I've had dinner in some nice places but....

I've had dinner in some nice places but...

Chiang Mai has definitely cemented it's self as mine and Ollie's favourite city that we have visited so far through out our time in Thailand - we had some great times with some really great people we had met along the way.

Having returned from our 3 day trek, scrubbed off and feeling much cleaner we all met up at the brilliant Funky Monkey hotel where we were to accompany David, the hostels owner, on a trip out to the local football team Chiang Mai FC. An odd experience to say the least. The crowd contained about 8,000 passionate Thai football fans, incessantly singing English football chants ('oh when the saints' seemed to be a favourite) and cheering at every extremely poor attempt at goal. The standard of football was incredibly low in comparison to the facilities that the team possessed, including a reasonably well kept stadium - which I would say could hold around 20,000 people at full capacity. The game ended with Chiang Mai losing 2-0 and as the players began to do a loop of the stadium to thank the fans, David our host told us to follow him on to the pitch, so we did and rounded off the football with a German/British/Thai/Swiss pitch invasion.

The football was followed by a sprint through town in the pouring monsoonal rain, to find a Mexican restaurant that had been recommended to us - it was definitely worth it! Not only this it was also a good last meal with our friends Harrison and Dan who we were separating from as we moved on north east to Laos and as they head back down south to Bangkok.

The following day we boarded our mini bus and set off to Houay Xai on a journey that, for me, epitomised un-comfort due to extreme lack of leg room. Ollie on the other hand was cushty sitting on the aisle seat, something he didn't try and hide from me. As we arrived across the border into Laos, it was evident that there was very little to do in the town other than book the gibbon experience or get the hell out of there as soon as possible on the next slow boat.

We booked our Gibbon Experience immediately and having 2 days until the next trip was due to leave we needed find ways to occupy ourselves for the next couple of days - opportunities for such escapades, that we were used to in Thailand, are few and far between in the sleepy town of Houay Xai. However, after finding a brilliant restaurant adjacent to the famous Mekong River we experienced some great Lao food and washed it down with the delectable Beer Lao. Suddenly those two days didn't seem so long!

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The Gibbon Experience

Day 1 - At 8 o clock we all met at the Gibbon Experience office, watched a brief safety video and then set of for the Bokeo Jungle. It was immediately apparent the both Ollie and myself were somewhat underprepared for the 3 days ahead. Having stupidly left my walking shoes in the hostel at Chiang Mai I was forced to use my White canvas plimsoles - not the ideal footwear for trekking through rainforest's - especially in wet season.

The lack of grip and durability that my shoes possessed was immediately evident as my shoes were quickly drenched, covered in mud and I was sliding everywhere. I was the first to make an arse of my self and fall spectacularly in the downwards direction, swinging my arms, dragging my camera through the mud and throwing my water bottle some 5 meters to my right. A great way to set a good first impression to the 8 other 'gibboneers' I had just met.

After about 2 hours trekking we found ourselves looking at our first zip wire. A 300m line suspended 150m above the ground, awesome!! This was definitely a much better to navigate our way through the dense jungle as opposed to endlessly walking.

A few zips later and we arrived at our tree house. The views were absolutely astounding. A great panoramic view, above the canopy, of the seemingly vast Bokeo jungle. We reached the tree house at around 4 in the afternoon and spent the rest of the daylight hours playing card games, reading, eating and generally taking in the view. And as the title says I have eaten dinner in some nice places but this surely takes the biscuit.

Bed time was an early affair and we hid ourselves beneath the cover of our mosquito nets and quickly fell asleep, well I did at least. In the middle of the night Ollie woke me to show me the lightning, which with our panoramic view over miles of rolling hills was breathtaking. The tin roof of the treehouse amplifying the sound of the ridiculously heavy rain made the whole scene incredible and, without sounding cliched, showed the enormity of nature.

Day 2 - When in the Jungle it is pretty impossible to not wake up early due to the brightness of the sun so early in the morning. This meant that we were up and ready for breakfast around 6. Laura and Jack, the two others that we shared a treehouse with, headed off for a morning walk whilst Ollie and I relaxed, read our books and got a bit more shut eye before we headed out for the day.

The entirety of the second day was spent zip lining with small treks in between the different lines. The longest line being over 500m and again suspended at around 150m, well above the forests' canopy. At around 3 o clock myself and Ollie returned to our treehouse to chill out for the rest of the afternoon. This proved to be a great decision.

Whilst the other two from our treehouse were trekking and actively looking for the said Gibbons, we took the much easier approach and relaxed back to our treehouse. Just as I was about to jump in the shower Ollie called me out. Right below us, about 20m away was a troop of around 6 or 7 gibbons playfully swinging from tree to tree. Although I had signed up for The Gibbon Experience predominantly for the zip lines it was incredible to see these creatures so close, in their natural habitat, especially considering how rare they are now - we were very lucky.

Day 3 - The third day we again woke early to the sound of gibbons singing. Having breakfasted we shot off to more zip lines to fit in as many as possible before we headed back to Houay Xai. The third day was the most difficult for me, mainly due to the fact that this was the day I was to carry mine and Ollie's backpack - we though it would be a good idea to put our 3 days worth of clothes and other essentials in the one bag and then take turns in carrying it, it turns out it wasn't. It also didn't help that the cut on my ankle had now swollen and was pretty painful. Although feeling pretty rough, day 3 delivered yet more enjoyable experiences, the draw-droopingly beautiful views from the zip wires or the satisfaction of a cold beer after a good few hours trekking through insanely humid forestry. 

All in all the gibbon experience has been everything and more of what we expected and has definitely provided us with yet more great story's to tell - I would, without doubt, recommend it to anyone planning to visit Laos!