Laos: September 4th-16th

Today marks the second last of my 13 days in Laos, and it's been a remarkable journey.

After taking a 5 hour bus from Chaing Mai to Chiang Khong (Thailand) I took the two minute boat trip across the Mekong River to the small Laos village of Huay Xai, which was an absolute ghost town.

From Huay Xai I took part in a three day ecotourism project called The Gibbon Experience. Set in the Bokeo Nature Reserve (123,000 hectares of mixed-deciduous forest), the Gibbon Experience was created to transform the local people's economy from one based on slash-and-burn farming, logging, and poaching, to one based on long term, conservation focused activity.

With the help of the local people, tree houses and a network of zip lines through the canopy of the Bokeo Nature Reserve have been established. As a participant in the project, I visited and stayed overnight in the treehouses, and spent my time zipping across the rainforest and seeing some of the most amazing sights ever! All the money from tourists such as myself is invested back into protecting the forest.

So my first day of the project started out with some serious trekking - and through lots of mud and water! Being the raining season, it was to be expected. During our trekking we passed through several villages, and they were exactly what you would picture an Asian village to look like. Heaps of children running around, the majority of them naked, stopping every now and then with curious eyes to analyze the strange looking people in their village. And of course every sort of animal imaginable roaming around at free will.

After about 6 hours of trekking we finally reached the project, and were greeted by participants from the previous day. The tree house we stayed in the first night was really amazing. It had three different levels, with 3 segregated bedrooms, a bathroom (looking down at the toilet you could see the bottom of the forest!), and even a kitchen sink with running water. The only thing not available was electricty, so once it was dark we relied on candles and card games to keep us entertained.

The next day we went zipping through the forest! The highest zip was 100m; the longest was 400m; and the highest tree house was 45m. After zipping around for the majority of the morning, which was an exhilerating experience, we did a 2 hour hike to tree house #5 (there are 6 in total - with the completion of the project they are hoping to have 12). At treehouse #5 we hung out with the local guides, ate dinner, and then played more games to amuse ourselves in the dark (our last candle ran out about an hour after sunset!).

In the morning we began the 7 hour trek back to Huay Xai. Needless to say, we were all exhausted when we got back. It had been a day of mud, rain, and leeches! However, in the three days we had known each other we'd all become good friends and we celebrated our adventure by having a few Laos beer (the Laos are very proud of their beer!) and some potent Laos Laos (a really nasty, local moonshine!)

The following morning we all went our separate ways. I took a 12 hour local bus ride from Huay Xai to a town called Pak Mong. What a journey that was, I tell ya! The bus itself looked like it would fall to shambles if it hit too big of a bump, and the number of occupants definately exceeded capacity! Just when you thought they couldnt' possible fit another person on, 5 more piled in along with another 10 sacks of rice. There wasn't even an aisle to walk down - it was all bags of rice and nuts with people sitting on top. And the music - oh god the music! A mixture of local and international, but at full volume! I was definatley regretting not having a set of earplugs.

I stayed overnight in Pak Mong and took a tuk -tuk (local transport) the next morning to a town called Nong Khiaw, and then on to another village (by boat) called Muang Ngoi Neua. Set on the banks of the Nam Ou river, Muang Ngoi Neua was absolutly stunning. The village itself is small and - being accessible only by river- there are no vehicles to be seen. There is also only electricty, run by generators, from 7-9pm. I had a little bungalow on the river with a hammock on the balcony, and it was the perfect place to unwind. Besides relaxing and wandering around the village and surrounding area, I did an afternoon of fishing with a local fisherman, which was quite enjoyable.

From Muang Ngoi Neua I headed on to Luang Prbang, which is as my guidebook describes, "...a dream location for any travel photographer. It's incredible collection of French colonial architecture, dotted with delicately decorated Buddhist wat and surrounded with emerald green mountains, is the postcard-perfect illustration of historic Indochina." My guide book didn't lie. Placed on the World Heritage list in 1995, Luang Prabang was absolutely stunning, as was the surrounding area. I ended up spending 4 days there, and during that time got to take in a local boat festival as well as 2 outstanding waterfalls. Besides stunning architecture and surrounding landscapes, Luang Prabang is also known for its night markets, which I spent every single night wandering at! All in all it was a beautiful place, and I had a hard time leaving it.

From Luang Prabang, it was another bus ride to Vang Vieng, a small town famous for it's river tubing. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather, so there was no tubing for me. That was yesterday - today I rode a bus from Vang Vieng to the capital, Vietiane, where I fly out to Siem Reap tomorrow at 4am. I'm starting to feel a bit exhausted from all the travel - I calculated that just over 30 hours out of my 12 days here have been spent on a bus or on a boat. I'm really excited to start my volunteer work in Siem Reap on Monday, and also to be settled for a few weeks - it'll be a nice treat. I'm still not exactly sure what my volunteering entails - working with children is all that I know - but I'll update you as soon as I have something to update you on!