The Canopy

I was already convinced that the Lao were a mental people by the trying-to-catch-a-catfish-with-a-bin-whilst-on-a-passenger boat scenario, however after participating in The Gibbon Experience I'm coming around to their way of thinking.

You are invited to contribute to conservation and explore the jungle. To support local communities; oh, and to zoom through the forest canopy on 500 metre long, 100 metre high ziplines with only a rope to prevent you from becoming a splatted bug on the windshield of nature.

It is a truly fantastic way to view the jungle, and from the viewpoint of the canopy you really can see the wood for the trees. You can see the sun flare off of the forest rivers and in the mornings the evaporating moisture hits your face as the forest reveals itself from the mist. You get to sleep in a 50 metre high tree house, open to wildlife and the elements at the sides. You get to swim in a waterfall. You get to try weird jungle fruits. You get to muck around like a gleeful child whilst knowing that you're contributing to something educational. Yes I'm feeling very smug right now.

Once we've coaxed them out of their shyness, our two guides, Jun and Budlun are a hoot. Jun is quizzing Anthony about how to talk to girls and returns after his shift in the evening to play cards with us (bringing a hot kettle and an enourmous bag of peanuts with him). Budlun shows off by taking the zipwires backwards, doing them in tandem with other people and jiggling them about to throw us off once we've got the hang of it.

The only downside is that we don't see any gibbons, or any other wildlife really. I wonder how invasive zipwiring is (it seems less so than the trails- but I wonder about the noise). The guides also don't seem very interested in telling us about the environment or really looking for any animals.

My reckoning is that the Gibbon experience is much more about feeling like a gibbon than seeing any.

P.S- In case anyone is interested my injuries sustained were as follows:
-Bruises from crashing into a treehouse.
-bruises from falling off of a waterfall.
-hilarious burn on my forehead from catching it on the wire.