Fishing At The Park,

again today,

 the parks cats did not even wait for us to catch a fish,

 they came over as soon as we arrived, so we gave them some of Nicks current cake which they seemed to enjoy as much as we did,

 although it was hot,

 the sky was almost,

 all grey cloud,

 Nick was soon into his first fish, 1-0 to Nick,

 meanwhile the kitten had decided to play,

 on the table,

 with the camera bag,

 then Nick caught his second,

 the first was a bit small, so it was put back for another day,

 but this one was off to the kitchen,

 I then caught my first,

 2-1 to Nick, the kitten relaxing,

and still in a playful mood,

 then it heard something,

 dinner was served, 

 just as Jim, Cher and Lek joined us, 

with Nick, Maureen and ourselves,

 Nick was in to another, Diana always takes the most flattering pictures of me!

 now 3-1 to Nick,

 as the fish was a nice size and as there were a few of us we had it cooked as well,

 so eyes down and tuck in for a second time,

 one of the mobile food stalls called by so Lek bought some fresh fruit which was nice,

 another to Nick, by now it was 5-2 to Nick,

 then one more for me, now 5-3 to Nick, 

 but it was to late we had the 'forlawn hope' the name we give to the last cast of the day, but then I was into a real rod bender, 

 all I had to do was land it,

 and I did,

 a nice sized fish, it was a pangasius catfish,

this fish is extensively farmed in Vietnam and other countries, we often eat it at home ourselves where where buy fillets of it from Makro amongst other shops, if you are offered dory as a fish dish this is it, as an aside in the UK a number of fish and chip shops have been caught for selling this catfish as cod, they can sell it, but it must be correctly labelled, in the USA the pangasius catfish overtook cod and crab to become the sixth most popular seafood in the U.S.A. but this might soon be stopped as fearing for the sales of home grown fish an active lobby is trying to stop the imports of them, according to this article, depending on whom you ask, the reason stems from either imported food safety concerns or a bureaucratic entanglement designed to protect the shrinking market share of American-produced catfish, pangasius supplies could dry up as early as this year as the Agriculture Department assumes control over catfish and pangasius this spring—a job currently done by the Food and Drug Administration, the USDA is expected to impose tough new standards on Vietnam and other countries that export pangasius to the U.S. there have been no major illnesses linked to pangasius in the U.S., or at least not any more than with other fish, but there could be, evidently, hence the change of departments over seeing the import of pangasius, but back to the fishing, we ended the day at 5-4 to Nick, I must try harder next time!

if you want to fish here, it is the Mamak fishing park, their map above, it is off of Soi Nub Plan Wan, (spelt as it sounds), turn into the Soi from Sumkivitt, once in the Soi go over the railway crossing and continue for a couple of miles, the road starts to go downhill, near the bottom of it you will see the road the fishing park is in on the right hand side, almost opposite the big pink building on the left, follow that for a while, it twists and turns a bit and the fishing park is on the left next to a soccer ground, there are rods and tackle for hire and bait to buy, plus a fridge full of beer!

 we made a move back to Nick and Maureen's just as the rain started,

 so we sat inside for a snack of spring rolls, later Nick had prepared a chicken curry, which was delicious, followed by cheese, biscuits and ice cream,

then on to the serious part of the evening Monopoly! which by a few happy rolls of the dice I won, Diana said to make a funny face, well this is as funny as it gets, 'mine, all mine!' we thanked Nick and Maureen for looking after us so well then made a move for home,

where it was feet up a glass of medicinal red wine and a outrageously funny although remarkably violent spoof of a James Bond type movie, Kingsmen The Secret Service, the action scenes were the best close quarters combat scene we have ever watched, totally flawless, the plot like gravy thickened, the music superb, especially strangely enough the piece by Sir Edward Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 as the film drew to its end, a really enjoyable movie, more British than fish and chips, more Bond than James could ever have imagined, what a delight and just to think I nearly did not buy it, what a waste that would have been! with that we were off to bed.