Fishing Week day 2

Si Phan Don, Laos. 2006

Si Phan Don is an area of the Mekong river dotted with islands and islets. It means 'four thousand islands', which may or may not be an exaggeration, but is a remarkably round number if it's not.

The water is completely opaque with mud so the fish have absolutely no idea where they are going. Fishermen just lay out long nets across the flow and later haul them in, complete with a few fish who have wondered for several hours why they weren't going anywhere.

Fishing Week day 1

Mirissa, Sri Lanka. 2006


I think the idea here is to throw the net over the fish. It looks like the fish have a similar idea, though, as you can see in the third picture that they are attempting to throw the ocean over the boy.

Fishing Week

Ever since humans became more intelligent than fish (some time ago), we have been preoccupied with using our superior intellect to devise ever more ingenious ways of catching the slippery bastards. Here are a few from around the world.

I'm going away for a few days so no more true stories until next week...

This is a stick-up

Chichicastenango, Guatemala. 2005


If you want to rob this bank you're going to have to think outside the box.

Bus replacement service

 Udhamangalam, India. 2010


More pictures from the Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway today. This time it's the passengers. Tourists come from all over India and the World to take in the view from the famous steam train as it chugs it's way up through lush forests and along mountain precipices. Locals usually take the bus though. It's a lot quicker. So is a car. Any form of transport that was made less than 100 years ago is quicker.

Line managers

 Udhagamandalam, India. 2010


Udhagamandalam (understandably more often referred to by it's easier if considerably more camp abbreviation, Ooty), is the destination of the Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway. Here are some of the people that work on this scenic steam train line. 


From top: signaller; track workers; the man who goes around after the journey tapping the 100-year-old train with a hammer.