Finding Shangri-La by Road

Dawn at Meili Mountains - 6,700mtrs

6 May 2012, we finally made it to Shangri-La Tibet, after spending months planing the trip with my cycling kakis. I had read James Hilton's novel titled "Lost Horizon" and also saw the movie version many years ago. It intrigued me to know of such a mystical place on earth. yet I knew it was too good to be true, especially in the 21st century.
When we finally arrived at Shangri-La, formerly known as Diqing, our guide, Tuden quickly told us that Shangri-La lies inside each person's heart. I knew by the tone of his voice, that he had his fair share of encounters with disillusioned tourists who fell under the spell of James Hilton's novel. It was a good thing I had done quite a bit of research and had lowered my expections before the trip.
In the end, I must say I throughly enjoyed my visit, because of the exceptional hospitatlity from the staff of Songtsam Lodges, who showed us the rustic but simple lives of true-blooded Tibetans when we visited their homes, rather than spend time in the new town of Shangri-La. It was facinating to know that they still lived much the same as their ancestors did a century ago. The dedication they gave to their families, the village and their monks is with the deepest sincerity & love for their people & culture. I wish the Tibetans continued bliss in their Shangri-La.

 Prayer Flags at 4,300 mtrs enroute to Meili Mountains

 Wearing the cowboy hats helped shield us from the blazing sun.  

 At Songtsam Lodge, Shangri-La

 Horse riding at Shangri-La with the local farmers

 The road to Deqin along a 200km stretch of trecherous mountaineous terrain

prone to rock slides   

Our 3 charming ladies at Lijiang Old Town

Fishing at Sabah 27-30 April 2012

We fished off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from 27-30 April onboard a 68 foot traditional wooden boat. The sea was mirror calm & the water simply lovely. Fishing for Rubys was at 200m depths. Should have brought the electric reels; bad mistake. Manual reeling is no fun when just checking bait. Most of us used 50lb braided with minimum 300m of line. Definately not sufficient for Sabah. I would recommend 80lb braided with at least 600m of line on electric reels. The action was immediate every time we anchored at a new spot. But it faded away after 5 to 8 strikes. Then it's off to a new nearby spot again for a repeat of the action. We used apollo rigs in the day and rangongs at night. Strangely, night fishing wasn't productive at all for all 3 nights. The best fishing occurred in the early morning. That was the only period when everyone caught fish continually. By early afternoon, the action would have halved and eventually die off after twilight. One thing we were really disapointed with was the lack of good service. If it was a charter boat at Tg Pinang, Indonesia, the service by the crew would have been fantastic. Sadly, the crew onboard this boat were only interested in catching their own fish. And I must say, they were very good at that indeed. We practically did everything on our own, except the cooking & piloting of the vessel. Although, we laughed it off & put that to a different culture, I felt the crew could have done better. In any case, the fishing overall was satisfactory. I suppose going there once every couple of years would be good enough. I still prefer the fishing charters run by the Indonesians off Tg Pinang & Batam.            

WF with one of many Angkolis

Tony with a 9kg Amber Jack caught at 120m

 

Raimi with an 8.5kg Amber Jack

Ramesh with his first Angkoli caught at 98m

Jeffrey with the smallest fish he caught so far

WF with the first Ruby Red Snapper

A very nice eating Grouper

A 16kg Kaotoon caught on sardines

Adrian with a very scally fish, nick named, Durian

Enjoying the next 6 months transforming the Landcruiser

They say, there's no such thing as an old Landcruiser, only old Landcruiser drivers.
I am amazed at the abundance of aftermarket parts & accessories, one can get for a Landcruiser. The more I read about it on the web, the more I reliaze just how little I actually know. Well, the next couple of months will be fun for sure, transforming the 20 year old Cruiser to an expedition ready machine.

  

On Thursday 26 April, I will leave for Kota Kinabalu to fish onboard the Seven Stars Fishing Charter Boat. It will be my first real taste of fishing in KK. The organiser Jeffrey Chan, tells me KK is home to the famous Ruby Red Snappers. I've never seen one before let alone caught one on my line. Well, the seas are flat calm again this time of the year, during the transition from the NE to the SW Monsoon. I look forward to tight lines & screaming reels once again.

A photo I took off a website - Fishing at KK

Fishing North of Horsburgh Lighthouse

I went fishing again on Good Friday. Should have been in church, but found it too hard to pass up on a fishing trip to the wrecks north of Horsburgh. Checked windguru.com and was relieved that the weather would be flat calm. I had enough of rough seas during my youth. I much prefer soft breezes and flat water nowadays.

We set sail onboard a friend's 36 foot Grady at 9am. Although fully loaded, with 1,400 ltres of fuel, water and provisions for 3 days, we still managed to get the Grady to cruise at a decent 28 knots, burning 186 ltres of fuel an hour. In a short two hours, we were past Horsburgh. Then followed 3 glorious days of exciting fishing. The fish we targeted were not big, but they came fast & furious. The main bait was NTUC sotong. It's a popular belief that only kelong sotong works. Well apparently the fish at our spot don't mind the NTUC packaged ones either. The first night's highlight, 2 large Cobias, about 10 kg each.  

In all we caught over 100 fish, mostly small table sized for eating

Thelargest fish caughtm a 12 kg Cobia

A 20 year old LandCruiser for the coming Tibet Trip

Went up to KL yesterday to say hello to my expedition leader Steven Ng.
Since I confirmed my overland trip to base camp Mount Everest, I decided I had better get a proper 4 wheel drive for the trip. My favorite has always been the Toyota Land Cruiser & Prado. I was thinking of gettting the LC80, affectionaltely called the Ninja. The were lovely to look at with their rounded edges & massive tyres. Driving them was another thing alltogether. I couldn;t quite connect with the car and didn't feel in control at all. However, I was pleansantly surprised with the handling of the LC70. Eventhough the 70 series was nearing 20 years old, the car handled like a dream. The engine I choose was the 3.0 diesel turbo. The match with the LC70 shell was superb. It didn't take me too long to decide to go for the LC70s. The one I choose is shown in the picture above. Now I have to wait for the registration papers to be in order before putting in the deposit & taking delivery of the vechicle.

Fishing off Tuas

It has been such a long time since a trolled a Rapala in Singapore waters. The last time was probably in the early 1990s, around Pulau Merambong just South-West of Raffles Marina. I would occasionally hook up Barracudas or Queenfish and almost always during the earlier half of the morning. However my preferred method of fishing is almost always bottom fishing, apollo rigged with live prawns or live tamban. Anyway I thought it would be fun to try the Rapalas again today. This time I trolled along the sea wall off Tuas at the South-western tip, popularly called the "hockey stick" Imagine my shock when the first fish we brought up was a large spanish mackerel. Astonishing. I never knew it was possible, eventhough I've been told time & again that they were present off Tuas, especially around the buoys which are teeming with tambans & selars. I have resolved never to underestimate the potential of trolling again, even in the dark waters off Singapore. BTW, I used a small red/white rapala.