Kongthong - The whistling village of Asia

Day 10

I had a very disturbed night and dreamt about home, work and chores and obviously none of it was pleasant. My quads and calf muscles were very sore but nothing that I couldn’t handle. I had a veg paratha for lunch and I swear, I have never been as happy to see cabbage as I was this day!

After breakfast we left to go to Kongthong, and I came across my first cherry blossoms today! We dropped Harley on the way and then as I had suspected BaLung started with his woes and money issues. I knew it was a play to ask for more. We drove by some very beautiful spots and obviously stopped to take loads of pictures.

Kongthong was very neat and pretty. So well maintained! I had a jungle hut to myself, with a bathroom attached. I had to get out of my hut and then go to the bathroom though. A pain for someone like me who gets up to pee in the middle of the night. Bakhian, the manager of the property demonstrated and told me the story behind the unique whistles for everyone at the village. When a baby is born, the mother comes up with a unique tune for the baby, which almost acts as their second name. And this used to communicate and call each other when they are at a distance from home.

The tradition of Kongthong

The lunch was simple but delicious. I sat in the sun, spoke home and enjoyed the network till it suddenly vanished in the afternoon. I read a lot and did my favourite activity – ironing clothes! The doggies had decided to adopt me and wouldn’t leave my side!

In the evening, I went on a walk around the village with Bakhian and met locals who played the tunes for each other. Most of them found me really funny and kept laughing looking at me. Bakhian refused to tell me what it was about!

We walked upto the village view point, which was gorgeous! Bakhian was talking to me about solo travellers and about North India vs South India. He didn’t know anything apart from the 7 sisters. Once back, I huddled in my bed as it was really cold. I could hear whistles everywhere; this was mothers calling their children back home. I decided to go to bed early and wake up in the morning to workout.