We stayed in a great hotel and left Thursday morning for a ziplining adventure. The brochure for ziplining said it was suitable for people aged 9-99 and that you didn't need to be particularly in shape but just have a "lust for adventure". So not true!! Our adventure started with a 2 hour drive on the bumpiest, muddiest roads of all times. Then an hour and a half of hiking downhill through the jungle on slippery rocks and muddy paths which was hazardous due to my clumsiness. I sliced my finger open by grabbing on to some bamboo which was about typical for me! But it's okay, because there was a nurse there who just glued my thumb back together! After our hiking we harnessed up and started the real adventure.
Kelsey and me all harnessed up!
Laotian Jungle
Our native jungle lunch
We tightroped across the top of an enormous waterfall. Then hiked to our ziplines. There were 8 huge 450+ meter ziplines we took back and forth across the canopy over waterfalls and rivers and through the tops of enormous trees. We ziplined then were let down on ropes to various platforms. We also had sky bridges to cross which were probably the most dangerous. Plus it was very misty from all the rain in the forest, so you would start down a zipline and not be able to see where you were going since the mist was so heavy. It was exciting not knowing where you were going and coming out of it only to see new beautiful waterfalls and spectacular views!
Welcome to Laos!
Sometimes we zipline over enormous waterfalls
Our slippery sky bridges
After those 8 ziplines, we made it out to our lodge for the night. It was small and right under the biggest waterfall which we heard roaring away all night. We had a cookout over a fire, Laotian style which sadly meant no s'mores, but it was still amazing! Then we ziplined out to our treehouses where we would be spending the night. The treehouses actually had a bathroom and running water so you know they were good! The lights went out ten minutes later and it was pitch black. All you could hear were birds and bugs and rats up in the trees with us but we fell asleep pretty quickly since we were super sore and exhausted.
The next morning (Happy July 4th!!) we got up and did another 10 ziplines through the forest in a big circle around the lodge. We got to be quite good, knowing when to break, how to pull ourselves along the wire when we got stuck and braked to early, and got over any fear we had. We then had a long trek back after lunch, but a slightly different one than the one the day before. This one involved climbing up a 40 meter high vertical rock wall using our harness to clip onto ropes and using metal rods on the walls as our grips. It was terrifying but gorgeous even if my legs and arms had just turned into jelly by the time we reached the top.
We then hiked back through "Leech Fields" where I discovered my new least favorite animal of all! Leeches are disgusting slimy little creatures. They both anesthetize you so they can bite you without you noticing and they put anticoagulants into you so you bleed more and they get to feast. Tricky little animals and so so gross!! So I may have gotten about five of them attached to me, but at least I didn't scream like one of the guys did!
After that hike we drove all the way back to Pakse and spent one last beautiful day in Laos before starting the long voyage back to Phnom Penh!
View from the treehouses
My treehouse: accessible only by zipline
Clarissa, Kelsey, Zoya, me, and Dustin- ziplining champs!
Somehow I wasn't too upset about missing the 4th of July fireworks...
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