The River and the Fish

I would like to share a story that I loved to tell. Never got tired of it. While in Jakarta, we read from the newspaper a write-up on a unique South Sumatran village. We decided to go and check it out. We flew into Jambi, just north of South Sumatra. Interestingly, Malaysian plantation owners has spread their operations here.

AdamAir - now defunct

From Jambi we took a taxi and headed south for 50km to the small town of Bayung Lencir. We stopped en route. We bought supplies from a small shack of a sundry shop. Food, fresh water and mosquito repellent are essential. Then we hired a boat. Instead of going upstream we went downstream in this huge river. By the time we realized it it was too late. We stopped at the riverine village for the night. Totally vulnerable.When life gives us lemon, just make lemonade. We settled in for the evening and chatted with the village elders and have some tea followed by dinner. Then they show us their river catch of the day. From the murky river pigmented by dead leaves (merciful not by eroded topsoil) treasures from the deep river was trapped in fish cages. It was the much vaunted "wild ikan tapah". Ask any river fish connoisseur in Malaysia, they will agree that this is a trophy fish. We bought two 1 1/2 kg fish from them for our meal the next day. Each kilo is RM4. The price in KL easily exceeds RM100/kg. We retired for the night on a floating platform which is part of the house of our very hospitable host.The next day the fish were cooked in 4 different ways. Curried. Fried. Sauced. Sweet soured. Just rewards. Lemon to Lemonade.