Tommy woke us up early this morning telling us that we needed to go search for the famous Gibbon. Gibbons are considered to be lesser apes (differing in size, sexual behavior, and certain anatomical details from great apes), but are extremely intelligent. They are endangered animals and are the fastest, most agile of all tree-dwelling, non-flying mammals. In other words, they are extremely difficult and rare to find in the natural jungle. This did not stop us.
We walked for roughly an hour before we spotted one. It was a beautiful yellow Gibbon, female according to Tommy. It was a spectacular sight to see her leaping from branch to branch at great distances (they can leap from branch to branch for distances of up to 50ft!). I've never been more impressed by an animal than I was by the Gibbon. I envied the Gibbon's ability to live up so high in the trees and to have so much versatility of movement. We also saw a black one (the male). One interesting thing about Gibbons is that they are monogamous. They spend their lives with only one mate. They love each other greatly, just like humans. How beautiful!
We went back to camp and had breakfast, packed up, and left on our trek to go deeper into the jungle. This time, we had an indigenous boy named Maun guide us (with Tommy who was guiding and translating, of course).
As we made our way deeper into the jungle, the vines, trees, thorns and thistles, and insects became more and more hostile and feral. It wasn't easy trekking.
We stopped and had lunch along the way, and found a nice swimming hole. We all jumped in, it was refreshing. There was a vine which provided for some rope-swinging. We all took turns swinging from the tree and launching ourselves into the water. Sam, who is known for his less than logical antics, decided to climb higher and higher on the rope to provide for a higher and higher drop into the water. This provided for one of the most entertaining moments of our jungle trip. As Sam was swinging from the tree, the vine broke off while he was in mid-air. He yelped as he fell, seemingly in slow motion, to the blackness of the water. Luckily, he came away unscathed, but we (including Sam) were all laughing our heads off.
After tofu and rice for lunch, we continued on our journey. The trees became more and more massive. The trunks of some of these trees were large enough for a group of twelve people to hold hands around it and still not touch. They were huge! Some of them had to be 12 feet in diameter.
At one point, Tommy cut a vine from a tree with Maun's machete. To our surprise, water came out of the end and we all took turns drinking fresh water from a vine. It was delicious! It even had an infusion of jungle wood. ha!
Our camp for the night was located a midst these giant jungle trees. It was a really impressive setting. I felt like we were completely immersed in the untamed woods. We set up our hammocks as soon as we got there (so we didn't have to worry about it later). I laid down on the hammock thinking I would just rest for a few minutes, but I ended up falling asleep for a good solid hour. When I woke up, I felt better to see that the other guys (except for Blake and Tommy) had napped too. Not too much after I woke up, the other guys did to. We were sitting in our hammocks talking and such when Maun lept out of his hammock and looked up into the branches. We immediately knew he was looking at something. The branches above us began shaking and we started seeing monkeys leaping over head. These ones weren't Gibbons, they were long-tailed monkeys, black in color. I had front row seats to the spectacle from my hammock. It was awesome!
As the sun began to set, Tommy and Maun began to make dinner. We got out our headlamps and began noticing some sparkling in the woods from our lights. These were the sparkling spiders (we coined the term). The eyes of these massive spiders sparkle when a light is shining at them (similar to the eyes of a dog or a cat). At night, in the Cambodian jungles of the Ratanakiri providence, thousands of spiders come out and cover the leaves and trees. When one shines a light out onto the jungle, thousands of sparkles can be seen, as if thousands of diamonds were strewn about the jungle floor. Some of these spiders are gigantic! Some were the size of the palm of my hand. I felt like a participant in the imaginative novels of Tolkien himself. The sparkling spider. Crazy!
After dinner, we went out on a night trek. We wandered around in the dark where the cobras, tigers, spiders, and other creatures dwell. It definitely took us out of our comfort zones, but it added to the sense of adventure which permeated the entire trip. We didn't see any creatures (besides a few birds), but we heard a whole lot.
Tommy and I had a good conversation. He told me his real name which is Kosal. He was, however, adamant that we called him Tommy because that is his business name. He told me about his life. His father was a victim (although he survived) during the Khmer rouge where 1.7 million people were starved and worked to death by its own government. His father spoke English and French, and therefore, was a threat to the Khmer regime (all educated people in Cambodia were killed during this time period). Luckily, his father survived this terrible time period, but barely. Tommy learned English from his father which has been an invaluable skill for him. I asked Tommy what Cambodians thought of all of us backpackers and westerners who come to his country. He said most Cambodians like the westerners, but a few wished we wouldn't come. Others wondered why we did come. Tommy has had so many experiences with cobras and Cambodian wildlife. It was fascinating to be able to connect with him on a personal level. I really enjoyed the conversation, and I think he did too.
I froze to death during the night while trying to sleep in my hammock, but never have I felt more happy to do so.
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