Fishy business

Two words I think make more sense in Thai than English:
The word for Water is Nom. Nom nom nom. Delicious. The word for fish is blah. Blaaaah.

Today we went to a fish farm. I know it doesn’t sound all that exciting, but it was probably the best time I’ve had here so far…maybe ever. Okay I’m exaggerating but it was really an amazing experience. It wasn’t just a “fish farm” it was an NGO called the Northern Thailand Foundation for Enablement. Basically they raise Tilapia and harvest their eggs (or frys as they called them) to sell to other farmers who raise them to full size and sell them. It was such a well thought out process it was brilliant. Everything was sustainable and natural and just…so cool to see in practice.

Even better than just getting a tour and watching the process in action…we got to get right up in there with those fish. Down and dirty. Oh so dirty. Shin deep in muck, chest deep in water, finger deep in fish mouth. work work working our cares away. I’m sure it was pretty amusing for the seasoned workers to watch a bunch of students filling nets with flailing fish splashing muddy water in our faces as we shrieked like little girls (even the boys I swear. Like little girls) It was hard! Some of those fish were feisty little guys…or not so little guys. The Tilapia never got tooo big, maybe the biggest I saw was arm length to my elbow. But there were some carp that were massive. The biggest I saw looked like a giant gold fish I kinda wanted to take him home but I would have needed a Guinness Book worthy zip lock baggie for this guy. He was fat too. So cute. We also found a walking cat fish, we put it on the ground to see why it got its name, and there it went walking on back to the water. Okay it was a little more like slithering but still pretty bizarre because it used its too side fins to propel forward. Oh we also found dancing shrimp. And ate them. Right there and then. In the water. As fresh as it gets. They’re pretty tiny like the size of one to two knuckles and completely clear but they’re like pop rocks in your mouth..they jump around. I’m not gunna lie I was grossed out I had to bite down right away because it freaked me out. And then their stringy antenna and legs got caught in my teeth and I’m not going to act like I was okay with that either. But no regrets, it was an experience I’ll not easily forget. We collected some and they made them into a small salad for us to sample at lunch, with cilantro and stuff…it was way more fun to eat then.

After a couple hours of transferring a whole pond of tilapia from one site to another (not exaggerating) we got to spend some more time with fish. This time I spent less time with my fingers in ITS mouth and more with my fingers in MY mouth. It was oh so tasty. Fried Tilapia dipped in sweet and sour like sauce, mixed with rice…I think I may have eaten a whole fish. Nom Nom Nom Blah blah blah.

As we cleaned up, some of the workers played instruments and soon the students were joining in. and soon Jamie and I were being taught a traditional Thai dance. And soon we were showing it to other girls, and soon we had a performance to put on. It was such a blast, we had a woman playing a traditional Thai string instrument that sounded similar to a violin, Max on the drums, Jon on the Thai guitar, an adorable older woman playing something similar to symbols and a whole company of dancers. I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire afternoon.

With our bellies full we went out searching for some full fish mouths. They taught us how to look for eggs (which the females keep in their mouths) First we learned to distinguish between male and female (I’ll spare you the dirty details), then learn how to tell if the females have eggs, then learn how to collect them if they do. It was such a blast learning how to catch the fish with mostly our bare (or gloved) hands and so weird to see the females practically throwing up their bright yellow eggs. Jordan and I had a blast trying to become fish whisperers and ridding the tilapia school of the foreign carp. We literally didn’t notice when half of our group moved to a new pond. Whoops.

Then we had to do some REAL labor. Net cleaning. I don’t know how these little ladies did it. There were only two of them doing it when we got there, and once we started they took a break and watched. Again I’m sure it was something similar to a zoo attraction we probably looked ridiculous there were about 6 of us per big net and we had them laid out on the ground as we scrubbed them with push broom style brushes. I was soooo into it. For about 10 minutes. Then my back hurt. And I could feel blisters forming on my palms. And then the sweat came. And I gained sooo much respect for these adorable women who were smiling at us from the comfort of their chairs.

5 hours later, with my white shirt 3 shades closer to brown, and my muscles aching (Not to mention the smell)… it was finally time to leave. I learned so much from the staff and the head honcho of the farm who showed us around all day and explained everything. Such an amazing, fun, absolutely wonderful experience.

And to top it all off even the van rides to and from were epic. We traveled in style.The vans were …as Ted said… “Probably so illegal in America” They were so comfortable, cushiony, laid back. These were high class. Reserved for those with good manners, as the no farting allowed sticker illustrated for us. No joke. Red circle. Red dash over stick figure emitting offensive fumes. From anus. In addition to hilarious stickers and posh seating there was a huge T.V. and Karaoke. Probably the best idea ever, until the lack of any single one English language CD forced us to attempt Thai Karaoke.

Don’t worry, I’ve got it on film.

Other exciting news… I now have a grandpa! He is so cute. I call him gom gom. He is hard of hearing (aka more forgiving of my terrible Thai) and thinks I’m clever for using chop sticks…I love him already

Also: Upon my real brother's request I will attempt to name the rest of my family over hear in the SE Asia. Spelled Phonetically. Chem (9) Meyo (10) Jay (15) Ting (16) Brother..don't know his name (20), Fong (25), Chahn (27), and Ling maybe not sure (31) May (pronunciacion for mom), and Paw (dad) .... Huuuge family. It's like I never left home. Don't worry real fam I still miss and love you.

Life is great.