Family Outing: Desaru Fruit Farm Tour Part One

 

Heading to Pengerang Part One

Heading to Pengerang Part Two

Heading to Pengerang Part Three

Arrival in Pengerang

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The outing continued with a visit to Desaru Fruit Farm. Desaru has always given me the impression of a beach resort, as we were there for our wedding pictures & I've been there with my family during Uni days. We started the day with a tour in the fruit farm.

 

There are several packages available from their website where you can opt for day/overnight tours. Alternatively, you can choose to just walk in and opt from their ready packages. We chose a package that includes a farm tour + box of fruits at RM$20 per person. Once you have paid, get ready to board the truck that will bring you to the fruit farm.

  

The roof was thatched using coconut leaves (I think), which provided us with shelter from the blazing sun.

 

Photo-bombed by Roger, lol! Leecher & I forgot to bring our shades from the car, despite me telling him not to forget to remind me. 

 

Once everyone is on board, off we went into the farm! The farm occupies over 180 acres of land, with all kinds of tropical fruits grown within the compound. A little googling revealed the farm won several awards from the tourism industry.

  

The journey started with a guided tour to the farm, where we all got off from the vehicle upon instructions from the guide.

Guess what are these?

Dragon fruits also known as Pitaya. They set on cactus-like trees 30-50 days after flowering & can sometimes have 5-6 cycles of harvest per year. We saw 2 different types, - one with a green surface while another one with a reddish hue (above). The reddish hue has pinkish flesh & contains stronger anti-oxidants. Thus, price also more exp, lol!

 

Our friendly guide for the day, Ina! She's well-versed in Mandarin too, explaining some of the terms in Chinese so the elderly will understand.

This is known as bread fruit - having derived its name from the texture of the cooked fruit, which has a potato-like flavour, similar to freshly baked bread. This is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more fruits per season.

 

How can I forget Leecher's favourite - Jackfruit? Haha, he can't forget the horror that he went through during our wedding day, lol! He was gamed for a picture, as long as he don't have to eat the fruit. 

Pulasan, a native of Malaysia. Many mistook this to be rambutan due to its uncanny similar outlook. Well, they have a reason to be confused, for both fruits originate from the same family, Sapindaceae.

We then crossed over to Passion Fruit Trail to explore more fruits. It felt like I was being transported back in time, at the kampong house where I used to live in. We had a small plantation at the back of our house in old Lim Chu Kang road.

Friends who know me will know that I'm not a fruit lover, but I always have passion fruit aloe vera bubble tea :) The passion fruit flower is the national flower of Paraguay.

We were thankful for "shelter" along this trail, even though it was minimal.

Banana trees, much to the delight of Daddy-in-law for he loves banana. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. When a banana plant is mature, the corm will form a flower spike or inflorescence. We managed to see one that is partially opened (above). With the recent craze on minions, everyone started pronouncing banana as Bah-Na-Na, lol!

The trail continued with more explanation on the various types of fruits/plants that are cultivated in the plantation. 

Leecher saw this and pointed out to me, lol! This was actually a Mulberry fruit, but all I could think of was 

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Opps! #hangheadinshame, lol!   

Flowers were also blooming in the garden, much to my delight :) 

OK, my eyelids are getting heavier & I can feel the bed calling out for me. 

Have a good weekend everyone!

**Psst ... special thanks to Melvin for his contribution of pics on the blog (those w/o watermarks) ^^