Behind the Camera : The Gibbon Experience in Laos

Next post in this series here.

Geography and general knowledge, probably my two least favourite subjects when it comes to pub quizzes and my excuse for the fact that I knew very little of the country that would make up the first destination of my tour of South East Asia. On only my second day in Laos after a brief but eventful stay in the capital of Vientiane, myself and my travel buddy, Andy, made our way to the small border town of Huay Xai; or is it Houeisay, or maybe Houayxay, or even Houei Sai or Huoeisay? I don’t think I ever actually saw the town name wrote the same way more than once or twice, even while I was there, which in no way helped my confidence in having the correct plane tickets. The flight to the town was one of those eye-opening moments backpacking where you wake up and realise just how different the rest of the world is having grown up in a developed western environment. Making our way to the domestic terminal with the reassurance from the hostel owner that arriving only half an hour before the flight was plenty of time (he insisted even that was too early) we were greeted with a building more reminiscent of a run down bus terminal in which we sat quietly on plastic benches until our flight having just made it through the ‘security’ screening process of a small man sat behind a table in an empty room. So much for my panic of trying to get to the airport two hours before departure.

A short, cramped flight later in which we were stared at by the rest of the passengers who I can only assume found it funny to see two Westerners crammed together on the back row, we arrived at the Huay Xai terminal where we were escorted to an empty concrete room to wait for our luggage to be carried from the plane. One of the many things I enjoy about backpacking is that it’s not always easy and it’s not always obvious, some people run from that and others embrace it, and this flight and getting to where we needed to go, was not easy.

The border town of Huay Xai is a quaint little place consisting of a main street with most of the bars, hostels and shops and an almost shanty town like arrangement towards the outskirts. Our reason for being in this town was that it was the starting point of “The Gibbon Experience”, a treehouse, zip-line, jungle trekking trip that we’d be participating in over three days so with limited time available in the town we spent most of it exploring the main street, walking around a Buddhist temple (featuring an overly friendly dog who chased me for a while) and familiarising ourselves with the establishment across the road “Bar How?” which stocked an exotic range of infused whiskey flavours with everything from blood orange and blackcurrant to cinnamon and black rice.

The morning of the Gibbon experience consisted of series of videos and presentations from guides at the local office on the dos and don’ts of staying in the jungle and using the zip lines. Health and safety isn’t such a concern in Laos and you are very much responsible for your own safety and well-being throughout the duration, no one is going to hold your hand along the way. After signing a rather dubious declaration form essentially waiving all our rights to ever hold the company responsible for our death or any serious injury incurred we were bundled in to an open-back van, sandwiched between local workers and several bags of rice and potatoes, and driven to the jungle along incredible mountain passes and bumpy mud tracks.

At the conclusion of this journey we found ourselves in a small rural village where our trek through the jungle would begin. Being the wannabe adventure photographer I am I had forgone the advice to pack light for the journey (as we would be carrying our gear through steep, muddy terrain for several miles) and instead brought most of my camera gear, including tripod, along in the hope of catching some awesome moments. I’ll be the first to admit that my cardiovascular fitness was probably not great leading up in to this trip and whilst it may have significantly improved over the two months, this first trek was nothing short of brutal. There were many times I’d have considered giving up and many times I questioned what on earth I was doing (thinking all the way back to the point where I quit my job to come on this trip), but instead I wiped away the sweat and kept moving one foot in front of the other using the opportunity to speak with the other members of the group to distract myself from the humidity and heat.

As a group of 8, we had together opted that we would stick together for the duration of the experience meaning we would be staying in the park’s treehouse number 1, the only one on site large enough to house this size of group. In the true spirit of the Gibbon Experience it would not simply be a case of trekking to the treehouse. A few hours in to the trek we entered the clearing of “The Kitchen”, a small site used to cook for all guests staying in the park and where the food would be delivered from via zipline courier, it’s like the ultimate Saturday night takeaway delivery service. It was from here that everyone was kitted up in to their harnesses and given the final safety briefing, from here, all future trekking would be a combination of walking and zip-lining across valleys. I was the first to volunteer to go on the opening zipline, I’ve done plenty of highrope and zipline courses in my life, in fact I used to live down the road from a Go-Ape (UK Zip-line experience), but nothing could have prepared me for that first moment I stepped off the platform, went rushing through the jungle foliage and breached out in to the open soaring high above the jungle canopy. The pure adrenaline rush combined with the beauty of the surrounding landscape was something else and I doubt there’s many opportunities in the world that can match that experience. After another hour of trekking and zip-lining (trek-lining?) through the jungle we finally reached our home for the next few days, a three-story treehouse complete with kitchen sink and an unbeatable bathroom view overlooking the jungle (even if it did also include a wasps nest) and it was from this base camp that we would eat our meals, chat and play games late in to the night and share 3 incredible days together which were still incredible when it rained, or when we ran out of water, or even when we got attacked by rats in the night.

I’d love to write more about this particular part of the trip but I don’t think I’d ever get this post done if I tried so I’ll instead talk about the featured photo as is the point with this “Behind the Camera” series and hopefully one day I can expand on this a little.

When preparing for the Gibbon Experience in their Huay Xai office, there’d had been some incredible photos mounted on the walls but this one panoramic shot of a treehouse high above the jungle canopy really caught my eye and I was determined to try and photography something similar. Unfortunately, after a day of trekking around the different treehouses in the park I soon realised that the photo I had seen could only have been taken with a drone as at no point  is there a big enough break in the trees to get that view. On our second day of the trip we were left by our guides in one of the only treehouses in the park that was completely exposed on all sides and, I believe in fact, the highest in the park. Here we were given a couple of hours to eat, rest and make use of the 3 nearby zip-lines as much as we desired. This I realised was my only opportunity to get the photo I wanted, all it meant was having to zip-line out of the tree, brake half way down (using the scrap tire mounted to the top of the runner), and then hold myself in position with one hand while suspended 150 feet up using my free hand to operate my camera, a drone would definitely be easier at this point. Unaware of what I would be doing and attempting to save weight on today’s trek I had opted for my 24mm cinelens, a completely manual, aperture and focus, lens so not just content with taking a photo suspended from a cable above the jungle being hard enough, I also had to manually focus and set aperture with my one hand. It was hard work, tiring and very unnerving. It wasn’t even like I did it first time either; my first attempt I braked too late down the line and was too far away for a good composition so had to release myself down the line, lie backwards to reel myself in the last 60 feet due to the cable slack and my low speed all with my camera equipment hanging precariously around my neck, and then trek back around the site to zip-line back in to the treehouse and attempt the photo over again. All in, it took me I believe four trips to finally get a composition I liked that was really sharp and in focus, and it was 100% worth the effort.

Acting as the opening to my two month trip around SEA, I don’t think I could have started it off any better than with the Gibbon Experience. It’s an incredible three day trip through the jungle that will leave you tired, sweaty and in my case absolutely shredded by bug bites but I wouldn’t have changed any of that for the incredible experiences and stories that came out of it; showering from a treetop balcony overlooking the jungle, having locals zipline food to the treehouse, soaring above the jungle canopy with a pack full of camera gear, meeting incredible like-minded people and staying up late in to the night laughing and playing games as the sky goes dark and the sounds of the jungle overwhelm you from all sides.

Breaking through the jungle

First lunch at our home for the trip

Andrew preparing to jump

More ziplines