Fish hunting

I love this time of the year. We're experiencing lots of cool and breezy days. A bottle of chilled cider tastes extra nice especially after a long drive home from the far corner of the island. I can't believe we drove around the countryside for hours in search of marine fishes!

The day began with my usual Sunday trip to the market down the hill. YK followed me today because I told him he could see some unusual fishes at the fishmongers if he's lucky. We managed to see strange looking ones very similar to the frogfish at one stall today. Some were still alive. I wonder who eats those things. They look almost toxic like a toad!

This is the scenic path that we always take to get to the market.

After putting away the groceries back home, I brought Rusty for his morning walk around the estate. That's his favourite route (below). Of course his favourite activity is 'scaring the cats' behind the wire fence and he can easily spot 2 along the way!

When my chores were done, we set off to Lim Chu Kang in search of two fish farms that specialise in marine fishes. Incidentally Lim Chu Kang was where I spent the first 20 years of my life. It was once a sleepy village but today, it has become a commercial farmland.

While the boys were looking at fishes, I walked around the premises with Rusty. I like the countryside and enjoy looking at the vast expanse of greenery. From the farm, I could see many ponds in the field. I wonder if they breed fishes in these ponds.


These farm visits with the boys bring me back to the days when I first met their father who had always loved marine fishes since he was a kid. In fact he was so obsessed that he kept fishes in buckets under his bed and started diving when he was barely a teen so that he could admire them underwater.

When we had our first design office, the first thing he did was install a marine tank. It was a gorgeous tank filled with corals and colourful fishes which impressed many people. As you would imagine, our weekends were spent maintaining the tank and visiting fish farms. Not exactly my idea of a relaxing weekend.

Later, we had tanks at home too and the boys looked forward to the farm visits every weekend. Of course being boys, they enjoyed the excursions tremendously. I do not particularly enjoy keeping fishes but since they're also so enthusiastic now, I try to be supportive and drive them to these far away places .

I can't believe this old weekend routine is resurfacing in my life again!