Doing the funky gibbon
It was a 6 hour bus ride to Chiang Khong , the border post on the Mekong River that separates Thailand and Laos. Then a 2 minute boat ride across to Laos (see video below), the seventh country so far on this amazing adventure which is now into it's seventh month! We had chosen this route into Laos as Huay Xai (the border town) was the base for The Gibbon Experience - an eco tourism project that funds forest conservation and community projects in the Bokeo Nature Reserve. Guests stay in tree-houses and use a zip-line cable gliding network to scour the primary forest in search of the illusive singing Black Gibbon. Illusive being the operative word. We did see some gibbons once in the three days for about 7 minutes, far off in the distance. Well, we saw their silhouettes jumping through the canopy. We heard them very well though, by George are they loud! Here's a video of me filming our wonderful al fresco tree-house shower. The siren-like noise in the background are t...