Jungle adventures: Northern Laos

Crossing the border into Laos at Huay Xai we found the country a little less package tourist and little more backpacker with apparently a strong focus on ecotourism. We prepared ourselves for several days in the jungle of Bokeo and the Nam Ha national protected area, stumping up for the Gibbon experience, a ziplining adventure deep into the jungle via more than ten zip lines most around 500m long. The organisation supports the sustainment of the gibbons' environment and even though we didn't see any gibbons it was worth it for the zipping and the stay in an amazing treehouse 40m high up in the jungle. 

The next part of the expedition was two days cycling around Luang Nam Tha and kayaking down the Nam Ha jungle river. With our guide we stopped at several villages along the way to peer at locals weaving, eating and drinking, and playing cards and games. We stayed overnight in a local family home, sleeping on the floor alongside the rest of the family. This cultural experience of local living conditions was a little awkward with so little language in common but the children in particular were very welcoming. We watched the news and live music being performed at the Bangkok protests together on the satellite TV which kept us all entertained, as did keeping warm huddling around the fire. Their living is basic and maybe they think us tourists as rather strange - although we avoided commenting that their 24-hour mains electricity was a relative luxury!

It is rather colder than we expected in Northern Laos - apparently unseasonably so - and this was most noticeable as we embarked on the river kayak trip and the rapids came into view. Fortunately our guide's advice and directions were so helpful that we only went in the water twice!