First Peacock Bass caught on Storm Soft Plastic (minow)

It had been many attempts for me to catch any fresh water fish on live baits which I thought to be the best. However, after reading some interesting articles in MFN (Malaysian Fishing Network) http://www.fishing.net.my, the article of Marlin on soft plastic really caught my attention and I had make an acrobat copy of his article, reading it over and over again, sentence by sentence. It is amazing how these soft plastic mimic the movement of a real bait. Anyway, after trying all the live baits available locally, like crickets, earth worm, chicken liver, etc., nothing, absolutely nothing was caught. Although I have much better results in salt water, I am totally screwed in fresh water fishing. But, not today.

Amelia with peacock bass in a tub

Well, admittedly, this is just a juvenile peacock bass, nevertheless, it is still a significant milestone to me. First fish caught on artificial lure, first peacock bass caught.

Balakong - Ah Wah (JB) Bak Kut Teh

We were on our way home from Sukida Resort, Semenyih when we passed by an exit on the highway that leads to Balakong. It reminded me of the good food in Balakong, typically, Ah Wah Bak Kut Teh that I have not been visiting for months or even a year. Our last experience there was not that impressive, quality of the food was going down the drain although still consider above average comparing to other joints, nevertheless, it lost its appeal, so to speak.

This time around, I decided to give it another try. Checking whether are there any improvements over the past few months, perhaps, they changed a new chef, who knows? To my surprise, after ordering the dishes, it took less than 20 minutes for the first dish to be served. I was still busy attending to Amelia (my eldest daughter) who was playing the ice cube to go with the tea.

Fried kangkong (a kind of vege) was crunchy and the fragrance of balacan (prawn paste) really brings out the taste

Spicy chicken soup served in a claypot with some chinese herbals and the most important ingredient, chili padi (a local petite green chili, extra hot). This is one hell of a soup that will sweat you in no time. Thumbs up!



This is a fried eel dish cooked in kungpo (sizchuan) style (with dried chili, green chili, onion, ginger slices, etc.). This dish is fabulous and you can still taste the springy eel meat minus the bones (ala japanese style), absolutely, not fishy at all.


This is my favourite dish, Ikan Haruan (a kind of fresh water fish of snakehead family) slices served with spring onion, ginger slice, etc. The fish is as fresh as it can be.


All in all, this is a surprising good dinner with the quality of food improved and no wonder to see the restaurant was packed and bak kut teh (a herbal pork soup) was sold out within the first 2 hours of opening. I shall be back again to this restaurant.