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) ^^

Family Outing: Arrival at Pengerang

 Part One, Part Two, Part Three

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Hello, am at KL airport now while waiting for my flight back to Singapore. Another 30 min to boarding time, so I thought I'll do a quick entry since I'm done with my meeting notes. The journey continued with us arriving at Pengerang dock. 

 

Saw the 1st boat that depart from the ferry terminal. This ferry was filled up with bikers, which we subsequently saw them at the immigration counter.  

 

 Uncle Captain steered his lil boat into a berth & I finally caught side of his weathered boat which must have survived many storms in the sea. Somehow, the rustic feel reminded me of my old kampong house, where I have stayed before I went to primary school.

 

 One by one, we got off the boat. Even though it was stated that the last boat leaves at 4pm, sometimes, it could be earlier as long as there are 12 pax filling up the boat. Hence, we booked our return trip back with the same uncle by paying a deposit of $50. Having settled our return journey, it was time to head out for breakfast. 

 

We were the only ones at the Customs & we could already see the taxi uncles waiting for us outside. 小舅's family came the weekend before and he got the contacts of the taxi drivers. While we were onboard the ferry, Melvin called the taxi uncle to arrange for our transport.

Taxi shuttle b/w the dock and Sungai Rengit (the nearby town) for RM5/person or RM20/car. We booked the car for one full day (with 2 destinations) & paid approx RM160/car. We were all famished so the taxi uncles brought us to Sungai Rengit for breakfast. It was around 20 min journey to town center.

 

The initial plan was to have 肉骨茶, but we ended up at Sin Yuan tea house where we can have a variety of food.

  

 Freshly made 猪肠粉.

 

Can't wait to start breakfast! We ordered a lot of food for sharing :) 

My fave has to go to the plate of pork belly! So crispy & tender, we had seconds for this :) With our stomach loaded with food, we headed to our 1st destination.    

Sin Yuan Tea House

Sungai Rengit, Pengerang