Saturday, May 5, 2012

North Myanmar - In Search of Golden Masheer (2)

Finally, we reached the river where we can start fishing. It seems to be a big deep clear water river.... and we are lucky that the river was not murky even with all the incessant raining....  
This is the real deal....., pristine waters and wonderful scenery....... NICE!!! I have no words to describe how spectacular this place is.....
After some trying, here comes my first Masheer in Myanmar,.... Wow! Such beautiful colours, right?!....
What a beautiful fish.....
It looks similar to the Thai Golden Masheer (Neolissochilus stracheyi) except without the black stripe, or is it more like the Indian Masheer (Neolissochilus hexagonolepis)?!!........
We have a good fishing spot here where the two rivers meet, plentiful food, plentiful oxygen and most of all - plentiful catches for everyone.....
Everyone getting a taste of what the Northern Myanmar wilderness has to offer......
What an awesome looking Masheer.....  SWEET!
Calm and peaceful nightfall.....
Talking about our stay here,... Normally, we would just camp in the middle of nowhere and gaze at the beautiful starry night sky and sometimes we homestay at some friendly native house.... 
Spending a night with the locals.....
A simple and practical abode.....
Bunking here for the night.....
The friendly people of Rawan and Lisu around this region.....
They live a simple life but simple is WONDERFUL!!....
Knowing where to scout for food and resources, mother nature provides them everything.... This young woman has brought home a basket full of rattan canes and claims it is a tasty treat for us.... Well, it tasted like a baked potato with a little bitter flavour..... Not bad at all!!
Our young and strong porters were very curious at what we have been up to......
We got along very well even though we don't speak each others language.....
And off we went in search of more adventure......
When the going gets tough.....
...... the tough gets going!
When not fishing, what else can you do? Laze around of course.....
At slight daylight make the sky and the scenery look more clear..... Absolutely captivating....
This part of the Kachin state which is located at the most North of Myanmar is surrounded with thick mountain ridges of the Himalayan Tibetan Heights at an average height of between 3000 to 7000 feet,.... and certain places reaching 10,000 feet even, where snow-caps form at the peaks....
Unique flora and fauna abound found here......
At the destined river,... which was not part of our initial plan, was wider than expected. The water was deep and clear. During our visit it rained incessantly every day and the water level rose and fell according to the rain fall intensity but luckily it was not murky.....
And we were so lucky that we caught some fish between 1 - 2 kgs on average along this stretch of water..... 
And there were times when we caught 5kg sizes too..... We think the ones that got away could be even bigger too....... Heh Heh Heh! Some good size of a Himayan Golden Masheers (Tor putitora) for Carven and Ng....
A close up of the fish caught on camera.....
Care to join me.....??? DELICIOUS!!!

Supper or dinner? You named it. It's all the same here once the sun goes down......
Ah...... more delicious food......
Candle light dinner??? How romantic....
Smiling gleefuly - a sign of good and tasty food ....or is it just a case of being too HUNGRY???
Over here the most scary thing is being bitten by the Sandflies! We were attacked frequently most of the way.... All of us were stung beyond recognition, even the locals were not spared.... It is so itchy that you actually can't stop scratching it,.....and the more you scratch the more it becomes itchy,.....driving you insane!!....
But the fishing must still go on..... Luckily the many Masheers we caught made it all worth while even if we had to endure all the biting and scratching druing the whole journey......
One of my friends Danny were so lucky to catch a 15kg Himalayan Golden Masheer.....
Wow! Awesome!! Congrats to Danny on his first Himalayan Golden Masheer (Tor putitora).....
What a beauty!....
Finally on the last day... looking out from the verandah and reminiscing the good time we had here..... 
All good things must come to an end. But who knows, I might well be back again very soon...

Cheers everyone!!!