Peacock Hunt

It's really been a while since my last fishing for Peacock Bass........... Besides Air Kuning area, I went up to a newly found area to give it a try...........

Lau has a wonderful moment with this biggie caught near by the abandon duck farm..........

Yeah! Sweet!!............

Ooopss! Caught a Dark looking Haruan with my black spinner bait........

Cheers!!...........

Pong's happy catching............

Even this Big Head Carp was hooked up......... Sorry to say this but it tasted very good in the hot curry pot.......... He He He!...........

Local fisherman harvesting his catch in the morning......... Ohhhh.....A good size Big Head Carp........

It was a fun trip indeed,.....Catching Peacock Bass with my newly bought 4 feet casting rod....... I bought this rod which was meant for my indoor casting practice purpose,...... I can't immagine actually using it to land a kilo size Peacock Bass successfuly........ Holy cow! It was awesome man!!.......Paul Chia caught himself a small Haruan..............On the way back,.....we accidentally discovered a small restaurant which serve a specially prepared chicken meal, and even the chicken used for the preparation was no ordinary chicken but the specially bred lean and mean small sized "kampung chicken".......

the cooking method is by using wood fire..........

BINGO! "Two thumbs up my man!!!"............

Thai Golden Masheer

After three years since my last visit to Chiangmai...... here I come again!

I couldn't resist my favourite Thai food....... I have my Kong Zhe Nam Blaa (raw prawn marinated in chilli and garlic) immediately upon arrival,.....Northern Thai Tong-Yam soup......... Yummy! Yummy!!........This is where I stayed and I booked this through the Internet.......... I was very worried that it would turn out to be a disaster like the previous time which showed such promising pictures but in actual fact it was just the opposite. However, this time I was in luck as it was very affordable, clean, comfortable and good looking externally..........NICE!Front desk.......My room....... Swimming pool........ COOL! The next morning....
Bought some food from the morning market place........

After driving for around 3 hours, here we are at Mea Saliang town..........Stopped by a restaurant for a little meal......... the owner proudly showing his catch from the river nearby...... "Care to try this for lunch?"......Comparing this road to 3 years back, now it is beautifully tarred........and this has cut short our travelling time to 1 and 1/2 hours........ When we reached the same small village nearby the river, we were very surprised to see sundry shops full of convenient goods abound....... This was not so a few years back. I'm afraid this is the sign of bad things to come. With easier access roads and convenient goods, this will surely bring more people in and that's never a good sign (for fishing in the wild)......Met this NGO guy at the store..... he confirmed my initial thoughts that development is happening here and the river will no longer be the same as before.......The RIVER....... so calm and serene....Our raft handlers preparing breakfast for the day.............Even having been here 3 times, this is my first time seeing this type of traditional fishing gears being used............The bait (cocoons) being hooked on to the fishing gear............. Found a creature beneath the rock.....I wonder if the fly-guys know its name........Preparing to drift out..........
These are the spoons for catching the Golden Masheer............Here comes a small Thai Golden Masheer...........

But this one is bigger........A Burmese Trout (Barilius guttatus)..............Rapid shooting .......

Francis so happy with his first Thai Golden Masheer......... This one - keep for lunch.......... Grill Thai Golden Masheer..... Look yummy!

Fern leaf picked nearby used for making this tasty soup.

The locals caught these for their own consumption...... Dinner.........Bathing delight......Cold aaahhh............Night fall.......Dennis was nicely rewarded with good catches.......

The locals harvesting some kind of beans...........

fishing sites............A good size Burmese Trout..........Bye bye!!..............

All the way down river...........A quick lunch.......... Scenery along the river..........
An elephant sipping water at the river edge...... I wonder whether it is wild or kept by a Mahout.....

Camping ground...........
Food preparation.......

This trip presented much fewer catch than previous times due to the growing development around the river banks and nearby area........ However, it was still considered a satisfactory trip all in all........
Our locals suggest that we go for bait fishing on the last day..............
We went out to the main river system to try our luck........I wanted to use the worm in the cocoon for a little bait fishing, ... but it turn out to be a fully developed Frog-Leg beetle......... What a cute fella!
Bait fishing has never been my best game,....... the locals caught this unknown carp like fish........It has beautiful scales......Not much of a promise even for bait fishing.........Sighhhh!!Our local guide intend to cook this chicken for our dinner........ .... and this is how delicious it looked like later.............Our vehicle came to pick us up..........

Dinner at Chiangmai city............

Night Bazaar in Chiangmai city............

My favourite........... He He He!!