Joe called me on the dot at 7am to check if we are still going kayaking as planned as it had started to drizzle and then rain. Affirmative Joe; and since when had I allowed a little bit of water to get in my way of kayaking. Isn't it a watersport Joe?

Dayang and friend was late and responded to my sms, "are u ladies still putting on your makeup?!" that are already on the way.

It was still raining when the gals finally arrived and they had to hold up umbrellas while we load and tie up the kayaks on my CRV. We decided to sit out the rain in a coffee shop and Joe needs his calories to maintain his physique anyway. The rain stopped and we finally set off and arrived at the put-in surprised to find a group of men at the ferry shed. They were undertaking survey work and were sitting out the rain as well. Don't tell me that development is on the way for this piece of river sanctuary we had just discovered last week? Such is life; although I found it hard to suppress my disappointment and keeping my feelings to myself.

The tide was going down leaving silt on the timber plankway down to the river as Joe did a slip-n-slide while we carried the kayaks down to the water. Next time get an NRS shoe. We got on the way under the curious watchful eyes of the survey workers and a gray cloudy sky.

Not far off we saw some men by the riverbanks and we paddled over to have a look. They were fishermen who had set up vertical nets that would trap whatever prawns, crabs and small fishes as the tide recede; but the prized catch is "udang galah" or giant river prawns. It is a traditional and environmentally friendly effective fishing method. I stopped to watch just as the sun break through the clouds cover. We saw them pick the prawns out from the bottom of the nets and asked if they are selling them as we would like to buy some. They asked us to get them at the kampong as they are selling them to this chinese 'towkay' (boss) who buys it off them. Hmmm. We paddled further down to try out luck with the other fishermen; who unfortunately told us the same story. A story of subservience and exploitation knowing darn well that this 'towkay' buys it cheap off this hard-working fishermen and then sell it at a hefty profits at the markets and to the top seafood restaurants; and these fishermen are not 'allowed' to sell them directly to anyone else. Depending on how you may want to look at it; but to me this is depressing from my narrow perspective. But on second thought this 'towkay' has relieved these fishermen the trouble to have to store, transport and sell the prawns; task which these rural people are not so good at. They 'produce' and the towkay distribute, market and sell. This may be a win-win situation to all parties. I must refrain from being too judgemental too quickly. But there must be some people who may not be so dependent on this arrangement and fortunately we found one and I bought one kilo of the prawn lobsters off him for half the market price! Joe wanted some too but he was out; so we paddled on to look for some more but could manage only to buy about half a kilo from another independent thinking fisherman.

Worrying that the prawns may not keep, we decided to head back but when we got there the tide had gone done considerably and we were about 4 feet down from the slipperly wooden jetty plankway. Joe decided that we should try another tributary and we followed him. Having being out with me for a couple of times now; Joe is gaining confidence as a kayaker. Unfortunately this other place was worse, so we had to paddle back up this small tributary. By the time we returned the tide has risen sufficiently enough for us to manage to climb up the plankway with the kind assistance of the survey workers.

Another saturday and another gratifying paddle this time with giant river prawns to boot! Ah! The sweet life!














"Down on the Bayor", hmmm, that sounds like a good title for a song by CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival, for the uninititated and the genXs). Now if you don't mind, I've got some 'butter-coffee udang-galah' prepared by my master chef to attend to! Anyone feeling hungry?

Stumble It!