My Little Camper,... & Angler Too

During our stay in Kuala Koh, we made a boat trip to Lubuk Kaloi. For a time, it managed to worry me - how will Aqil take it. Though he has been on a ferry to Langkawi before but this time it will be different. It is a boat, a real boat, where the water can get in to you, where you are "exposed", where you will get wet if it rains. So, when all of us got in the boat, I took a deep breath and hope for the best. But of course, I worried for nothing. Aqil is a good traveller. He enjoyed the journey. He's even brave enough to stand in the boat enjoying his new experience, trying not to miss anything - the web like branches of a tree, the suspension bridge, the fallen tree showing its enormous bark, the flowering trees, anything, everything managed to get his attention. He's quiet in the journey trying to absorb his surrounding. When asked whether he love the boat ride, he nodded excitedly.

Came the second part, when we arrived at Lubuk Kaloi, it's fishing time. Much to his father's liking, before he could properly finished getting his fishing gear ready, Aqil impatiently took one of the rods, "I'm going to catch jaws." he said. That led to a little bickering when Hakim said, "Ibu, is there any jaws here? No, right?". "What do you think?" I asked back, trying to give myself some time before giving the most appropriate answer. "There cannot be. Jaws lives in the sea, the ocean." he answered back. "Well, jaws are actually sharks, there are some species of river sharks, as far as I know, there are river sharks in the Ganges river, New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia. but I do not know if there is any here." My answer seemed to satisfy Hakim. All the while Aqil was muttering "I'm gonna get jaws, I'm gonna get jaws.." Though I do not know it that time, the Whale Times Fishin' for Facts stated that there are five types of River Sharks as follows :

(i) Ganges river shark, Glyphis gangeticus, India
(ii) Speartooth shark Glyphis glyphis, New Guinea
(iii)Bizant river shark, Glyphis species "A", Queensland, Australia
(iv) Borneo river shark, Glyphis species "B", Borneo in Indonesia
(v) New Guinea river shark, Glyphis species "C", New Guinea

(Well, should anyone have more knowledge on river sharks, please leave your comments. And if I am wrong, do correct me. Tq)

After the bickering stopped, and I started setting my "kitchen" to work, looking at my children's enthusiasm and passion for fishing, I wonder if they will grow up following their father's footstep. As I mentioned in my earlier entry, my husband will make it a yearly trip to hunt for kelah. As shown in the photo (taken some time in 1999), this is among his proudest catch - a 6.0 kg kelah. Look at his "toothpaste advertisement" smile.

We stayed at Lubuk Kaloi the whole day. My husband and children spent their time trying their luck to catch kelah. As can be witnessed here, Aqil (well, he's aiming for jaws anyway, not kelah) faithfully guarding his rod even during "makan time". It broke my heart a little seeing his persistence. At that moment, I prayed for him to get any fish at all. But my prayer was not answered - well, it's such a selfish request, anyway.

I guessed Aqil finally got bored. "Ibu, I threw away the food in the river. Perhaps the fish will like it." he finally decided. "So, you are not going to get your jaws?" I asked him. "There's no jaws here." he said with finality. With that , he asked me to take of his clothes and wellie and happily run into water. After a few minutes, he got up and ran to the small island nearby. "I want to watch Baba!" he yelled. Already he was in another mode. I saw him joining his sister looking at some stones. Not long after that, I heard my daughter calling out to me. "Ibu! Ibu! Look at what I found!" she said, holding something in her hand. "A heart-shaped stone, and it's for you!" And it is the most perfect heart-shaped stone I've ever seen. Excited with her find, we looked around and really, there are a lot of almost perfect shaped stones here - round, rectangle, rhombus (or diamond as my children call it), triangle - this trip is awesome!

One thing I really appreciate my children in this trip is that they do not let their frustration of not catching any fish get into them. But, the Al-Mighty is Kind. Just a few minutes before Mat the Boatman arrived to fetch us back, my husband's rod stirred. He quickly checked on it and like a bonus, though not kelah, a temperas submitted itself to the palm bait. What more can we asked for? Syukur Alhamdulillah. We are all smile on our boat ride back.