It’s Gibbon Experience day and we are full of excitement – my back is feeling way better and we are ready to go!!!
We arrive at the Gibbon office at 8:30am and are summoned into the lobby, where we meet our other group members and watch an introductory video on protocol and safety. We’re then loaded into a pick-up truck and driven to base camp.
And what a ride it is!
Eric and I offer to sit in the back of the pick-up thinking it’ll only be about 30-40 minutes, but we are way off. It turns out to be a 30 minute ride on a smooth-sealed and moderately hilly road, then another 1 ½ hours on a very rough-sealed, potholed, hilly road and finally another 30 minutes on a very hilly, very bumpy, dirt road. Thankfully, after the first two hours, our new friend Michael offers to switch spots with me and I get to sit on a cushioned seat in the cab of the truck. Both Eric, myself and my back thank him for it…
We make it to base camp in one piece.
“Base Camp” is a hill tribe village about half an hour hike from the jungle proper and on arrival we meet our guide Bomin, who wastes no time in getting us hiking to the jungle. After about 45 minutes we stop for a lunch of chicken baguette sandwiches, which are pretty tasty. We then continue hiking uphill, into the jungle – it’s a very mountainous area, so we find ourselves going up a lot.
Along the way we stop at a small grouping of huts, where we suit up in our zip-line harnesses. Eric is invited to play takrau with two of the guides before continuing on our way. He’s actually getting pretty good at it, considering he’s only played about three times in his life.
With our harnesses on, we continue our hike up until we reach our first zip-line run.
This is where Eric and I get really excited.
As I’ve already mentioned, this is one of the things we’ve been looking forward to since we began planning our trip and the feeling of actually being here is overwhelming.
The first zip-line is amazing… words can’t describe it.
It flies us 150 metres in the air, over the jungle canopies and into a small tree-house. From there, we take another zip-line back to the jungle floor and once again the zip is amazing.
The stop however, is not so amazing.
I’m having difficulties with my brake and the next thing I know, I’m crashing into a tree trunk with my right butt cheek… good thing I still have some cushioning there. I’m more worried about my back, which seems to hold itself together, but I’m sure I’ll wake up tomorrow with a good “bruise of honour”.
We keep hiking through the jungle and make our way to another zip-line. This one looks to be about 500 meters in length and soars over a valley.
Eric offers to go first and with a huge smile on his face, he takes off like a pro. About 5 seconds in I hear him holler – he’s lost his hat in the trees below. I can tell he’s pretty disappointed – it’s his “Dirty Business” hat, which has a lot of meaning for him – but unfortunately there’s no way for any of us to retrieve it.
And then it’s my turn.
I hook myself in, re-clarify the use of the brake with Bomin and take off.
The view is spectacular. I feel like I’m flying.
And then I see the landing platform and it’s approaching very quickly.
I begin to brake but I don’t seem to be slowing down as much as I would like to. I pull down harder and it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
And then the platform is right there.
I kick out my legs to help brace my landing, but somehow I miss the top of the platform and crash into the end of the platform boards, legs first.
I manage to right myself, but there seems to be searing pain coming from my right shin.
I look at Eric and he looks at me.
I hear him say “oh, shit!”
And then I look down.
My leg is pouring blood and Eric jumps into action.
He knows I’m a wimp when it comes to seeing my own blood, so he sits me down and begins to clean me up. My crash has taken two big chunks out of my shins, which are very messy, but thankfully nothing is broken and I can walk on it alright.
Everyone is across by the time Eric stabilizes the bleeding. Between our first aid kit and the other people in the group, he manages to bandage me up enough to get me to our tree-house for the night. I get myself together and our group begins the final portion of the hike.
We arrive at the “sleeping tree-house” mid-afternoon and it is awesome. It’s essentially three levels:
The first level is the landing area for the zip-line you come in on.
The second level is the main floor with the bathroom, kitchen and sleeping area for six people.
The third level is another sleeping area for two more people.
It has a roof but the sides are open except for the safety railings. We have a complete 360 degree view and all we can see is jungle.
All we can hear is jungle.
It is humbling.
After Eric cleans up my leg again, he leaves to retrace his steps and see if he can retrieve his hat. Unfortunately, he comes back empty-handed but stoked from the additional zip-lines he did.
Revved up on adrenaline he heads back out to continue zip-lining and he’s joined by our new friends Michael & Stephanie.
After a great dinner, we relax and induct Michael & Stephanie into the world of Skip-Bo. Unfortunately, we discover we’ve created a monster in Michael because he is determined to win. It becomes a game of Canada versus Germany.
We spend Day 2 of the Gibbon Experience hiking, zipping and hanging out at a secluded waterfall.
Eric switches his equipment with me, which helps me out considerably. He’s able to manage the brake I had, so all is good.
We hike another 6 hours in total and most of it is uphill. The zip-lines run over tree canopies, valleys and rivers. One of the best lines we do is over a river just down from our tree-house – the scenery is breathtaking!
We arrive at our second tree-house mid-afternoon.
My shin & back seem to be doing alright, so Eric, Michael, Stephanie and I head out to complete one loop before I retire for the day and rest my leg. Eric goes out to run a longer course and Michael & Stephanie continue on the short course.
It’s hilarious because Eric returns from his course and Michael & Stephanie are still going on the short loop. They ride it over and over and over, and get more and more confident that eventually we see them doing tricks and hear them singing aloud. They must have done the course five times!
The second tree-house is two levels. The first level is the landing platform and bathroom and the second level is the main living area. The bathrooms in both tree-houses are open to the world, but they have running water & a shower and when you pee it just falls to the jungle below… so look out monkeys!!!
The final day is more zipping and then we hike back to the base camp.
Our last run of the trip also happens to be the longest zip-line of the trip – it’s almost a kilometer long! Besides the guide, Eric and I are the only two that make it from end to end without having to pull ourselves to finish, which I think is pretty cool. After as much zipping Eric has done this weekend, he’s starting to look like a pro!
When we get back to Huay Xai, we have a shower and then meet up with Michael & Stephanie for dinner where we rehash the weekend.
Oh and of course, we get a game of Skip-Bo in, which Michael finally wins!!
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