity of penetrating some distance into the jungles of Bokeo Province. It was only after the commencement of the instructional videos in the Gibbon offices that I became acutely aware of the risks that we were all preparing to undertake in order to get ourselves both in and out of this adventure. The instructional video didn't leave me filled with absolute assurance that my safety was anything else but in my own hands, or that of the guides (but more in an incidental manner rather than anything purposeful) who by the way we also later came to realise weren't that much help to us in any sort of situation. Having the zip line procedure explained and the apparatus delivered in somewhat of sketchy fashion really had me asking internal questions of how assured I was going to be of flying 100mtrs above the jungle canopy with a harness and a couple clips to lock me into a steel cable, kind of precarious, no? But as usual, it was c'est la vie, it couldn't be that dangerous  now could it? Wouldn't we have already heard tales of Gibbon death and destruction? Fabled urban myths of English backpackers flying into the forest canopy, never to be seen or heard from again? This is the methodology  I use to overcome my anxieties.

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With the 10min safety lesson done and dusted we picked up our packs and threw them on top of one of the Gibbon Express 4WD and drove out of Huay Xai heading kind of south-east initially and then north-west after that, although that could be a pretty wayward guess, I mean all I could say with 100% assurety was that we were still in Laos, just. Travelling through the high forested hills filled with a thick blanket of haze surrounding us we travelled for somewhere over an hour, past small villages scattered along the roadside until we reached a pick up/drop-off point for people gearing up to undertake the adventure. By the best I can figure it out with the aid of Google maps the place was called Ban Nam Kanne, but again, this is more of a guesstimate than anything precise, so I bare no responsibility for your stuff up if you take this as gospel.

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After a 30min stop to pick up necessary supplies (something that in hindsight we should have made more use of) we piled back into the 4WD and struck out in the high hills/mountains. It was here that for the next 1.5 hours the four of us were bounced around in the back of this vehicle like a jumping castle gone wrong in some b-grade horror film. In all truth I kind of enjoyed it because getting out into the back of nowhere is all about the journey and getting belted from pillar to post is part of the accomplishment, I mean it was never ever going to be a freakin' tea party in your backyard filled cream cheese party snacks now was it !? As we negotiated twists, turns and bumps of a hellishly dirt filled road, we also managed to get completely covered in the reddish-rust coloured Lao dirt that was thrown up by our skillful driver, it's what happens when you sit in the open air seating compartment without pulling down the protective plastic sheets, which, sure, may have saved us some of the trouble,but 'stuff that' where would the fun have been in arriving clean?

 

Lao style hair colouring, I actually kind of like it - 'My Lao makeover, - Bokeo Province - Northern Laos

After acquiring that new style Jungle chic look (Very popular for 2009, or so says the Lonely Planet guide), we finally landed in a small outpost that was going to act as the kick-off point for our journey into gibbon jungle territory. All in all the drive itself was fairly picturesque, a panorama of high jungle forests, relatively dry and constantly filled with the smokey haze, an experience in itself, but now my friends, the time had arrived. It was GO TIME for the Gibbon Adventure of a lifetime and we were all set and in relatively high spirits to allow ourselves to get our Alby Mangels on!

The starting point - some small village - Bokeo Province - N 20'29", E 100' 45"

 

The village itself looked like the quintessential Lao style village, (really,like I'd know what a quintessential Lao village would actually look like), but OK, it looked like your typical South-East Asian village that you might recognise from one of your favourite National Geographic episodes, the one that you'd expect to find if you didn't actually go looking for it. Thatched palm roofs, wood huts, scattered livestock, kids running around and doing what they do best, chickens doing whatever the hell they do. So I'm guessing it was typically Lao, right!?Yeah it was,it was! That's my insightful assessment and I'm sticking to it.

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We formed ourselves into groups of eight for our walk into the jungle, not a bad number seeing as though our Australian adventure group already had 50% of the weighting of the required eightsome, and after a very quick meet and greet with our guides, Ja Lee and Ca Va, or however they were spelt, we headed intrepidly into the Laotian wilds and beyond.

The creek crossing into Wonderland - Bokeo Province - Northern Laos

Our group struck out across the flats pretty quickly, I think everyone was filled with a bit of excitement and was perhaps feeling a little cocky at the start of the walk, each person assured with their own ability and ready assumption that the walk wouldn't be too taxing and would be somewhat of a comfortable stroll, perhaps offering the odd challenging spot at times but nothing that couldn't be conquered with relative ease. To add, I don't think our guides gave us any other indication that day as to difficulty or specific duration other than the walk would be somewhere in the vicinity of three hours and to paraphrase Ja Lee on his own assessment of what was to come, 'We go up, then we go down, walk a little, then we go up and then down', sure, sounded relatively comfortable and the theory of the undulating walk and our plan of attack was reasonable, but this is where the bullshit of the guides started to be brought to the forefront of our minds and it didn't get any easier to deal with them over the course of the next few days.

Lunch stop day 1 - relatively early, and me looking kind of....well, you can make your own mind up

Lunch done and most of us feeling comfortable with proceedings thus far we struck out across the Lao countryside on what was a relatively warm day but nothing too excruciating or unbearable, but the perception that most of us had of the walk changed once we encountered the base of the first hill. For most people this was to be the end of any type of Sunday picnic type stroll that they may have envisaged before signing on. I have to say for me, it wasn't oppressive or completely above my comfort level, it was reasonable but much longer than I had anticipated when we kicked things off. Really, I don't quite know how many hills we covered that day but most of us were gassed after hill #1, more due to the cockiness factor than anything else. We did hit the climb at a fairly cracking pace soon realising however that tempo climbing as a slower pace was much better than the all out assault we attempted as our first strategical ploy. Looking back down the track  could see that Janelle, Jase and Audrey were already feeling the pinch and our guides weren't doing much to alleviate the situation either as they kept on moving at their own pace with their assured, 'We now go slowly'. They never did! Their slowly meant that they would be keeping to their own pace and schedule which in turn meant a hell of a struggle for the rest of the group.

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I'd say it was somewhere on the three hour mark that we reached the first stop for the day, a wonderfully cool and refreshing rock pool, with a half decent waterfall to boot. Just perfect for a group that had been slogging in the sun and were definitely feeling the effects of incessant heat. It was fantastic however to be able take some time out  from the walk and consciously realise both our situation and location. We, (I), were/was in a fantastically remote place in the middle of a Laotian jungle, swimming around in a rock pool and absorbing everything going on around me. For some reason I remember that specific moment as being kind of surreal or perhaps I was just very present at that point in  time as I recall making a mental note that I should try and remember as much of the time and space of that moment as possible.

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After soaking in the surroundings, admiring the views and generally just relaxing from a few hours of challenging hikinh , it was time to get up and get aerial. Now was the time to get our game face on and to go all Evil Freakin' Keneivel , zip time had just arrived on our doorstep and for me  this was an equivalent highlight to hanging out in the tree houses.

One of the tree houses at the Gibbon Experience

After climbing back up the hill a few mins that had led down to the rock pool we stopped off for a few moments and sorted out our harnesses for the first zip line attempt. Now this is where the questionable safety procedures and measures came into play as most people went about struggling into their harnesses without too much direction or advice from the zip line experts. I guess their take was, well, you'll swim if you need to prevent yourself from drowning . So we all did out best to harness up with minimal correction or direction from the guides. I'm sure it was at this point that many of us tried to think back to what felt like a 30 second infomercial at Gibbon headquarters regarding how to operate our zip line contraption, how we should break and what the hell we should do if we got caught mid line hanging upside down 50mtrs off the ground with only our safety line to keep us breathing and preventing a fall to a rather sudden stop.

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How did I feel? OK from memory. I'd been abseiling a few times before so the equipment I was familiar with. I won't say that the adrenalin wasn't firing around this little body because there certainly was a hell of a lot of that going on. I guess with bits of fear, some trepidation and much excitement we all tried to remember what little the guides told us, clipped in our safety lines first, then the zip trolleys and checked that our harnesses were good to go. Not sure who had the honour of jumping off first but from memory I took my turn just after Jase. Watching him take off I witnessed him flying into the distance and then waited for the all clear call online, and then, after what felt like an eternity, I took my own fateful few steps from the launch platform before the zip line took over the slack and I was elevated above the greenery. I was online! And the feeling? Well, it was insane! Launching into the ether, between mountain ridges, above the greenery of the forest canopy, some 50mtrs up  and moving at a speed anywhere between 50kms-70kms an hour was more than just  little exhilarating. Again, it was one of those moments where you needed to mentally check yourself and take a second to realise the situation or the adrenalin would just blur out the reality of the situation, which I think is what happened on the first zip anyway. Never the less, for the acrophobic, if indeed there were any, this was the type of overload you needed to get over your fear and with an hour or so more walking to go with a couple of more zips to our beds for the night, it was the perfect remedy to well and truly conquer that mental anguish.

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After what ended up being a relatively long day we finally made it to our lodging for the evening, and again, to call it a spectacular would have just be a gross understatement. Just to see this huge tree house built so far above the ground, protruding out of the forest canopy was a sight to behold, but I'll fill in more about that next blog entry.

Vientiane to Huay Xai - 'Air Maybe'

Vientiane (Laos) to Huay Xai (Laos)

09.03.07 

We decided to kick off the morning in quite a pleasant cafe that Jase had selected on account that he is quite anal, and felt in his being that he should need to prompt us daily with SMS status checks and all other fatherly-alpha male BS that had me wanting to shut him up quick smart. You see, everytime he decided to be a cock  head on this trip, which entended up being quite often, well, I decided internally that I should call it out in this blog because I didn't do it at the time but I definitelty should have. In any case, JJ and I made our way down to the Bin Lao cafe, which was quite a pleasant place and was set in some nice gardens. We all enjoyed a nice breakfast and made the most of our final morning in Vientiane for the next few weeks.

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After breakfast the four of us aimed to check out the morning markets and more by fortune than by design stumbled across a totally different area of Vientiane than we'd not had the pleasure of experiencing thus far. More of an upmarket I'd say, having that distinctly French/European feel. In a way it was fairly representative of Vientiane generally, a place that revealed itself slowly, wasn't showy at all but certainly had its own charms and that was something that you could easily warm to. It was at this point that Jase and I threw the girls out a challenge and decide to take the optional and creative route to the markets with just our own logical abilities of orientation to guide us. Now, when it comes to finding your way around a town without so much as a map to guide you, how do you think the female mind does? Very well actually from what we were to find out!
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Jase and I made it to the markets via good 'ole fashioned male skill and stubborness, truth be told however, the markets were as boring as all hell, basically the equivalent of Paddy's markets on any weekday, so your typical vanilla style, tourist driven shop trap, and that's ok too, just not what we were looking for this morning but a definite mental check in my book for a quick stop and go on the way home. After a quick spin Jase and I headed back to base camp and realised that we had made the young players error of still operating on KL time, not so bad in that it gave us an extra hour and hence additional time with out newest companion, the all too popular man of the moment, beer Lao.

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Strolling back to the Dragon Lodge we deduced that the girls had also realised the fatal one hour vacuum, you know, that place in the ever existing continuous moment where time and space vanishes in a sea of cheesy knick-knacks. Never the less we settled back, yet again, for that Lao 'cure-all' and it really must be a 'cure-all' as it solves all time related, hygeine related and socially related difficulties for $0.80 cents a pop! A few down, a tuk-tuk ride later and a little weaving through Vientiane traffic and we were back at Vientiane International/Domestic, all ready to make the flight north to Huay Xai and our destination with the fire breathing Gibbons.

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Now, let me just say this. Of the countless times that I've jumped on flights in my life to destinations near and far, you'd think that out of all things in my life I'd be cool with that it would be flying. Well no my friends, this is no longer the case. The fatalistic programme Air Crash Investigation has completely devasted my faith in all things that move at a height of greater than 5mtrs off the ground. In addition, I had caught a Lonely Planet show the year before and distinctly remember them commenting on Lao air travel and how they flight on instinct rather than by the use of any credible aviational/navigational instruments! I'd much rather have swam up the Mekong for a few months then take this flying rust bucket for a spin north, but hey, a scorecard of 3-1 means that you're taking it to the Lao skies where the tag line is, and I quote, 'You're safe with us'!!!! ...REALLY Lao Air??? Why the F*** would you need to tell me that? Shouldn't it be a correct assumption on my part that I will be safe without you needing to broadcast the fact? Coupled with the fact that Lao Air until fairly recently didn't have the greatest safety record going round, I've got to say that I was slightly apprehensive in taking to the Laotian skies, ever so blue, and extremely hazy. Air Maybe was either going to maybe get us there or maybe get us into the afterlife on an express pass. Here we go!

Air Maybe on the ground - Huay Xai - Laos

As Air Maybe thundered down the Vientiane motorway to the skies I rode out every bump and analysed every strange sound until we made it to cruising altitude,man, that's no way to live now is it? Still, perhaps in an anti-climax to the story, we flew a an uneventful flight until such time we poked out through the haze above Huay Xai and found ourselves hovering over the occasional cow that I assume could only be thinking that Air Maybe was disturbing their daily cud chewing ritual.
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Thankfully the twin prop plane had got me up and down in one piece and landed me on a piece of bitumen that really was in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't until a few mins after we had landed that JJ pointed out that one side of the runway actually slid off into quite a steep ravine on one side and any false move by the pilot in a Lao-Lao induced haze would have  been quite the ride. F*** air travel, there's got to be a better way!

Huay Xai, on the border with Thailand - North-western Laos

Disembarking Air Maybe and looking around the joint you really did get the feeling that you'd been picked up and dropped off in the middle of oblivion, try and find that on a map! Aside from the smoke induced haze and the rolling hills around the runway the only building of any note was the shack which doubled as the domestic terminal. Knowing and seeing that we were nowhere and knowing that out excursion the next day was taking us into the Lao jungle, well, our next few days be deduction were going to be a long way from nowhere and I was really looking forward to that!

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We jumped a tuk-tuk into Huay Xai and surprisingly found it to be a little larger than the single street town that we had anticipated. The town is directly across the Mekong from the Thai border town of Chiang(something), have forgotten the name but you can look it up yourself. There appeared to be a fair bit of tourist traffic from people border hopping and making their way into Laos after discovering the nothern part of Thailand. The place at a decent mix of cafes, internet cafes, general convenience stores and guesthouses. I mean, you wouldn't set aside days to deliberately visit but it was a comfortable place to use in order to get somewhere else, or, jump onto the Gibbon Experience whose headquarters were based there.

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That evening we alled gathered for a little BBQ'ed Lao style chicken wrapped in banana leaves, which was fantastic, and hijacked a bottle of Lao vodka, which conversely was brutal.It was all to get us in the mood for the next day in any case. With dinner over and the night still young JJ and I left Jase and Audrey to their own devices whilst we cruised a little outside of town for some more Lao medicine before returning home. This however is only the beginning of the story, the next three days were to be, as they say, 'quite the experience'.

JJ eyeing of the brutal Lao product - Huay Xai - Laos

Huay Xai at dusk - North West Laos

Vodka impurities and Gibbon Dreaming
Huay Xai - Laos

Vientiane - That's the spirit!

Vientiane (Laos)

Now the Lonely Planet guide had something in it that had caught our attention as it indicated that this particular place was a must see destination if one was going to be spending a bit of time in Vientiane. From some of the pictures that I'd seen before hand I kind of had to agree with their assessment. Basically this venue or place was called the Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan) and was located approximately 25kms south-east of Vientiane or a 40min ride out of town by tuk-tuk. In actual fact it may have been longer than that now that I think of it. Although, for the 'player at home', our tuk-tuk man did have a pricing schedule in his motorised office so we knew exactly what we'd be in for before departing Vientiane.

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What to say about the Buddha Park? Well, it was built by a priest-shaman back in the middle of the 1950's and combines both Buddhist and Hindu pieces within the display. I must say, I'm a little hazy on the reasoning in terms of the how and why this man cracked it one sunny afternoon and decided to undertake this radical endeavour, and at this moment in time, truthfully, couldn't be too bothered to do the requisite research for this write up, but I do know that whilst we were in Vientiene  the best any of us could  come up with was, 'how freakin' random is this place?' , and yes, it was exactly that. Below are some of the shots that we captured whilst in the park.

Giant Buddha - Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan) - Vientiane

Some bizarre tree out of a head and a 'Last Crusade' look alike

Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan) - Vientiane

The place was stimulating enough to maintain our interest for a couple of hours, if nothing else it provided most of us with some photo opportunities of which we all took advantage. In addition, being a warm day and understanding that it would be most un-Lao, or perhaps that could be better said as most un-Australian to pass up an opportunity to sit back and consume some of Lao's finest product, that's pretty much what we did for the rest of the afternoon. Overlooking the Mekong, with cows walking amongst us, we settled back for a many a bottle of beer Lao or several until at some point I felt obliged to walk over and chat with the tuk-tuk driver in order to  discuss with him how long we intended on staying, etc. Whilst chatting he did advise me that he was looking to move at sometime in the near future as he needed to pick his kids up from school, so out of courtesy I told him 'no problems' and that we'd be making a move relatively soon. And really, to keep a guy waiting for hours without advising him as what's going on his just a lack rude, discourteous and displays a complete lack of manners. I say that because somewhat ssurprisingly and for some unknown reason, my cock head mate decided to put it to the group or rather asked them rather directly whether they were OK with what I'd just gone and done? Now what the hell was that about?  I mean where is the necessity and reasoning behind that? I was acting purely out of courtesy and not malice or spite. To me his questioning of my behaviour was purely arrogant and pointless. Even as I write this there are just many points that come to mind in hindsight  that I realise particularly pissed me off  but I  didn't act on for the sake of harmony and no causing a scene. In any case the rest of the group felt it was the right thing to have done so at least in that sense I was vindicated for showing a little class and courtesy.
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 It's strange but on reflection of this particular event and several others that followed it really felt as thought he was deliberately trying to antagonise me, for what reason I'm not quite sure? In any case, that aside, we motored back into Vientiane later that afternoon on our hired tuk-tuk and landed ourselves a great position in a half decent bamboo bar where we were able to chill out in some prime cushioned comfort and caught another magnificent sunset make its way over from the Thai side of the border. As people know  I've got a thing for sunsets and the couple that I saw during my time in Vientiane were truly spectacular.

Sunset over Vientiane - Laos

It was another end to a fantastic day. So as the sun decided to call it quits and our memories faded into a meld of alcohol infused well being mixed with introspection and a matchbox full of new experiences, JJ and I decided to take the litmus test and wonder the streets, particularly looking for a bar that I had located online before we left good 'ole Sydney town. A place called The Spirit House.

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This little bar is something that I checked out online prior a few months earlier in anticipation of spending a few days in Vientiane. It looked pretty cool although Jase told me that I'd be going along because it looked to upper class for him. Another idiot response but on reflection, any place that had a few additional carpets on the floor would have been too upper class for him, so maybe was right. In any case I do recall the directions for the Spirit House being something akin to, walk down the main road, find yourself a direct track and keep going, and then 'when you think you've walked too far, is when you've actually walked far enough'.

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JJ and I attempted to get a tuk-tuk to take us down to this place but for some reason the tuk-tuk drivers actually didn't know what we were talking about or weren't particularly interested or came up with some exorbitant price for getting us to a place that they seemed to only  vaguely know. We took a punt and walked the Mekong highway for 20 mins or so until we reached the end of the bamboo stretch. Thus far it appeared that everything was on track, and literally, by the time we decided to keep going, we were on a dirt track. This was when the choice however seemed to become somewhat dubious. No street lights, a small dirt track, all other roads diminishing out of sight, us walking into the Vientiane wilderness. I continued to explain to JJ that from memory this was the way it was suppose to happen, but hey, I also was starting to doubt my memory. Finally, at the point where both of us believed that we'd gone that extra bit too far, the Spirit House dawned upon us like a true place of spirituality and place of reverence for all things alcoholic.
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The place ended up being pretty damn cool and worth the trouble that it took to get there. The drink and food was sublime and for a second night in Vientiane, the company wasn't too bad either! Not a bad way to close out day two in Laos.

The Spirit House, overlooking Thailand - Vientiane - Laos

Vientiane - Laos, the land of a millions elephants

Vientiane (Laos)

Flying out of Kuala Lumpur about 1.5-2hrs north-east we were heading to one of the poorest countries on earth, and apparently, one of the most welcoming. Needless to say, on arrival, JJ (the one travelling without a Lao entry visa), somehow managed to get one in an instant, and in turn got by customers well in advance of Jase, Audrey and myself. Sometimes the road less travelled is the one that's far more favourable. Interestingly the way it worked out meant that I was virtually the last person through customers, at which time I received some relatively interesting questions from the customs officer checking out my passport, it went something like this
(Officer) 'Are you on holiday?'

(Henry) 'Yes'

(Officer) 'Why did it take you so long to come of the plane'

(Henry) At this point I wanted to say, 'well mate, it's your retarded process that had me waiting' but I just smiled and added, 'No, that wasn't very long'.

Then the officer said something very strange that had me jumping a little,
 (Officer) 'You got drug on?'

(Henry) 'No'...with a little amusement and apprehension

(Officer) Once again puts the same question to me, 'You got drug on ?'

(Henry) 'No, I don't', more forcefully.

The officer then points to my entry papers and then I realise what the hell he was talking about, we were going to stay at the Dragon (Dra-gon) hotel in the centre of Vientiane and he was doing his best to ask me as to whether I was going there but the way he was actually pronouncing it made me more than just a little paranoid. I thought all my Moroccan brothers had jumped a plane to Laos and where in cahoots with these lovely Laotian people by trying to work me over for another scam!

After surviving customs and resolving our quest for kip ( the Lao currency), we jumped a tuk-tuk and headed into town. It's usually at this point that I try and absorb as much as I can so that I can relate what I'm seeing to something familiar. I had expected, before arriving, that Vientiane would be very similar to Phnom Penh, a little run down, a little dirty, a little rough around the edges with evidence of that French influence in its architecture. Well, it wasn't really like that, and it wasn't really anything Vietnamese either, it was somewhere in between those poles. Relatively clean, a little dusty on it's outskirts and much more akin to a large town than a capital city, Vientiane seemed to be relatively unique as far as first impressions went.

A couple of hours after arriving at the (Do you have drugs on arrivals hall) we departed and ventured the streets of Vientiane. A couple of hundred metres from the hotel we found a small, outdoor/indoor dining area that did some great pork 'something or other' and delivered that with a healthy dollop of Beer Lao (the only way to drink in Laos). Of course I also undertook a silly activity (please read:'dare') of downing a spoonful of chili that head my head spin for a good 30 mins but hey, this was Vientiane and I am known to be an idiot at times. Needless to say we pressed on a little while longer before JJ and I left Jase and Audrey to their own devices and decided to make out way down to the Mekong in order to check out one of the mightiest rivers in Asia and also scan the banks of the opposite side of the river which just so happened to be Thailand. The Mekong just happens to split this countries just on the southern side border of the capital.

Like anywhere in the world, tuk-tuk drivers just like taxi drivers are in for a scam. Now JJ and I had been walking in the completely wrong direction from the Mekong when we decided to hail a tuk-tuk to take us to where the riverside action was (incidentally, the lack or orientation in this instance was my fault). Spotting the fact that he had happily come across tourists that obviously no clue meant straight away that there was going to be a significant 'mark up' on the normal price for the distance. Of course we later found out that the mark-up was 10 times more than what it should have been. No big deal in the grand scheme of things but infuriating never the less. It's the principle of getting ripped off that does my head in, its like there's an obligation to do it and its not isolated to poorer countries. It's that break from morals or honesty that gets under my skin, bah, anyway, whatever...

We cruised down by the Mekong on what was a relatively warm day and found the riverside just stacked with bar after bamboo bar built out over the grassy Mekong banks. Each bar having a great cushioned seating area (or laying area, which ever you preferred), and in turn promoting  laid back, chilled out,  languid type of vibe. I was liking the looking of this place already and could  imagine in advance  the type of activity that this area would inherit come sunset. The shot below is taken from one of the bars that we stopped in and had a drink at.

A common sight on the river in Vientiane - bamboo bar on the Mekong, Laos

One of the guide books that JJ picked up from the airport said, 'if you don't trust to drink the water then there's always Beer Lao!'. My response to that, 'Damn right there is'. One of the highest quality products made anywhere in Laos,  is Beer Lao. it's freakin' fantastic and ridiculously cheap, I mean so cheap that you couldn't buy a can of No Frills lemonade in Australia for the same price. After a few drinks at one of the fantastic bamboo bars JJ and I walked up one of the streets perpendicular to the main road by the Mekong and chose to once again partake in a Beer Lao activity of purchasing, bending the arm, drinking and then swallowing. I love those sorts of culturally significant moments whilst on tour!

Beer Lao, a source of Lao pride - Vientiane - Laos

Half a day in and we were already, 'kind of', starting to get the hang of Vientiane. The city is small, diminutive in comparison to other well recognised cities, there appeared to be a much slower pace to general activity, by comparison to their SE Asian neighbours and getting around the town only required a half decent map and the willingness to walk just a little.And as for the beer? Well, it was damn good, and as the menu shows,(after I explain the Kip conversion), more than reasonably priced.

Typical drinks menu - Xayoh cafe - Vientiane - Laos

Lets start with number one on the list, Draft Beer-Glass 330mi, 6000 Kip = $0.81 AUD. So a glass of beer equals just over 80 cents!! If you want a litre of beer, well my friends, that's going to set you back a whole $1.90 AUD. Oh yeah, this was going to be a very, very tough place to survive. Not only did the beer taste fantastic, but hey, you can do the maths in regards to the cost to hangover ratio.

Managing to drink our way into another early evening, JJ and I made out way down to the Mekong and none to surprisingly found these really quaint bamboo huts on the river bank. Cushioned up and ready to go we chatted and watched the sun drop over Thailand, gently painting the sky  beautiful hues of orange, red and light purple as it fell. It felt as though the sun was rolling out the welcome mat over the Mekong and almost straight to our door on the other side. As far as sunsets go, well this was spectacular and one that will remain as one of my favourites for some time, of that I'm sure. As the sun sank even further Jase and Audrey joined us for an early evening dinner as we drank and chatted a few hours away. Not an entirely bad way to finish up day one in Laos I'd say.

 

Sunset over the Mekong - Vientiane - Laos