Bangkok-style Fishing: Giant Mekong Catfish

This blog has been so neglected and sad. So ronery. But I am determined to whip it back into shape. I have photos from approximately 700 activities/trips/happenings, dating back to our February trip to Cambodia and May adventure in New Zealand, that I have yet to post. I'm thinking I'll start with the most recent and go backwards, messing with the space-time continuum as well as your brains, anyone out there who is still reading.

But first, an update from the blog's namesake, Monsieur Lincoln (or Khun Lincoln, as the Thais might call him). Hmm, looks like he's too busy with this lizard to provide you with any meaningful update. Such is the life of a cat in Southeast Asia:

On to our most recent adventure: fishing!

Be warned: this is a GIF-heavy post... turns out fishing is quite GIF-able. Also: I make funny faces when fishing. Finally: Mr. Ben has a hat that he calls his "adventure hat."

Mr. Ben decided that, for his birthday weekend, we wanted to do something outside. We'd been talking about trying out this place, Bungsamran Fishing Park, just outside of Bangkok.  The fishing park basically guarantees that you will catch a ginormous fish.  Plus you get to chill out in a little bungalow with some beers. None of us being serious fishermen (fisherpeople? fishers? fisherfolk?), this sounded pretty awesome. And awesome it was.  Here are some non-fishing shots from our catch-and-release day trip:

The fish in the lake (set amidst the rice paddies and suburbs of Bangkok) are mainly Giant Mekong Catfish (a seriously enormous fish that is critically endangered in its natural habitat, the Mekong river, but is plentiful in this particular lake), Giant Siamese Carp (also critically endangered... my my, this post-fishing research is getting depressing!) and the Arapaima (not native to the Southeast Asia region; it's an Amazon River fish). But only the Giant Mekong Catfish seemed to be biting during our outing to the lake:

Only in Southeast Asia does fishing involve someone to bait (with a softball-sized ball of rice flour mixed with a buttermilk/coconut oil blend) and cast your line, and then help you reel it in, too. Niiiiiiice!

Mr. Ben, the birthday boy, was the first to fight and bag an enormous catfish.  Here he is, getting help from our trusting fishing guide with his safety harness thingy (which we affectionately referred to as "the strap on").  Our guide also provided helpful fishing tips ("Right hand strong, left hand not strong." and "Quick, quick!"):

Here's Mr. Ben close to winning the battle with his fish while Tim was just beginning his:

Hauling in and posing with the 24 kg (almost 55 lbs!!) beast:

Tim was up next... bwa ha ha ha:

Heavy fish!  This one = 21 kg/46 lbs.

Returning the (crazy-eyed) fish to the lake to hang out with his friends, perhaps not as gently as the fish would have liked:

Here are the boys, covered in fish goo, but ecstatic about their respective catches:

Now my turn!

My 55 lb fishie... hard to reel in and hard to lift!  

Erin was next up.  We were worried these giant fish would pull her in, but she showed them who's boss:

Her fish tried to outsmart her by going under the dock and getting tangled in the uprights, but with a little help from our guide, he was pried from his hideout and Erin pulled that big sucker in:

High-five:

Ben and Tim each caught a second fish, so we went for some group shots!

Erin and I each fought and lost mighty, simultaneous battles to our next fish, both of whom were quite wily, tangling themselves under the dock until they were able to cut their lines:

And, fin:

Kayaking Tonle Sap

After our adventures in looking at ancient temples in Angkor, Tim, Tony, Emily and I decided to take a trip to see Cambodia's great lake, Tonle Sap.  

Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and is basically Cambodia's most important natural resource (freshwater fish from the lake serve as the main source of protein for most Cambodians).  The lake is pretty unique in that it literally triples in size each year during Cambodia's rainy season (see pic here of the normal lake size vs. rainy season size), when the water in the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers reverses direction and runs back into the lake.  When the lake is large, surrounding forests are flooded, providing prime fish breeding grounds.

A shot or two from the car ride to our jumping-off point:

Water buffalo wallowing in the mud:

Heading up a (muddy) tributary river to the lake!

As we puttered up the river, we passed by dozens of men using weighted nets for fishing:

Piles and piles of fishing gear:

Then we arrived at one of Tonle Sap's many floating villages, inhabited by Cambodians, but also Vietnamese fishermen.  And when I say "floating," I mean literally floating.  Houses, schools, gardens, chicken and pig coops: all floating on rafts in the river.

The floating school:

We got to take in these village sights from the perspective of kayaks:

The floating houses were quite bare bones: single rooms, many with thatch roofs, open doors and windows. These people are not rich.

Most villagers are fishermen, but some also farm Siamese freshwater crocodiles for skins and meat.  Here's Tim pointing out croc in one of these farms:

After stopping at the crocodile farm, we paddled on to the flooded mangrove forests, home to a ton of birds and the site of much fish reproduction:

After the trip through the mangroves, we headed out into the open lake, boating amongst the fishing nets.  If you look closely, in some of the nets you can see the heads of fishermen popping up just above the surface:

Then we headed back through the village.  At sunset, the village came alive with kids ferrying themselves home from school, boats selling food, people out on their porches:

There were lots of dogs and cats living in the floating village:

Just one of the many kids in school uniform that we saw making their way back home via boat:

A couple more... I love how this little girl is trailing her arm out behind her.  For some reason it makes me think of Kermit and Miss Piggy in a rowboat.  Except completely different:

More kids in boats... who needs a school bus?

This kid was really cute.. trying desperately to escape past the makeshift baby gate keeping him inside.  How toddlers avoid falling into the water/croc pits in this village amazes me:

Some of those floating chicken coops I mentioned earlier:

Two kids who definitely do not look old enough to be operating a motorized vehicle:

As we made our way back down the tributary river to when the car was parked, we were lucky enough to see this family moving.  As in their entire house, trailed by their chicken coops and floating garden, was being moved down the river, dragged by a couple small boats:

We also saw these monks doing some yard work behind a riverside temple:

This kid was helping out with the fishing:

This fisherman had a cat friend on his boat:

Lots of birds: