Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Jungle Fishing @ Thong Phaphum, Thailand

Liew, Hoe and me went for Jungle Fishing in Western border of Thailand. We reached Bangkok at 9:00am and what a bad news it was, our local guide Jakrit had his car up-graded and it will not be ready untill after 1:00pm noon at local time......Tired of waiting (sighhhhh) We reached Thong Phaphum at late evening...... Did some last minute shopping and went into Khao Laem Dam by boat in the night to a Floating House where we will put up for the night.....
Morning scenes infront of the floating house.....
And morning shower at the Khao Leam Lake.....
When in ROME, do what the Romans do......Thai style facial soothing powder.....
"SAWADEE KHAP" Our boatman came for the pick-up.....
Giant River Barb for sale on the floating grocery store......
Front view of the floating market place......
Breakfast at the chief's house in PILOK Village....
Traditional Padi de-husking method is still being practised in the village....
Our recruited porter are ready to take off.....where we had to walk for 8 hours approximately 15 km to our destination Pamak River ( Not kidding at all)
A short breather on the way.........
After just 3 hours of walking through the jungle, this is how Hoe looks like........ About half way of the trail, lunch break by a small stream..........
Walking.....walking......walking......still not reach.
Ascending......Gigantic bamboos.....
A kind of Snake Head Family species..... where it is commonly found in Asia.
Cute isn't it?.......
A school of giant size tadpoles.......about the size of a fifty cent coin each.
Descending.......Lost count of the number of time going up and down hills.....
Crossing small stream......
Finally we reached at the Pamak River, and it was 5:00pm in the evening....
Breath taking view at the camp site....
Setting up camp and get rest....... Next morning, the hunt begins....... with Hoe getting a Thai Jungle Perch at the falls...
Nice catch of a Thai Goldern Mahseer by Bob our local guide.....
Yeah! my catch with a 7g Yozuri silver spoon......
What a beautiful fish it is......"PLA PLUAN" in Thai (Tor putitora)........

Close-up view of its face.....
Pictures of the numerous catches.....
This one looks different, its blue in colour........
Some kind of unknown fishes to me..........????
"PLA VEIN" in thai (Tor tambroides), another kind of Mahseer......
Our fishing site at the river.....
Cooling down by taking a dip in the crystal clear river....
Gold dust is also mined along this river.........a source of income for the locals
Small fishes are dried up as food for the gold miners..... Preparing our food started from making a cup, container and chopsticks.....& etc from the bamboo
Mountain Roddens for dinner....... Scary but taste good. Of course dinner cannot be without fish........ Cooking time.......
Caught a Wild Fowl too.......... Roasted Wild Fowl........Yummy yummy!..........
Even frog is in the menu.......
Night entertainment,.........MASSAGE TIME.....by the porters, to relief the muscle aches from all the walking............Ahhhhhhhhh What a relief....
Oouch! slightly in pain............Aarghhhhhh.........Its fun looking at Hoe screaming in pain......Ha Ha Ha. 2kgs+ Jungle perch......."PLA KASURP" in Thai...
Some more photos of the catches during the trip.........
Our guides and porters.....
Cashew nuts?.....
The fruit tasted very sweet and juicy.....
Thanks to our Thai friends Mr.Jakrit & Mr. Gols, who made this trip a success......