It’s Raining Cats and Dogs and Men

DAY: 29
LOCATION: Luang Prabang

With seven billion humans on this planet all at wildly different stages of development, a global utopia indeed feels like a far off dream. But a miniature one – say, 20 yogis practicing in the morning mist over the Nam Khan River- is well within reach.

While my yoga experiences in Australia had been wonderful, they couldn’t quite compete with the atmosphere at Utopia. Taking place on an open air patio at 6:30am, the chill foggy air played with one’s consciousness. Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Is this nirvana? Each sun salutation felt exalted, each bird of paradise a lift-off into the next realm.

I floated back the long way to my hotel, my heart chakra full to bursting. How was it possible to feel so filled with love and appreciation? Not that Luang Prabang was all that hard to love, with its hidden away temples, lush hillsides, and charming inhabitants. I watched as a grandfather helped his granddaughter with her shoes, then took her hand and strolled up to the street market outside my hotel. The moment was so simple, yet so tender and sweet.

The hotel breakfast was also simple – a piece of French bread, jam, and fruit. I ate it appreciatively, but decided I would eat out the other mornings. There were too many tantalizing dishes out there to be wasting calories on bread, as kind as the hotel staff was. Anyway, I would still drink their coffee.

Speaking of, I met the boys at the trendy Saffron Coffee and Bakery. Austin had just ordered some special local sustainable joe brewed at the table with a presentation and discussion by a sexy Australian. It reminded me of my wine-tasting days, with descriptions of where the beans were grown, tasting notes, etc. Quite the theatrics, but the coffee was very good.

Austin wanted to go exploring on his own, so that left me alone with Jordan. He had a couple of restaurants on his list and a massage place, I had a cave and trail on the other side of the Mekong plus a mango and sticky rice craving. We had more than enough time to do it all.

We couldn’t find the lunch spot he had been referred to (“first left, second right, down the road, one woman operation with a blue umbrella”), but we did stumble across an adorable family of cats in a temple. Thin and blond, there were five kittens and two adults.

“They look pretty hungry,” Jordan said, his usually dry tone tinged with compassion. “I wish we had something to feed them.”

I did too. I told him about my cat, and how she’d chosen me after a couple of years of hanging around my place as a stray.

“She’d been so skiddish, always running away from people, until the day after James and I broke up. I’d found her in my side yard, and this time she didn’t run, we just stared at each other. After ten minutes or so we had inched our way closer and closer to each other, until she let me touch her. And then she just melted, meowing and rubbing herself against my body, starved for affection. Once I started feeding her it was game over. Now she’s fat.”

“Ha!” he laughed. “Yeah, animals are awesome like that. I’ve always loved them.”

And yet he still ate them. He just wasn’t ready to give up the culinary scene, something I’d heard many times. I understood - breaking habits is hard, especially when they are as culturally ingrained as eating meat.

We ended up dining at a non-touristy local place, with the least enthusiastic waitress of all time. She didn’t once crack a smile, and ignored us repeatedly, but we kind of enjoyed it. Spicy, just like the food.

For the mango and sticky rice, we went to a place along the Mekong. For some reason it took nearly 30 minutes for the simple dish to come out, but it didn’t matter – I was loving talking with Jordan. His level of self-awareness really impressed me, especially as we discussed past relationships.

“I’m taking a break from dating altogether right now. It’s been a few months, and I really like not being involved with anyone,” he confided. This made me feel both more comfortable with him and slightly disappointed. Once a love addict, always a love addict.

We took a short ferry ride across the Mekong to get to Chompet, a trip apparently not too popular with the tourists, as we were the only foreigners. It wasn’t too hard to see why – the small village was painfully poor. It somehow felt wrong to even be walking through, although there were signs marked for the temple and cave. It really made us aware of our privilege.

We bought an offering at the base of Wat Chompet and climbed the steep stone stairs to the top. A young monk, maybe seven or eight years old, greeted us silently with a bucket in his orange robe. We watched as he gently watered the plants on the hillside. Never had a common chore appeared so sacred. I thought of Thich Naht Hanh – “When I wash the dishes, I wash the dishes.” Presence is everything.

For the cave, a guide gave us flashlights and took us inside. It was the exact opposite of the cave at Halong Bay – dark, small, empty. But it had its own magic, with honeycomb limestone that shimmered like a thousand tiny diamonds. We loved it.

Perhaps my favorite moment of Chompet occurred on our walk back to the ferry, when we stumbled upon a pack of puppies nursing on their mother. As we watched them hungrily feeding, and the runt of the litter trying to work his way in, I realized how rarely I witnessed such a natural thing as animals caring for their young. It struck me as a sort of miracle, and a tragedy that the processes of nature have been hidden away from sight.

The sun was setting as we boarded the return ferry. I studied Jordan as we rumbled across the water. He wasn’t exactly my type, with his beard and round face and small eyes. And yet right then in the warm glow he looked beautiful. I wanted so badly for him to kiss me… but he didn’t.

The massage place he’d researched didn’t seem to exist, so we went to his back up, the Lao Red Cross Sauna and Massage. If I thought the ambience at the Hanoi place had been bad, this trumped it. The lighting looked fit for a coroner’s office, and the stained sheets separating the mattresses on the floor made me shiver. They’d taken Jordan to another area of the building, and for a half second I thought about finding him and running out. This was his first ever massage experience (a fact that baffled me) and I wanted it to be good, not terrifying.

Thankfully, my masseuse was excellent, which helped to explain the rave online reviews. Jordan’s appeared to have been so also, judging by the expression of utter relaxation on his face. We melted into the cool night air.

“Home for a shower then meet us for dinner at 9? Manda de Laos?” he asked.

“Perfect,” I smiled, glad he still wanted to keep hanging out.

I got to the restaurant a few minutes late. Jordan was running even later, but Austin was already there. A hostess escorted us through the garden terrace along the UNESCO classified lotus pond (yes, that’s really a thing.)

“I feel like I’m in a Bond movie,” Austin whispered to me, slightly uncomfortable. We did look pretty dressed down next to the posh clientele. It was clearly not his usual scene.

“Yeah, this place is frickin’ gorgeous,” I said, slipping into my seat.

Jordan arrived shortly after, and we perused the menu.

“It’s pretty expensive,” Austin commented. He wasn’t wrong, when comparing it to Laotian prices, but for the caliber of restaurant and the unbelievable ambience it was a steal. It’s funny how quickly we can adapt to certain realities and not others.

“It will literally be the cost of two cocktails in LA,” I replied, thinking about Chompet earlier, how well off we really were. “But for a full fine dining experience. Let’s just enjoy it and not be cheap.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Austin agreed. Jordan and I shared a smile. I felt like he was reading my mind.

We opted for the vegetarian set menu for two with a few a la carte meat items for the boys. Obviously I didn’t try the add-ons, but even they agreed that the vegan dishes were the winners. The taste and presentation were exquisite. And nobody was upset when the bill came to just $20 a person. Definitely worth it.

“Kuang Xi Falls tomorrow?” I said, giving them hugs good night as we parted ways.

“Let’s do it.”