Treetop Swinging and River Floating

I began my time in Laos by venturing into the Bokeo Nature Preserve to hang with the monkeys - an adventure called the Gibbon Experience. A dozen of us loaded into two pick-up trucks and embarked on a journey of several hours across streams and up, down and around on a barely passable dirt road. We disembarked at a small village with adorable kids playing in the stream and beautiful thatched houses surrounding us. A very sweaty, two hour, trek uphill in the steamy mid-day jungle followed. We arrived at the 'kitchen' where we were fitted for harnesses which we sported for the last 30 minutes of the hike. Reaching a zip line that we had to take to our treehouse (an amazing three story affair so high that you couldn't see the ground - great besides the GIANT beehive on one of the branches and the nearby bathroom - a hole in the treehouse floor - the proximity has resulted in some stung asses). While the rest of the crew relaxed and nursed their sore legs, Kathleen and I spent the afternoon hiking and zipping through the jungle with permanent smiles plastered on our faces and the urge to giggle every time we reached another zip - such fun!
We dined and played cards in the dark and turned in for the night under our shared bug nets. About the time we had all finished chatting and were trying to get some shut-eye, a storm brewed up in the distance and made its way to our cozy tree. We spent an hour watching the lightning and enjoying the atmosphere of the thunder and wind surrounding us (the treehouse has no walls so we had a close-up view from our beds). It finally passed and we had a good night's sleep until our wake-up call at 5:30.
We headed out early in the morning, rubbing the sleep from our eyes as we zipped across the jungle. As we walked, we heard the singing of the Gibbons which only occurs for an hour early in the morning. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see them but the noise was amazing. The morning was spent trekking to far-off treehouses and ziplines and the afternoon was free for exploration. As I was zipping away from the treehouse on my way to do one more loop before sunset, I was called back because we were being evacuated. There was a storm forecasted and we weren't supposed to stay in the treehouse during storms (news to us). Four hours later we were allowed to hike back 'home' and even got to do a zipline in the dark (usually not permitted) which was so cool.
The following morning, four of us woke up early to try to see the Gibbons once again. We bushwhacked through the jungle and found a vantage point under the tree where they were swinging. We were able to watch them for 20 minutes and listen to them singing! We ziplined for the morning and sadly returned to the treehouse for our trek back to the road. We had Gibbon 'reunion' drinks that evening and then half of us left for the slow boat the next morning.
The slow boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang is a two day journey on the Mekong. We were lucky enough to get one of the few seats that had been pulled out of vans instead of the hard wooden ones (woohoo). There was lots of reading and card playing but we discovered that it is pretty hard to stay entertained for two days on a crowded boat. There were nice views but I am glad to be in Luang Prabang; a lovely town and UNESCO heritage sight.