Bikes, Buses, Boats, Beaches and Beer, on a Budget - Noddy's (mis)Adventures in Asia

BUA YAI, PHI MAI cont... THEN OFF TO BURIRAM

We make it to Sai Ngam , an interesting (maybe, not really) tree thing...?? hard to describe, but the highlight was the lake nearby absolutely teeming with MONSTER Pla Nin, Giant Snakehead, Red Devil's and massive Carp, it is an awesome sight and the first time I have seen GSH in the flesh. Obviously you can't fish there. Doh!

A quick rip around Phi Mai Historical Park with 1000 year old Khmer style temple was pretty cool, but it's time to hit up some fishing parks.

We check a couple out and are told at both places that they are shut, we think they just don’t want to serve silly falangs who want to fish in the rain. But back in Bua Yai we score an absolute winner of a fishing pond, surrounded by rice paddies and trees, secluded, great staff and we are the only ones there. This place is unreal and actually gives you that peaceful feeling of nature and remoteness we chase when fishing.

I am quickly on the board with a couple of Pla Nin, but Danca on worm soon makes a comeback and starts kicking my ass. We end the day at 6 all, with one each to take home for seafood bbq at Fon's where we are treated to a huge dinner, washed down of course with a couple of cold beers and some local whiskey. An awesome day out, we all hit the fishing park again the next day.

Back at Fon's that night, it is her son's birthday and we have a few Sangsoms while waiting for a huge array of seafood to be cooked over open coals. Another fantastic meal, birthday cake for dessert and back to the room, where I now find myself hunched over the keyboard with a whiskey night cap typing up the trip report.

Loving the road trip so far and there are plans of us FINALLY hitting this cricket and fishing farm we have been eyeing off for a while.

After 3 nights in Bua Yai we head off towards Buriram to Time Out Fishing Park and Cricket Farm, a place we have talked about visiting on many occasions.

There is some local flooding in the area but we finally make it thanks to the GPS, it has been a godsend, as we are now firmly in the middle of nowhere. It is beautiful though and very peaceful when we arrive, the whole place is set up great and we relax with a couple of beers and I set up the laptop to catch the Sydney Swans game.

I love having free wifi nearly everywhere you go in SE Asia, even way out bush, and to think the Australian Labor Party wanted to run fibre optic cable around the largest, most sparsely populated country to provide our internet service??!! Ridiculous, and we like to think we are the ‘developed’ countries.

The fishing here is very poor though and after sitting in the rain for a while and really not seeing it improve any, I finally give up and go inside to the bar area. It is Saturday and apparently that is their big night when the locals and expats in the area all turn up for drinks and karaoke.

It turns out to be a great night with many new friends made and much vodka induced karaoke performed. The boss is Ludo, a very friendly guy and a great host, I probably wouldn’t return for the fishing but I could definitely handle another Saturday night party there!

With me sporting a pounding Vodka headache, I climb in the back seat and try to sleep as we make the journey back to Pattaya. Aside from the usual few near-death experiences that are par for the course when tackling Asian traffic, it is fairly uneventful. A great trip away, I always love getting out of town especially if there are country fishing parks to check out. Plenty more wild parties and general good times are had by Danca, myself and other friends over the next couple of weeks but I have to get back to Indo to meet Patty again.

Styling with that car seat on the back