Hey all,
Before continuing the Laos journey, I have to back up a little and tell you about Green Gecko Project. And I have a bunch of pics from the new facility but the hard drive on my computer died and took all the pics from my first two weeks with it:( So I'll take new ones, give me a few days.
The Green Gecko Project is where I volunteered for much of my previous stay in Cambodia in 2005-2006. The founders, Tania and Rem, created a safe place for Siem Reap's street kids to come and learn and play and get away from the negative begging environment. I just glossed over a whole lot of issues there in the interest of space, but trust me when I say the kids were in a bad place. The project has grown tremendously since I was here last, driven by Tania's and Rem's passion and dedication. The project has relocated from a one-room school house to a 2-acre compound. They have a lovely Khmer house and several outbuildings for school, washing, playgrounds, etc. A huge step up from the first place, where we barely had room for 30 kids!! Now GGP services 60+ kids, a hell of a feat. But Tania and Rem have a steady support group, with volunteers who stay longer than a week at a time, and Claire, an Aussie who came over to be Tania's right-hand gal.
All the kids are in Khmer and English school (and earning top marks and awards), several of the parents have been given jobs at the center, and on this visit I have seen a HUGE difference in the kids' behavior. I keep saying, my god, they're just not the same kids. I mean, they are, their personalities are as strong and beautiful as ever, but their behavior is so much healthier than when they were begging. It's an incredible transformation. What strikes me the most is how much they act like a cohesive family. They look out for each other, they share (!), and they encourage each other. I mean, they were like that on the street, to an extent, but I think the street life was so unstable and unpredictable that they never really invested in each other, and certainly not in themselves. Now, that sense of identity and self-worth that we worked so hard to instill in the beginning has really taken root. Not only are they invested in themselves, they're investing in their own FUTURE, something they may not have had before.
We went to an end of term party at the kids' Khmer school, where they cranked up the speakers and had dancing and singing contests and raffle prizes. The school is an "International School", meaning it's a private Khmer school with actual educational standards, and there are 50 Gecko kids enrolled there. During one dancing contest, 3 of the 4 kids competing were Gecko kids. They got the music going and our kids started flailing their arms and gettin' down with their bad selves. They were a huge crowd pleaser, with everybody screaming and laughing. Tania turned to me and said, tongue in cheek, "You know, we really need to teach these kids some self-confidence!"
At a party for some donors who were visiting, the Geckos had a quick assembly to say hello and thank you. We all sat inside an open-air concrete and thatch roof structure- the new school building and sleeping quarters before its walls have been installed. In the beginning of the assembly, Tania sat with the kids while they meditated silently for about five minutes. And I mean the children were completely silent. I felt myself getting very emotional, tears welling up, as I felt the wind blowing through the trees and the new school structure, and through my hair. I looked over each of these children and thought of how many times I had seen each of them in the streets at 2 am, or worse, at 8am after having been in the streets all night; how their eyes had looked so old, their hair ratted, their clothes filthy, their faces unreal and plastic as they learned what emotional expression would bring in the most money; the home life where their parents encouraged them to take part in a lifestyle filled with disease, heartache, and hopelessness rather than one with opportunity and achievement. I reflected on how lucky I was that my parents had always told me I would go college, that I would make something of myself. And now these kids, they were about to sit down at real desks, in real classrooms, in their classrooms and with their own books, and you know what- I think for the first time ever these children have the sense that they DESERVE it.
It's been a huge pleasure to come back and see the program so successful, as evidenced by these amazing children and their ability to make something so productive and inspiring out of something so dark. If you want to learn some more about GGP, check out their website. www.greengeckoproject.org
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
new video
let me know how the video is working out-- if it's not so good I can try putting in links to Youtube instead. Thanks!
Monday, June 30, 2008
The Gibbon Experience
So...the Gibbon Experience... I have mixed reviews... in short, it's like this- as far as the experience per se, of living in the treetops for a few days and ziplining around, you'll never do anything else like it in your life. It was incredibly exhilarating being so high in the air- 300 feet + !- and flying through the canopy. It was an absolute blast! Not to mention hearing the gibbons!! They're like nothing I've ever heard before in my life!! But more on that later. The downside was that as a community conservation project and environmental education experience I'd have to give it a big fat F-. If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have given them a dime. More on that later as well.
We started out the morning with the slightly wearying knowledge that our group of 10 would have to walk about 7 hours to get to the site because the rain had made the road impassable by truck. We were driven to a village a couple of hours from Houayxai and then walked from there. The first four or five hours of the walk were up and down steep gravelly roads which just about killed our knees and ankles. We also took a "shortcut" through the forest, which took us up and down slippery muddy hills. (But no leeches, yay!) This is a pic of a very mellow hill. I wasn't about to stop on one of the kneebreakers to take a photo!!:)
We trudged the final hour up a muddy trail to the camp kitchen, where we learned about the harnesses and ziplines before being escorted to Treehouse #1, named Mak Hai ( I think). The first zip was intimidating because I'd forgotten all about my mild fear of heights!! Whoops! But I triple checked my harness every time and was eventually able to enjoy the rush.
Treehouse 1 was set at the top of a great valley in the upper branches of a huge fig tree, maybe 1oo feet off the ground, maybe more.
There was small kitchen/living area, 
two "rooms" with 3-person beds,
and the best shower in the world. The shower itself was nothing special, but the view of the forest was awe-inspiring. 
We all got a kick out of listening to and watching our pee fall 100 feet to the forest floor through the hole in the toilet!!
There was a sign to remind us not to throw toilet paper down the hole...
The second day we spent hiking and zipping around from treehouse to treehouse on the 11 lines inbetween. I'm very happy to report that I only had a total of 3 leeches all day. You hop on a zipline, secure yourself with the harness, and off you go racing across the treetops, through the canopy, high in the air. I can't do it justice really. You grab hold of your carabiner (the buckle that helps to keep you on the zipline and off the forest floor) and step off and let go. There's a very tangible point where you give up all control and .... just zip. They call it zipping for a reason... it sounds like a really loud zipper as you fly down the cable to your landing platform. You're flying 300 feet and more over the forest floor, among the upper branches looking down at the bamboo and out over this incredible hill-and-valley landscape.
My favorite zip...
Here I go!
Zipping into Treehouse3...
Looking up at treehouse 2...
Eight of us had stayed in treehouse 1 and two people had slept in treehouse2. Two of us decided to stay in treehouse 3 on the second night, farthest away from the main camp, and the rest stayed in treehouse1 again. Treehouse 3 was completely in its own league. It was an hour of walking and ziplining from treehouse1, so it felt very remote. The views were astounding; we could see for probably twenty miles across the hills and valleys of forest.
I stayed there with a South African fellow by the name of Aubrey. Aubrey was older than the rest of us by twenty years or so but he was more fit and capable than all of us put together. He was quite an outdoorsman, and I very much appreciated that he wanted to see wildlife as much as I did. We spent some time birdwatching before sunset
and then hit the hay. Aubrey had seen and heard gibbons that morning, and I was determined to at least hear them the next morning, so I was off to bed early that I might wake early.
As I laid in my stifling mosquito net and tried to sleep, I heard the treehouse begin to be taken over by creatures of the night. There were not only rats but large tree squirrels visiting us that night. The squirrels are as big as large cats, with black backs and yellow bellies. They're quite lovely, but I didn't especially fancy them running around the treehouse at night, with only my canvas mosquito net between me and them. Well, luckily, I was with Aubrey, jungle guy extraordinaire. He chose not to sleep under the mosquito net for comfort's sake, and so stood a greater risk of being chewed on in the night. At one point I heard the thump thump thump of mid-sized mammal feet on the plank floors, and then I heard an authoritative HISSSSSSSS from Aubrey's direction, and the thump thump thump went off in the other direction!! So no worries there, the wildlife wasn't about to mess with Aubrey!
The early morning mist was heavy- we couldn't see more than 30 feet out of our treehouse. We sat on a bench looking out at the vaporous scene, talking softly, making little movement, when out of the mist rose an otherworldly ululation. The gibbons had begun to serenade us loudly from about 100 feet away. A low-pitched whooping was met by a higher pitched whooping, and the gibbons' individual songs weaved in and out of each other to create the most eerie operatic duet. It sounded like nothing so much as whale song. Whale song in the jungle, high in the tree canopy, surrounded by cloud. The duet rose in pitch, volume, and speed, reaching a crescendo where all the gibbons whooped at the same time in an insane melodious cacophony that was not of this earth. A moment of silence....and it began all over again...
Turn the volume up for this video to get the full effect!
We were treated to about ten minutes of this singing, and then Aubrey and I racked up and made our way back to Treehouse 1. During breakfast, we heard some gibbons singing again, but this time far down the valley. We were unable to see them, but we were treated to about 30 minutes of song. It was just as amazing, but didn't have near the atmosphere of the first singing. I was quite satisfied with the trip. All I had hoped for was to hear the gibbons sing, and that's just what I got.
Aubrey and I walked out of the forest. For me it was a horrible grilling walk. The cleat-like shoes I'd been wearing the whole time had zero arch support and my feet had begun to swell and give me a great deal of pain. I'd also reinjured the blisters I got on the way up but was too exhausted to bandage them. Two weeks later they're still healing!! The sun had come up and it was HOT, so I was moving like a snail. After about an hour of walking down a muddy forest path and straight up a gravelled hill, just when I was sure I'd never make it all the way back to the village- the truck came round the bend!!! As Aubrey said- my prayers had been answered. Mine, not his. Aubrey of course preferred to walk a little longer until the truck could drop off the newcomers and come back for us. Aubrey's hard core like that. So we made it back to the village and I got on the bus for Luang Namtha. The Gibbon Experience was absolutely amazing and I'll never forget it!
ABOUT THE GIBBON EXPERIENCE
Now, I have to give a little detail about why I think the Gibbon Experience is such a disappointment as a community conservation/ environmental ed program. This is really intended to reach travelers who are considering doing the Gibbon Experience, so friends and family can feel free to skip it. It's really not meant to be a bitch session but rather a constructive look at what GE promised vs what they delivered.
First and foremost, our guides weren't even around for most of our stay, and when they wrew, they were ineffectual at best. They came and dropped off food three times a day, showed us paths to take on the second day, and that was it. They didn't teach us, or me anyway, ANYTHING about the forest. Well, okay I got one of them to imitate a gibbon so we'd know the sound but that was it, and that was only with prompting. I asked some of my fellow Gibboners three questions afterwards-- "Do you know more about what the Gibbon Experience does for/with the community than you did when we started?" "Do you know more about the forest than when we started?"and "Why do gibbons sing?" The answers? NO, NO, and I DON'T KNOW. That's really really bad. I mean, when you're finished with something called "The GIBBON Experience" you should at least be pretty certain why the gibbons are singing. The negative answers to these questions really disturbed me. That screams failure for a company that purports to educate visitors.
The morning that Aubrey and heard the gibbons, our "guide" was there. After the gibbons stopped singing, the guide walked us down into the forest, eventually leading us to a place with a very open canopy and where the predominant vegetation was bamboo. Now, I don't know that much about gibbons but I was pretty certain that they were NOT going to be hanging out at that spot. After about 30 minutes of walking and not seeing the gibbons, the guide turned and shrugged and led us back. When we were back at treehouse 1 and heard the longer singing, Aubrey and I were listening intently when the guide (who was laying around and requisitioning the partcipants' left behind tobacco) took it upon himself to start belting out a Laos ballad. I couldn't believe it, and had to ask him to shush because we were listening to the gibbons. They didn't seem at all invested in the project or really trained very well.
The food was not great. I wouldn't believe it if you told me it was traditional Laos food. If not for the MSG it would have been nearly tasteless. I think it was what they thought Westerners would like. It was edible because we were hungry from the exertion but every meal was the same as the day before, and there was just enough food for all of us. The dishes were greasy and while there was soap, there was never a sponge to be seen. We also didn't have enough silverware for everyone so we had to share forks. I know that's a small thing but when you're sitting around with $2000 worth of participants, you start to think that maybe they can afford an extra fork.
My bedding was moldy and gross and I had to sleep on my sarong. My bedmate woke up with nasty bedbug bites all over her legs. In treehouse 3 my bedding had rat shit all over it, and had obviously not been cleaned recently. A rat had burrowed into the bedding and I felt the need to feel around to make sure that there wasn't a nest in there. Stuffing was everywhere. The floor hadn't been swept in who knows how long. There was no gas for the stove, which was just as well because there was no lighter to light it. When I mentioned this to the guide the next morning I was told that, well, we were only two people after all.
NOW...I now that sounds whingey, but anybody who knows me knows that I am an experienced and low-maintenance outdoorsy woman and that I can put up with a lot of discomfort. I knew very well it was not going to be a posh experience, and certainly didn't expect pressed linens or anything. But there are minimum standards after all, and other companies are managing it. The stories I heard from fellow participants about the guides' opium use made me wonder if the staff was really performing as they should or just sitting on their arses and collecting quite a plump paycheck (we were told about $3 a day, quite good in these parts). And really, for effectively $100 a night, there should at least be some minimum standards in place.
This story I heard third-hand: Two of the gibboners went down to get a new carabiner at the staff house and were made to wait around while the guides did something in the house. When they went in, there were opium pipes in plain view. I was also told third-hand that one of the participants in the group before us had gone down to the staff cabin and smoked opium with the guides every night. This is extremely disturbing since the Gibbon Experience says it is against this very kind of behavior that's supposedly so deleterious to Laos society. Maybe these stories are completely untrue.
Other organizations are somehwat transparent about their business practices and I would suggest to GE that they follow suit. I have no idea where my money went. On a trip taken a week later with another company, I noted that 5% of my fee went to the village chief, 20% to admin costs, so much went to this and that, etc. The only thing I gathered that GE spent its money on was to buy some tractors for the village. And , for all their insistence that the lower hills are not being deforested, there sure was some chainsaw operation going on as we came down off the hill. In all fairness, I've yet to email the French director to ask some pointed questions about where exactly the money goes and what kind of accountability there is for his staff. Perhaps he can shed some light. Until, I'd seriously suggest that anyone interested in GE ask them some real questions when you email for information. Then seriously consider whether you want to invest money in this NGO.
What the Gibbon Experience has got going for it is the "adventure travel" experience of living in the treetops and ziplining from hut to hut. Maybe they should drop the whole "we want to educate you about the forest and benefit the local community" song and stick with promoting themselves as an adventure tourism company.
Make sure you also see the below post for more comment on GE:
http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/laos/1871_Luang-Prabang-to-Gibbon-Experience/0
An eloquent and true-as-true-can-be-quote from above post:
The biggest disappointment for us was not the unqualified guides but rather the unprofessional management and poor business practices of Mr. Jeff the French-born, tree-climbing proprietor who turns out to be even more elusive than the gibbons. If Mr. Jeff is to continue on his mission to preserve the Bokeo forest he will need the ever-increasing support of eco-tourists such as those in our group. However if he continues to operate his enterprise in such a capricious fashion he will not only lose the support of tourists but also the people of Bokeo Provence and ultimately, the Lao government.
Okay, that's my piece. Big Cox is over and out...
We started out the morning with the slightly wearying knowledge that our group of 10 would have to walk about 7 hours to get to the site because the rain had made the road impassable by truck. We were driven to a village a couple of hours from Houayxai and then walked from there. The first four or five hours of the walk were up and down steep gravelly roads which just about killed our knees and ankles. We also took a "shortcut" through the forest, which took us up and down slippery muddy hills. (But no leeches, yay!) This is a pic of a very mellow hill. I wasn't about to stop on one of the kneebreakers to take a photo!!:)
We trudged the final hour up a muddy trail to the camp kitchen, where we learned about the harnesses and ziplines before being escorted to Treehouse #1, named Mak Hai ( I think). The first zip was intimidating because I'd forgotten all about my mild fear of heights!! Whoops! But I triple checked my harness every time and was eventually able to enjoy the rush.Treehouse 1 was set at the top of a great valley in the upper branches of a huge fig tree, maybe 1oo feet off the ground, maybe more.
There was small kitchen/living area, 
two "rooms" with 3-person beds,
and the best shower in the world. The shower itself was nothing special, but the view of the forest was awe-inspiring. 
We all got a kick out of listening to and watching our pee fall 100 feet to the forest floor through the hole in the toilet!!
There was a sign to remind us not to throw toilet paper down the hole...
The second day we spent hiking and zipping around from treehouse to treehouse on the 11 lines inbetween. I'm very happy to report that I only had a total of 3 leeches all day. You hop on a zipline, secure yourself with the harness, and off you go racing across the treetops, through the canopy, high in the air. I can't do it justice really. You grab hold of your carabiner (the buckle that helps to keep you on the zipline and off the forest floor) and step off and let go. There's a very tangible point where you give up all control and .... just zip. They call it zipping for a reason... it sounds like a really loud zipper as you fly down the cable to your landing platform. You're flying 300 feet and more over the forest floor, among the upper branches looking down at the bamboo and out over this incredible hill-and-valley landscape.
My favorite zip...
Here I go!
Zipping into Treehouse3...
Looking up at treehouse 2...
Eight of us had stayed in treehouse 1 and two people had slept in treehouse2. Two of us decided to stay in treehouse 3 on the second night, farthest away from the main camp, and the rest stayed in treehouse1 again. Treehouse 3 was completely in its own league. It was an hour of walking and ziplining from treehouse1, so it felt very remote. The views were astounding; we could see for probably twenty miles across the hills and valleys of forest.
I stayed there with a South African fellow by the name of Aubrey. Aubrey was older than the rest of us by twenty years or so but he was more fit and capable than all of us put together. He was quite an outdoorsman, and I very much appreciated that he wanted to see wildlife as much as I did. We spent some time birdwatching before sunset
and then hit the hay. Aubrey had seen and heard gibbons that morning, and I was determined to at least hear them the next morning, so I was off to bed early that I might wake early.As I laid in my stifling mosquito net and tried to sleep, I heard the treehouse begin to be taken over by creatures of the night. There were not only rats but large tree squirrels visiting us that night. The squirrels are as big as large cats, with black backs and yellow bellies. They're quite lovely, but I didn't especially fancy them running around the treehouse at night, with only my canvas mosquito net between me and them. Well, luckily, I was with Aubrey, jungle guy extraordinaire. He chose not to sleep under the mosquito net for comfort's sake, and so stood a greater risk of being chewed on in the night. At one point I heard the thump thump thump of mid-sized mammal feet on the plank floors, and then I heard an authoritative HISSSSSSSS from Aubrey's direction, and the thump thump thump went off in the other direction!! So no worries there, the wildlife wasn't about to mess with Aubrey!
The early morning mist was heavy- we couldn't see more than 30 feet out of our treehouse. We sat on a bench looking out at the vaporous scene, talking softly, making little movement, when out of the mist rose an otherworldly ululation. The gibbons had begun to serenade us loudly from about 100 feet away. A low-pitched whooping was met by a higher pitched whooping, and the gibbons' individual songs weaved in and out of each other to create the most eerie operatic duet. It sounded like nothing so much as whale song. Whale song in the jungle, high in the tree canopy, surrounded by cloud. The duet rose in pitch, volume, and speed, reaching a crescendo where all the gibbons whooped at the same time in an insane melodious cacophony that was not of this earth. A moment of silence....and it began all over again...
Turn the volume up for this video to get the full effect!
We were treated to about ten minutes of this singing, and then Aubrey and I racked up and made our way back to Treehouse 1. During breakfast, we heard some gibbons singing again, but this time far down the valley. We were unable to see them, but we were treated to about 30 minutes of song. It was just as amazing, but didn't have near the atmosphere of the first singing. I was quite satisfied with the trip. All I had hoped for was to hear the gibbons sing, and that's just what I got.
Aubrey and I walked out of the forest. For me it was a horrible grilling walk. The cleat-like shoes I'd been wearing the whole time had zero arch support and my feet had begun to swell and give me a great deal of pain. I'd also reinjured the blisters I got on the way up but was too exhausted to bandage them. Two weeks later they're still healing!! The sun had come up and it was HOT, so I was moving like a snail. After about an hour of walking down a muddy forest path and straight up a gravelled hill, just when I was sure I'd never make it all the way back to the village- the truck came round the bend!!! As Aubrey said- my prayers had been answered. Mine, not his. Aubrey of course preferred to walk a little longer until the truck could drop off the newcomers and come back for us. Aubrey's hard core like that. So we made it back to the village and I got on the bus for Luang Namtha. The Gibbon Experience was absolutely amazing and I'll never forget it!
ABOUT THE GIBBON EXPERIENCE
Now, I have to give a little detail about why I think the Gibbon Experience is such a disappointment as a community conservation/ environmental ed program. This is really intended to reach travelers who are considering doing the Gibbon Experience, so friends and family can feel free to skip it. It's really not meant to be a bitch session but rather a constructive look at what GE promised vs what they delivered.
First and foremost, our guides weren't even around for most of our stay, and when they wrew, they were ineffectual at best. They came and dropped off food three times a day, showed us paths to take on the second day, and that was it. They didn't teach us, or me anyway, ANYTHING about the forest. Well, okay I got one of them to imitate a gibbon so we'd know the sound but that was it, and that was only with prompting. I asked some of my fellow Gibboners three questions afterwards-- "Do you know more about what the Gibbon Experience does for/with the community than you did when we started?" "Do you know more about the forest than when we started?"and "Why do gibbons sing?" The answers? NO, NO, and I DON'T KNOW. That's really really bad. I mean, when you're finished with something called "The GIBBON Experience" you should at least be pretty certain why the gibbons are singing. The negative answers to these questions really disturbed me. That screams failure for a company that purports to educate visitors.
The morning that Aubrey and heard the gibbons, our "guide" was there. After the gibbons stopped singing, the guide walked us down into the forest, eventually leading us to a place with a very open canopy and where the predominant vegetation was bamboo. Now, I don't know that much about gibbons but I was pretty certain that they were NOT going to be hanging out at that spot. After about 30 minutes of walking and not seeing the gibbons, the guide turned and shrugged and led us back. When we were back at treehouse 1 and heard the longer singing, Aubrey and I were listening intently when the guide (who was laying around and requisitioning the partcipants' left behind tobacco) took it upon himself to start belting out a Laos ballad. I couldn't believe it, and had to ask him to shush because we were listening to the gibbons. They didn't seem at all invested in the project or really trained very well.
The food was not great. I wouldn't believe it if you told me it was traditional Laos food. If not for the MSG it would have been nearly tasteless. I think it was what they thought Westerners would like. It was edible because we were hungry from the exertion but every meal was the same as the day before, and there was just enough food for all of us. The dishes were greasy and while there was soap, there was never a sponge to be seen. We also didn't have enough silverware for everyone so we had to share forks. I know that's a small thing but when you're sitting around with $2000 worth of participants, you start to think that maybe they can afford an extra fork.
My bedding was moldy and gross and I had to sleep on my sarong. My bedmate woke up with nasty bedbug bites all over her legs. In treehouse 3 my bedding had rat shit all over it, and had obviously not been cleaned recently. A rat had burrowed into the bedding and I felt the need to feel around to make sure that there wasn't a nest in there. Stuffing was everywhere. The floor hadn't been swept in who knows how long. There was no gas for the stove, which was just as well because there was no lighter to light it. When I mentioned this to the guide the next morning I was told that, well, we were only two people after all.
NOW...I now that sounds whingey, but anybody who knows me knows that I am an experienced and low-maintenance outdoorsy woman and that I can put up with a lot of discomfort. I knew very well it was not going to be a posh experience, and certainly didn't expect pressed linens or anything. But there are minimum standards after all, and other companies are managing it. The stories I heard from fellow participants about the guides' opium use made me wonder if the staff was really performing as they should or just sitting on their arses and collecting quite a plump paycheck (we were told about $3 a day, quite good in these parts). And really, for effectively $100 a night, there should at least be some minimum standards in place.
This story I heard third-hand: Two of the gibboners went down to get a new carabiner at the staff house and were made to wait around while the guides did something in the house. When they went in, there were opium pipes in plain view. I was also told third-hand that one of the participants in the group before us had gone down to the staff cabin and smoked opium with the guides every night. This is extremely disturbing since the Gibbon Experience says it is against this very kind of behavior that's supposedly so deleterious to Laos society. Maybe these stories are completely untrue.
Other organizations are somehwat transparent about their business practices and I would suggest to GE that they follow suit. I have no idea where my money went. On a trip taken a week later with another company, I noted that 5% of my fee went to the village chief, 20% to admin costs, so much went to this and that, etc. The only thing I gathered that GE spent its money on was to buy some tractors for the village. And , for all their insistence that the lower hills are not being deforested, there sure was some chainsaw operation going on as we came down off the hill. In all fairness, I've yet to email the French director to ask some pointed questions about where exactly the money goes and what kind of accountability there is for his staff. Perhaps he can shed some light. Until, I'd seriously suggest that anyone interested in GE ask them some real questions when you email for information. Then seriously consider whether you want to invest money in this NGO.
What the Gibbon Experience has got going for it is the "adventure travel" experience of living in the treetops and ziplining from hut to hut. Maybe they should drop the whole "we want to educate you about the forest and benefit the local community" song and stick with promoting themselves as an adventure tourism company.
Make sure you also see the below post for more comment on GE:
http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/laos/1871_Luang-Prabang-to-Gibbon-Experience/0
An eloquent and true-as-true-can-be-quote from above post:
The biggest disappointment for us was not the unqualified guides but rather the unprofessional management and poor business practices of Mr. Jeff the French-born, tree-climbing proprietor who turns out to be even more elusive than the gibbons. If Mr. Jeff is to continue on his mission to preserve the Bokeo forest he will need the ever-increasing support of eco-tourists such as those in our group. However if he continues to operate his enterprise in such a capricious fashion he will not only lose the support of tourists but also the people of Bokeo Provence and ultimately, the Lao government.
Okay, that's my piece. Big Cox is over and out...
Up the River- on the way to Houayxai
Hey! I found a map! Here's all of Laos, surrounded by (counterclockwise from top) China, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam.
My trip was in the northern part, so I'm cutting the map down to size, and putting my route in blue dots--
Okay then, let's go..
In Luang Prabang I boarded a slow boat to Houayxai (say way sigh) where I would begin the 3-day Gibbon Experience. Remember the boats from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland? That's what those boats are like, almost exactly.
It was a two day boat ride up the Mekong River. We made our way upriver at a slow pace, stopping every so often to offload rice, notebooks, or fruit at small villages along the way. Rivers here are not quite the same as back home- they're very brown. You don't see much in the way of clear water anywhere. It's just very muddy. The hills on either side of the Mekong are green as can be this time of year, bursting with ficus and bamboo and agricultural fields. 
There was evidence of clearcutting or slash and burn in practice at every bend in the river, where a huge patch of the hillside is cleared to plant dry rice, which in the end becomes that yummy sticky rice. I've been told they rotate croplands every 12 years with the slash and burn method. None of the cleared plots looked any bigger than a few acres, but even so, it gave the landscape a patchy look.
The boat ride itself was pretty uneventful. The first day I was very tired from having gone to sleep too late, so I slept much of the day. Luckily our boat wasn't very crowded and there was room to sort of lie down over a couple of seats and sleep. There are definitely advantages to being short when you travel! The second day I read 600 pages in my book! We also shared half the boat with a delivery of roots , either used for food or dyes.
Before we started the second day up the river, I pulled an incredibly stupid tourist move that made me seriously wonder if I'd lost my savvy traveler touch. That morning I boarded the boat and I couldn't find my ticket!! I'd taken it out earlier and stuck it in my pocket... so I wouldn't lose it! Ha! I hurriedly retraced my steps from the boat landing all the way back to the restaurant where I had breakfast, but to no avail- I'd totally lost my ticket. I walked back to the boat landing resigned to buying another ticket, when a guy approached me and said "Houayxai?" I said yes, and as he pointed to the boat, I followed him, thinking he was a boat operator. I confirmed with him "110,000 kip?" which is about $10, and he nodded enthusiastically. Knowing that this might have been a scam and he might not actually have worked for the boat, I waited until we got about 10 feet from the boat before giving him the cash. He ushered me onto the boat, and as I stepped up, a man asked for my ticket. I said. "Oh I just gave my money to that guy---" and turned around to find that the fellow had taken off!! Immediately I knew that I'd been a sodding idiot and had just been taken for $10, so I hung my head and forked over another $10 for a real ticket. In the end, I'd paid for that boat trip 3 times over!!! ARGH!!! Oh well, it was my own fault, what are you gonna do? On to Houayxai...
Next- the Gibbon Experience!
My trip was in the northern part, so I'm cutting the map down to size, and putting my route in blue dots--
Okay then, let's go..
In Luang Prabang I boarded a slow boat to Houayxai (say way sigh) where I would begin the 3-day Gibbon Experience. Remember the boats from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland? That's what those boats are like, almost exactly.
It was a two day boat ride up the Mekong River. We made our way upriver at a slow pace, stopping every so often to offload rice, notebooks, or fruit at small villages along the way. Rivers here are not quite the same as back home- they're very brown. You don't see much in the way of clear water anywhere. It's just very muddy. The hills on either side of the Mekong are green as can be this time of year, bursting with ficus and bamboo and agricultural fields. 
There was evidence of clearcutting or slash and burn in practice at every bend in the river, where a huge patch of the hillside is cleared to plant dry rice, which in the end becomes that yummy sticky rice. I've been told they rotate croplands every 12 years with the slash and burn method. None of the cleared plots looked any bigger than a few acres, but even so, it gave the landscape a patchy look.
The boat ride itself was pretty uneventful. The first day I was very tired from having gone to sleep too late, so I slept much of the day. Luckily our boat wasn't very crowded and there was room to sort of lie down over a couple of seats and sleep. There are definitely advantages to being short when you travel! The second day I read 600 pages in my book! We also shared half the boat with a delivery of roots , either used for food or dyes.
Before we started the second day up the river, I pulled an incredibly stupid tourist move that made me seriously wonder if I'd lost my savvy traveler touch. That morning I boarded the boat and I couldn't find my ticket!! I'd taken it out earlier and stuck it in my pocket... so I wouldn't lose it! Ha! I hurriedly retraced my steps from the boat landing all the way back to the restaurant where I had breakfast, but to no avail- I'd totally lost my ticket. I walked back to the boat landing resigned to buying another ticket, when a guy approached me and said "Houayxai?" I said yes, and as he pointed to the boat, I followed him, thinking he was a boat operator. I confirmed with him "110,000 kip?" which is about $10, and he nodded enthusiastically. Knowing that this might have been a scam and he might not actually have worked for the boat, I waited until we got about 10 feet from the boat before giving him the cash. He ushered me onto the boat, and as I stepped up, a man asked for my ticket. I said. "Oh I just gave my money to that guy---" and turned around to find that the fellow had taken off!! Immediately I knew that I'd been a sodding idiot and had just been taken for $10, so I hung my head and forked over another $10 for a real ticket. In the end, I'd paid for that boat trip 3 times over!!! ARGH!!! Oh well, it was my own fault, what are you gonna do? On to Houayxai...Next- the Gibbon Experience!
Luang Prabang
I flew into Luang Prabang, Laos with my chin dropped. From the air, I could see green green green forest, the muddy Mekong, and the golden roof of Phousi, the temple on a hill. Beautiful little town.
The town itself is small but touristy, with specialty shops and restaurants catering to the western crowd. I didn't mind it too much. Honestly, traveling on my own, it's comforting to be able to get to something familiar.
Laos used to be a monarchy but then became a democratic republic, and the royal palace has turned into a museum. I visited the King's receiving room , imagining what it would be like to be a guest there, walking barefoot on the polished plank floors, sitting on the heavily embroidered cushions, eating rambutan and bananas. The most recent king had a thing for glass mosaic, and had the walls of his throne room completely done over in colorful glass mosaic murals of local folk stories. It was very very sparkly. :)
I toured the town on foot, visiting a few temples . Temples, though, I don't know...it's not like "you've seen one, you've seen them all" but honestly I'm a little templed out. I lived almost next door to one for a year, and you see them about every three blocks, so unless you study Buddhism.... anyway, they are gorgeous and make for a very peaceful stop in the middle of a scorching hot day.
I had some yummy Lao stew for dinner. They eat sticky rice here with every meal. You take a little ball of it and squish it in your hand, then dunk it in broth or grab a piece of veggie and down the hatch.
I took a one day weaving course. I'd always wondered about the whole process, so it was an interesting lesson. They collect the silk worms and let them build their cocoon.
When the larva has changed and is close to flying away, they boil the cocoon and pull at the silk , twisting it into silk yarn. It kills the larva, which they then fry up and eat. Okay, that sounds kind of vicious, but these are Buddhists! My guide told me that the women who pull the silk sing a song to the larva as they do so, wishing it luck in a new life.
By the end of the day, I had pounded indigo and turmeric to make my own dye...
dyed some silk yarn... 
and made my own silk masterpiece. Yes that's right, I climbed up onto the loom... 
...and wove a placemat. I'm very proud of it!!
The next day I bought a ticket for a 2-day boat trip up the Mekong. I would land in Houayxai to be transported to the Gibbon Experience. Before leaving I had to exchange some money ... I was a millionaire!!!! Okay, in Laos kip, but still exciting!
The town itself is small but touristy, with specialty shops and restaurants catering to the western crowd. I didn't mind it too much. Honestly, traveling on my own, it's comforting to be able to get to something familiar.
Laos used to be a monarchy but then became a democratic republic, and the royal palace has turned into a museum. I visited the King's receiving room , imagining what it would be like to be a guest there, walking barefoot on the polished plank floors, sitting on the heavily embroidered cushions, eating rambutan and bananas. The most recent king had a thing for glass mosaic, and had the walls of his throne room completely done over in colorful glass mosaic murals of local folk stories. It was very very sparkly. :)I toured the town on foot, visiting a few temples . Temples, though, I don't know...it's not like "you've seen one, you've seen them all" but honestly I'm a little templed out. I lived almost next door to one for a year, and you see them about every three blocks, so unless you study Buddhism.... anyway, they are gorgeous and make for a very peaceful stop in the middle of a scorching hot day.
I had some yummy Lao stew for dinner. They eat sticky rice here with every meal. You take a little ball of it and squish it in your hand, then dunk it in broth or grab a piece of veggie and down the hatch.
I took a one day weaving course. I'd always wondered about the whole process, so it was an interesting lesson. They collect the silk worms and let them build their cocoon.
When the larva has changed and is close to flying away, they boil the cocoon and pull at the silk , twisting it into silk yarn. It kills the larva, which they then fry up and eat. Okay, that sounds kind of vicious, but these are Buddhists! My guide told me that the women who pull the silk sing a song to the larva as they do so, wishing it luck in a new life.By the end of the day, I had pounded indigo and turmeric to make my own dye...
dyed some silk yarn... 
and made my own silk masterpiece. Yes that's right, I climbed up onto the loom... 
...and wove a placemat. I'm very proud of it!!
The next day I bought a ticket for a 2-day boat trip up the Mekong. I would land in Houayxai to be transported to the Gibbon Experience. Before leaving I had to exchange some money ... I was a millionaire!!!! Okay, in Laos kip, but still exciting!
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