Luang Namtha is a small and slow-paced town in the Northwest region of Laos, and after finishing the lunch served by our Gibbon Experience Tour company, the bus to Luang Namtha picked us up from what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Despite how unstructured things appear around here, there is indeed a system and a plan, happening in ways that we travelers do not really know or understand. But- it always seems to work!
I wound up spending three and a half days and five nights in Luang Namtha, and it was a really sweet experience. I stayed at the Zuela guesthouse which I had read about in my Lonely Planet guide, and it was just the perfect place to relax and wind down after 3 days treking and ziplining in the jungle, sleeping on an empty stomach with rats and spiders, sleeping in dark mosquito netting to prevent us from being eaten alive by the mosquitos. The Zuela guesthouse was down a long driveway away from the main road, with swinging chairs, a restaurant with outdoor seating, and a yard of grass and trees that made for a very relaxing and peaceful atmosphere.
The really special thing about traveling is that you just never know what is going to happen, or who you are going to meet. My time in Luang Namtha wound up being defined by three New Zealanders that I met at my guesthouse during my first half an hour after arriving. They were using the single computer at the guesthouse to make travel arrangements, sitting on the floor and all around the desk, and for whatever reason I decided to chat with them while waiting for the person at the front desk to return. We only chatted briefly, but I ran into them many hours later at the night market just across the street- they introduced themselves as Sparky (Marc), Slithers (Kristen) and B.P. (Brian). From then on, we spent most of our waking and active time together, exploring, eating, and laughing.
Brian is Sparky's dad, and Slithers is Sparky's best friend. The three of them made for an incrediby entertaining trio, their dynamic never ending of banter, joking, and silliness. They were also quite a sweet group of men (though they may deny it if they read this) and were quite sensitive both culturally and also in the sense of loving animals, as well as being gentlemanly. At the night market, they had named every single cat and dog which would pass by or hang out with us begging for food, and there were many many animals to be named! These Kiwis were the very laid-back type of traveler who likes to hang out and interact with the locals, and were extremely good at just enjoying wherever they were, and so I found my honorary family and travel companions in them.
The first afternoon I just spent relaxing, reading, meditating, doing some yoga. When I went off to the night market, there were Sparky, Slithers, and Brian, and they invited me to join them for some BBQ'd duck, and BBQ'd chicken. This became our nightly routine, that was actually simply an appetizer to dinner elsewhere each time. It was a great place to relax and participate in the goings-on of the local culture and people-watching, and it is also where I found great love and warmth in the form of a tiny kitten that we named Zuela (after our guesthouse).
Every night we sat around a different table, interacting with our favorite local dogs and cats, one of our favorites being 'Cupid,' a small and spunky black puppy with a heart shaved into the side of his fur. But one night, I saw her- a tiny black silhouette, scavenging for food scraps on the night market ground, with ears and tail bigger than the rest of her, and the silhouette was so tiny that all of my maternal instincts pulled me straight to her form and swooped her into my arms.
I brought her to the table to show the my Kiwi posse, and we all ooh-ed and ah-ed (that's right boys- you DID ooh and ah! Don't deny it! I was definitely the worst, though :) ) I held her in my lap and pet her, and could feel her purring through her protruding ribcage that surrounded her poor little empty stomach. The guys realized that they had seen this kitten the night before, being dropped into a gutter near the convenience store by a Lao woman.
I put Zuela on the table and began feeding her duck. She ate it with great hunger, and was so hungry she did not bother to chew before wolfing down this meal. She was biting my finger accidentally from her monstrous appetite and urgency to eat. I fed her until the remains of the duck were gone, and then fed her water from a bottle cap, which I filled about four times. Then I took her in my arms and she fell asleep on my busom. We were both in a state of deep peace, warmth, and tranquility, and I discussed with the guys what should be done.
In addition to trying to convince me to take this kitten with me further on my travels (which, as much as I wanted to, knew was not a possibility), it was suggested and agreed upon that at the very least, I would take her back to my room that night and let her sleep with me, as I believed that in addition to food, it would be important that this kitten receive warmth, comfort, and nurturing to further strengthen her to continue on her own. I took her back to my room, and fed her most of a pre-cooked hotdog that I had handy, and tried to feed her some milk that I bought for her at the store. Once she had eaten a second time, she had bounds of energy, and was zipping around my room exploring and getting tangled in the curtains. She was also so good as to take a poop in the bathroom next to the toilet and the floor drain! I was impressed.
That night, she slept next to my pillow, and when I awoke in the morning she was on top of my head, and playing with my hair. I moved her to between my chin and chest on my neck so I could sleep longer. When I awoke again later in the morning and removed my sleep-mask, she was laying on my chest and staring at me with big round adorable kitten wonder. I was absolutely smitten.
We went down to the guesthouse for some breakfast, and just as we sat at the outdoor picnic table, the Kiwis appeared, just as they always did, amazingly and coincidentally at the same time, regardless of the hour. They asked after Zuela, and we spent the morning watching her while eating our breakfast, making friends with other guests, and disappearing into the kitchen of the guesthouse restaurant. I felt quite happy, because though I knew I was going to be sad to leave her behind, I could tell that she had already found her home at the Zuela Guesthouse. Hooray!
In addition to my great love for this kitten, I also loved exploring Luang Namtha the town with my New Zealand friends, and we also made a full day trip of a 'cultural tour' to Muang Sing, a neighboring village about a one hour tuk-tuk drive away. We opted for the tuk-tuk instead of a minivan because we believed it would be a 'more authentic' experience, and, indeed it was. It was also quite a long time to be in a tuk-tuk, the ride itself was quite bumpy, and we created a game called the 'Tuk-tuk challenge', which was to be able to fall asleep in the tuk-tuk sitting up while holding on to a handrail through all of the intense bumpiness (this trip began at 6am, so, we were all quite tired). Everyone including our Laos tour guide succeeded in meeting the Tuk-tuk challenge except for me- perhaps it is because I was so busy taking photos of their amazing sleep poses.
In Muang Sing, we went to the morning market, we had Laos style coffee, which is super concentrated coffee brewed through a sock, and then condensed milk is added. Delicious. I usually don't drink caffeine in any form, but I had two of these incredibly delicious beverages. We also had bowls of Beef Pho. Mmm!
We wandered around the market, and then we were taken to a few different villages where we just wandered around, saying hello to locals, and being introduced to various 'Spirit Gates' that were different wooden constructions that either prevented bad spirits from coming into the village, or were welcoming to good spirits. One wasn't a gate, but a SWING for the good spirits to play on! So cool!
We were also taken to a waterfall on a brief hike (where I was the only swimmer in this cold luscious water!), after a picnic lunch which our tour guide and the tuk-tuk driver arranged for us after picking some banana leaves from the woods to create placemats/plates for our food. It was delicious and tasty, and these guys ate lunch and 'broke-bread' with us (or should I say 'broke rice'??), which was especially cool, because in many tourist situations, I have mostly found guides to eat separately or alone, so, we were quite pleased with the feeling of comraderie on this day.
We came back to Luang Namtha tired but happy, and made straight for our night market ritual, followed by amazing Indian food at a restaurant of a man from India, where we saw the largest and most photographable insect. The Indian restaurant owner took notice of us standing in alarm and interest around our dinner table, taking photos of this alien seeming creature, and came straight out and captured it, taking it far away from his fine cuisine.
These are just a handful of highlights from the 3.5 days that I spent in Luang Namtha! It was a great experience, and I think fondly of my time as an honorary member of this Kiwi man-posse, the town, and of course, my dear Zuela, who I hope is warm and safe, sleeping in her new home of the Zuela Guesthouse.
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