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Year of the Durian

Supatra Land Fruit Theme Park | Photo Essay

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At this point, I’ve visited a lot of durian orchards. A lot. Some offer tours and fruit buffets to tourists, but on a small scale. I’d never been to anything like Suan Supatra Land, a 700 rai orchard that takes fruit tourism to the level of a theme park. Tourist gimmicks aren’t usually my thing, but I couldn’t miss this.

The farm (if it can be called that) caters mostly to large tour groups from Hong Kong and China, who arrive in crowds on fancy, double-decker tour buses. I arrived prepared for crowds, long lines, bad Asian music, lots of picture snapping, and sub-par fruit. All of those things happened, but I’m glad.

A tram painted with fruits winds around a cement path through the trees,
Disneyland-style, while the driver keeps a run-on commentary with a microphone. Our driver was apparently very funny, but since he spoke only Chinese or Thai or a strange mixture (I honestly couldn’t tell which), I only understood the names of the fruit we were driving by.

The tour takes about an hour and half, depending on how long you choose to dilly-dally at each  fruit station. I dillied. And dallied. Hey, after paying the 400 baht entrance fee, I wanted to make sure I consumed my moneys worth! I’m not certain I quite managed to do that, but I did have a good time.

 After a short hop on the tram, we arrived at the rambutan station. People clustered around two big tables munching the fruit, while others meandered through the trees taking pictures of themselves in the orchard and picking the fruits using clippers on long poles. There was an excited, frenzied buzz as people collected the red orbs and most people had one cheek extended, chip-munk like, as they seperated the flesh off the seed.

When I’d had my fill of watching stylish city girls in pretty sun dresses and platform sandals tromping around the orchard (hilarious), we hopped back on the trolley and headed to the next and most anticipated station: the durian station.
As we approached the table, I was excited. So many people eating durian! It seemed like everyone, left and right, had a shell in hand and was scooping the yellow flesh into their mouths. And of course, taking pictures of themselves eating durian.
It was clear by the look on some faces that they had never encountered durian before, and weren’t certain they liked it.
Priceless.
The only variety being served was Chanee, and hard, unripe Chanee at that. Perfect for Thai people, but practically inedible for this durian muncher.  After enjoying watching people’s reactions, I lost interest and moved on to something I could eat.
No trolley ride was required to get to the next station, which was a long table festooned with snakefruits, mangosteens, and  longkongs. Behind the table, staff ceaselessly chopped and sliced mangoes, papayas, water apples, and pineapple, without ever managing to keep enough on the serving platter. I asked the young man behind the counter how many mangoes he slices every day, and he estimated 100 kilograms. That’s over 200 pounds of mangoes!
After filling up papaya and pineapples, my favorites for the day, I thought the tour was over. I hopped back on the trolley with a full belly and lots of pictures of other people eating fruit. It had been a good day, even if I hadn’t managed to consume 400 baht worth of fruit. At any of the markets I frequent, 400 baht is enough to feed me for several days.
But after a long trolley ride through the orchard, and a surprising number of greenhouses and rows of grapes, we arrived at the final station: a som tam buffet! Som Tam, or green papaya salad, is one of my favorite foods here in Thailand. They didn’t have any durian som tam, but they did have all the normal ingredients plus something I hadn’t seen in awhile – lettuce. This alone might have been worth 400 baht. 
Or not.
But hey, the som tam was a nice finish to a fun, amusing day.

Supatra Land Farm isn’t somewhere I would take family and friends visiting Thailand. There are smaller, more authentic orchards with better quality fruit and a better bang for my baht. All the same, I’m glad this place exists. I had a great time watching other people enjoy fruit, and I think they do a good job helping people to appreciate tropical fruit.

I mean, where else can you buy your face on a fruit plate, or take a picture of yourself on top of a giant durian statue?

For more information about Supatra Land Farm, scroll to the bottom.

Supatra Land Farm
70 Mu 10, Tambon
Nong Lalok, Amphoe Ban Khai
http://www.suphattraland.com
Open daily, 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tel. 0 3889 2048-9

Comments

  2. migrationology says

    That's just so awesome that you climbed the durian! Too bad they only had hard unripe durian. I had a couple chunks that were nice and ripe, but I did have to ask them for it. Som tam and the fresh lettuce was good too!

    Reply

    • Lindsay Gasik says

      Thanks for reading Mark! They actually did have some semi-soft Chanee and we did have to ask for it. Nim-nim suk-suk, right? I guess I've eaten so much durian I'm just kind of picky.

      Reply

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