The Gibbons Experience is a perfectly manufactured childhood fantasy. For three days, Justin and I lived in the tallest treehouses in the world, only accessible by zip line. Our wakeup call was the sound of our guide zip lining through the window with hot coffee and a myriad of breakfast options while the sounds of various jungle creatures (definitely poisonous) chirped us to sleep.
But while straight out of a story book, there were certain things that reminded us that we were, in fact, in an actual jungle. Like, jungle rats, which climbed all the way up to our treehouse (120+ feet) to gnaw on the wooden boards- luckily not the support beams. And, termites, who crawled all the way up to the treehouse to work their magic on aforementioned support beams.
But let’s start from the beginning. Before we left, we watched a short zip lining safety video that showed blurry, black and white clips of indistinguishable behaviors covered by a blinking red “X” to the tune of “no, no, no” followed, of course, by equally indistinguishable behaviors covered by a green check sign to the tune of “yes, yes, yes.” And while the video undoubtedly bypassed valuable information, Justin and I left feeling confident that we understood the key takeaway: “putting on your zip lining equipment is just like putting on a diaper.” Which is something I think all of us millennials can identify with.
After the video, we split into groups and hopped into a truck with the people we’d be spending the next few days with. Our group was “The Waterfall Group” meaning that over the next three days we’d be hiking a few hours per day through the jungle towards you guessed it, a beautiful waterfall.
Introducing The Waterfall Group:
Natalia: Swiss, managed to bring an impressive amount of snacks
Wilm: Dutch, knew all the lyrics to Brittany Spears’ toxic
Sarah: American, really liked horses
Jessica: American, “can I speak to your manager” haircut
Alex: French, formally trafficked drugs in Australia
On our way to the jungle, we learned all about why Laos is known for its roads- it’s winding, bumpy, sickness inducing roads. Don’t think for a second that unpaved streets means driving slower or more cautiously, it simply means you must use both hands to hold on for dear life and master the dance of not elbowing your new friends in the eye. This rollercoaster of roadways took us through scenic jungle mountains, numerous villages and even through a river, which the driver splashed through without hesitation. Alex, outgoing and outspoken, kept the conversation lively with prompts that really put you on the spot like, “tell us a crazy story.” Never having trafficked drugs ourselves, Justin and I racked our brains for our best office job hits. Between all the printer malfunctions, accidental reply-alls and late night tax submissions we had quite the arsenal of material to choose from.
“You haven’t lived until you’ve tried using Kinko’s for a big printing order….” I began.
“Tell me everything about this unreliable retailer!” They were thinking.
On that first day, we hiked about three hours to an icy cold waterfall and natural swimming pool. Justin spent a lot of his time hiking translating Kendrick Lamar lyrics to Wilm and convincing the group that I was an expert freestyle rapper. And, even worse, I think that my incessant denial came off as modesty.
Directly opposite the waterfall was our kitchen, a little hut with chicks, pigs, puppies and kittens all very eager for attention. After cooling off in the water and seeing some original Tom and Jerry style comedy between one of the puppies and one of the kittens, we were “ready” to do some zip lining. Our guide gave us a quick refresher of the “no, no, no” and the “yes, yes, yes” behaviors and zipped off, expecting us to follow. For a childhood fantasy, this place had real “no parents, no rules” vibes.
Justin and I said our Hail Marys and did our first zip line over the jungle canopy, with panoramic views of the nearby river and distant mountains. It’s this mode of transportation that we’d use to get both in and out of our treehouse and see some of the best scenery the national park had to offer.
The treehouse itself was childhood fantasy 2.0. It had all of the prerequisites that you had as a kid (treehouse, snacks, no parents) and the luxuries you learn to appreciate as an adult (finished flooring, comfy beds, indoor plumbing and 5 star speedy meal delivery). The meals were fantastic, each consisted of rice and about 5 different varieties of meat, vegetables and sauce toppings, fruits and dessert all served buffet style. You heard that right, treehouse buffet.
After dinner, we were free to zip line on our own until the sun went down. As Justin and I became more comfortable with zip lining over the coming days, we started imagining a different scenario for each zip line to really dial up the drama. Things like:
Escaping United States custom officials after mass importing counterfeit “Guci” and “Chanal” apparel
Quickly fleeing the row of scammy tuk-tuks waiting outside the bus stop en route to more reasonably priced options one or two blocks away
Bringing an assorted box of Dunkin’ Donuts to the company meeting in the midst of some drab presentation about sales projections and lunch labeling protocols
Each day looked a lot like this. Treehouse buffet, zip ling through the morning fog, hiking through the jungle, evading all requests to freestyle rap, treehouse buffet, sunset zipling, treehouse buffet, printer malfunction stories. And while Justin may not actually know all the ins and outs to hip hop culture and I may not be the best freestyler, I’d say we’re both pretty excellent at putting on diapers.
THE GIBBONS EXPERIENCE > LUANG NAMTHA