Angie is away on a weaving course so ill give you a personal account of my favourite day.
Day 2 (first morning)
It's 5.40am and I'm awake before the alarm. Our tree hut has no walls or blinds so resistance is useless when the sun decides you should be up and moving. I crawl under the heavy duty mosquito net to find that it was worth getting woken up early this time.
Our hut is about 50 metres up in a tree that itself stands on the lip of huge valley of Laos jungle. The panoramic views from our vantage point were stunning when we arrived but the morning brings a new twist. The previous afternoon's palette of deep lush greens and golden highlights has been replaced by a purple tinged emerald haze. The valley below is blanketed by a thick white mist and we are above it all, taking in the intense sound scape created by the waking animals and ever present barrage of insect screech. An extra two hours in bed, a hot bath, a bacon roll and a cup of tea wouldn't go amiss but we realise this could be tricky.
Our guide is due to meet us at 6.30 to take us on a trek in the hope of finding gibbons. We can't remember his real name but Angie decided to call him 'Nip' and this stuck, to the point that I occasionally forgot and called him by this, which only added to the confusion given the language barriers.
So we had 40 mins to grab a quick shower and get some fruit for breakfast. The shower works from collected rain water but has the problem that you are showering on a pedestal with nothing to hide your modesty. Although there are no other huts for at least 20 mins walk we were never sure when the ninja-like Nip would emerge, so timing these showers was a tricky business.
We were just about to take the calculated risk when we heard a new addition to the dawn chorus; what we later learned was Gibbon song (not that catchy and a tad out of tune but top marks for style). At more or less the same instance Nip shouted up from the base of the tree to say we needed to get moving quickly.
So empty bellies and sweaty bottoms we throw on a harness and get moving. There is only one way in and out of the our new home, a 50 metre zip wire that speeds you to the floor, a short walk from where Nip was waiting. Dressed in what appeared to be boxer shorts and flip flops (we had long trousers tucked into our socks to avoid leeches) he pretty much just said 'Gibbons' and jumped on the next zip wire and disappeared into the mist.
This was my favourite zip route. At the base of our tree, it took you 360 metres across, and high above, the jungle valley with the most incredible views if you were happy enough to look around whilst hurtling along on a harness with a bit of rubber tyre for a break (I believe Angie adopted the 'eyes forward and vice'-like grip' approach for the big zips). It arrives high up in a huge tree, towering above the jungle valley. The wooden platforms are only a couple of feet wide at some points but there is a safety wire that you can always connect to.
We perched catching our breath as Nip scanned the area with his binoculars. The 360 degree misty views here are breathtaking and we just wait in silence.
Me and Angie had different tastes concerning the zip platforms and I'm sure that her highlight was when we had continued tracking the gibbons on foot and Nip had left us (and his flip flops) to creep into the thick of it with our camera to try to get a close shot for us... Ten minutes later with only ourselves and the insects for company, we spotted gibbons ourselves and eventually they crashed through the treetops above us and disappeared.
That was pretty cool, but for me that five minutes of silence was special. 6.00am, sat on a ledge hundreds of feet above a misty jungle, no other human in sight or sound, just waiting for our guide to make his next move. Sadly my memory is shot, but I doubt I'll need a picture to remember that morning,
So there's a personal snapshot from our 3 day gibbon experience, I won't bother detailing the rest of the trip as it's a disappointing task putting something like this into words. Sorry if that sounds over dramatic, that's the way it is... maybe this heat is making me soft..
We've got a few pics but I can't wait to upload some video of the zips and our tree hut when I get home.
One hour before I get to see the fruits of Angie's labour, should be interesting...
Ben
