Gibbon Experience and Huay Xai

We crossed to Laos from Thailand in Huay Xai.  The town itself is nothing special – just a village with a strip full of guest houses, and cafes.  A lot of tourists come there when coming to, or leaving from Thailand.  We had 2 possibilities – either leave for our next destination, Luang Prabang as soon as possible, or try our luck getting in on the Gibbon Experience.  Our friends who told us about it had to book it well in advance, so we did not keep our hopes up.  However once we got to their office they had space available for the following day.  Excited we signed up.

The adventure started even before we got to the forest.  In Huay Xai we loaded into 2 pickup trucks, and set out for a remote village from where we were to hike.  The village was about 3 hours away.  The first interesting part was when the truck had to cross the river, but that was simple.

Then we got to the fun part of the road.  The drivers go by this road every other day there and back, and know every turn, so they tend to speed.  Those of us who were sitting in the bed of the truck got to enjoy every bump on the road.  A couple of times the truck had to cross a muddy part of the road, and on the way back one of the trucks actually got stuck, and had to be pulled by the other truck.

An hour and a half of this road later we arrived in the final inhabited village.  We got a taste of the “real” village life: pigs running around with chickens, kids running around without underpants, and pooping right where they are (puppies that were running around as well would lick up the poop and clean their butts – who needs diapers and toilet paper.)  We stayed in the village long enough to buy warm beer from the “shop” and started the hike through the jungle.

In about 30 min we took a break for sandwiches, which is when we heard the first scream of a girl who got a leech on her leg.  She just was not prepared for it. A lot of people got those in the course of the next 2 days, and eventually some (not all) stopped freaking out about them that much. In another 20 min or so we got to the ranger station where we met our guides, put on our ziplining gear, and continued onward.  Shortly after we got to our first zipline, and a couple more ziplines later got to our house.

While we were waiting at the village, we talked to the group that just finished their time in the house, and they suggested that given a choice we take house #1.  So we did.  This house was built most recently to replace the one that has burned down thanks to someone leaving a candle on (nobody got hurt in that accident.)  This house, unlike most others, had 3 levels, which provided for the most privacy, and coolness.  We took the bedroom on the 1st floor, which is closest to the bathroom, and the food naturally.  The Russian girls Inessa and Olga that joined our group took the 2nd floor, and the Brits, Rob and Jillian took the 3rd.  A very important feature of our treehouse that others did not have was the living room which was big enough to fit a dining table; we spent our evenings playing cards and Uno at the table.

The coolest feature of the house was probably the bathroom.  Imagine sitting on a toilet, or taking a shower some 20 meters off the ground (you can see the ground, and, in case of the shower, not the toilet, the water running all the way down under your feet), and overlooking the canyon and the jungle in front of you.  Did I mention that the house doesn’t have walls?  It’s got railing around each floor, but no walls.

To make the bedrooms cozier they have a non-see-through mosquito net that creates a space like a tent.  Inside you get a normal mattress with sheets, and a blanket – the whole shebang.  Once everyone goes to bed you start hearing the noises of the jungle, and it’s quite amazing.

The food gets delivered 3 times a day by a lady in her late forties, and the site is quite picturesque.  Unfortunately I only caught her once on the way out:

We spent 2 nights in the tree house, and during the day in between we did quite a bit of hiking and ziplining around.  We visited most of the tree houses they had – 7 of them, and confirmed that ours was the best.  The rest of the houses were also awesome, of course, but none had the grandeur of ours.  Usually most of the people would be on the same floor, and the privacy was only thanks to the dark mosquito net; the other downside with most of them was the absence of the large table at which the group can play cards.  I find it hard on my back to do things sitting on the floor for long.  That being said, I’d still gladly stay at any of those houses.  It was extremely sad to leave the following day.

We were on the lookout for Gibbons, but only heard them sing in a distance. We did see a black monkey with an orange face that turned out to be a gigantic squirrel. For us she'll forever remain a monkey.

So on the 3rd day we packed up our stuff, and headed out.  A few ziplines and leeches later we were back at the village, back on the trucks, and back in town.

2011.11.04 Huay Xai and Gibbons