Subang Red, a variety of Durian Lai from Desa Bunihayu Village

About Bunihayu Village

Although Desa Bunihayu Village is famous for durians, it is located in a District more well-known for sweet, low-acid pineapples.

When you turn off the Trans-Java Tollroad and start heading up the mountain toward Bunihayu, you will suddenly find yourself in a long corridor of dangling pineapples.

There are stalls filled with pineapples on either side of the road for kilometers and kilometers, and as you wind up the hills into the tea plantations, the pineapple stalls keep going.

You will almost wonder what you are doing looking for Durians here, when clearly you have found Pineapple Heaven.

You will know you have reached the turn to Bunihayu Village when you see the large pineapple statue (Tugu Nanas on Google Maps) in the middle of the roundabout.

It’s only once you reach Bunihayu itself, 3km later, that you will find durians, and durians, and durians. Everywhere durians, and signs advertising BUNIHAYU KANI, MAS MUAR, and LAI.

Yes – Javanese Lai – the famous Kalimantan hybrid of D. zibethinus and D. kutejensis, which is controversially sometimes called Durio connatus.

Durian Subang A 10.6

We met Alvian Sepriyandiguna Putra at his Uncle Dadang’s house in Desa Bunihayu village.

Alvian is the owner of Durian Sultan, an Instagram durian shop that markets and distributes the durians grown on the farms of Alvian’s many many durian-growing relatives.

As he explained who in his family was growing durian, the list kept growing – three uncles, a brother, two sisters, some cousins, a grandfather, some second cousins, some in-laws – until I lost track. But there are many durian farms connected through Durian Sultan.

Uncle Dadang’s is a small stall in front of his house in Bunihayu Village stuffed with durians. Behind the table were piles of Monthong, Bawor and Kane Lokal, which is actually the Malaysian D101 or Mas Muar (because Indonesia just needs confusing nomenclature 😅)

Bunihayu is famous for D101, which was brought to the area by a wealthy Malaysian palm oil investor back in the 1980’s.

As far as I could tell, it’s a true clone of the Malaysian cultivar.

It looks exactly the same.

Alvian was excited to show us the D101, but I really only had eyes for the Lai.

There was so much of it, and the size range was huge! There were tiny Durian Lai less than 0.5kg, and huge ones almost 3kg in size.

You could tell the pile was Lai because of the shape of the durians and the dead flowers still stuck on to the top of the fruits.

There was obviously quite a range of genetics here, with Lai fruits that were long and skinny, and others that were almost fat and round. Some had even pollination, others didn’t, some had large blocky spikes, and some had thin, more Zibethinus-type spikes.

Lai has been here a long time.

Bunihayu Durian Lai Mother Tree

The Mother Tree of all Bunihayu durian grows just a 100 meter walk from Uncle Dadang’s house. Alvian took us to see it.

Although it’s not exactly clear who planted the tree, the date is known: 1971.

The tree was planted when the first workers from Kalimantan were brought over to start an oil palm plantation in Bunihayu. Oil palm ultimately failed, but this 39-year-old tree has spawned hundreds of Lai trees since, mostly owned by Alvian’s equally numerous family members.

These trees – some grafted clones, other seedlings, others clones of seedlings – have spawned a range of Durian Lai varieties not found in other parts of Indonesia. And the one getting the most attention is the Subang Red Durian Lai.

A 10.6 Durian Farm

The Lot named A 10.6 is currently being farmed by Alvian’s Uncle Dadang, who declined to take part in this interview. Instead, Alvian brought us to the farm to show us around.

The farm sits just 2.3 km away from the A 10.6 Durian Stall at Uncle Dadang’s House up a bumpy, lumpy, muddy red dirt road.

The Lai trees here range from 20-30 year old children of the Mother Lai tree to newly planted babies.

Because Alvian’s family keeps expanding their Lai farms.

Durian Lai trees maintain a number of characteristics of their parent species, D. kutejensis, although as hybrids they are unique.

Their flowers are pink, like D. kutejensis, rather than white like D. zibethinus.

The fruitlets are cute little yellow-green things with large blocky spines, a bit oblong and with the dead flower petals firmly attached around the stem like an American flapper hat from the 1920’s.

And most importantly, the leaves:

Durian Lai leaves (shown on left) are much bigger in size than their parent D. zibethinus, although not as large as D. kutejensis leaves, which can are often twice this big.

You’ll also notice that the Lai leaves have a more golden back and have a rounded tip, lacking the elongated drop-tip of a D. zibethinus.

Topan’s Durian Lai House

It started raining heavily on the farm, so headed back to Alvian’s brother Topan’s house to actually EAT some Durian Lai.

Topan also sells durian trees in front of his house in a rice field not far from Uncle Dadang’s.

Topan has a few of his own farms of Lai as well, all of his trees descendents of that first Mother Tree.

But nature has a tendency toward variation, and here we were able to taste 2 very distinct forms of Lai: the Orange, and the Subang Red.

Durian Lai Oren

Most Durian Lai looks like this. The fruits are more elongated and have thin, long sections with 4 or even 5 seeds.

The flesh is thin, very thick and even bready, and very sweet. People here liken it to “sweet potato durian” because it’s so sweet and creamy/mushy, leaving your mouth dry like after you munch a sweet potato.

The flavor is unique and fruity, but it also has a tendency toward uneven ripening, with hard, almost cardboard bits left between the seeds.

It’s good, and we still enjoyed eating it, but once we hit the Subang Red Lai, there was no turning back.

Subang Red Durian Lai

Red is subjective. It’s more like orange mottled with darker red-orange, making for a beautiful sunset-hued durian that is smooth, rich, and thick.

Compared to the mono-chromed neon Orange Lai, the overall color of Subang Red can actually be paler, but it’s where it blushes towards red that it looks really beautiful.

In flavor, this one reminds me much more of Otang Udang Galah in Borneo. It’s still sweet and kind of pineapple-funky like Lai, but has a cherry liqueur twang that I got really obsessed with to the point of losing interest in all other durians on the table.

It’s why we decided to send the Subang Red Lai to America for you to try.

D101 Mas Muar (Bunihayu Kane)

The ever-confusing Kane is brought to a new level of obfuscation in Bunihayu, where the Malaysian variety known as Mas Muar is sometimes known as Kane Lokal.

It’s one of the best durians in Bunihayu, with the buttery milk-coffee bitterness and strawberry sweetness that you’ll recognize immediately from Malaysia. Even though these don’t have the wrinkles of Malaysian durian, since they were never allowed to hit the ground when falling (instead tied to the tree), they were just as good.

Batu

Finally, at the end of a long, durian-filled, rain-and-sun day trooping after Alvian, we came to Bunihayu’s last famous durian: Batu.

The mother tree of Batu grows nearby the Durian Lai Mother Tree. It’s a common grafted variety in Bunihayu, and is considered their only Bitter Durian.

Personally, I did not find it super bitter on the scale of a Tekka or Arancillo, nor was it particularly pungent like a Puyat or D24. But it did have a nice creamy mellowness with a kick of alcohol at the back of the throat, so I can understand why those who like bitter often seek out Bunihayu Batu Durian.

I would go there for Subang Red, every time.

Where to stay in Bunihayu Village

The best place to sleep if you would like to visit Bunihayu Durian Village is Desa Wisata Sari Bunihayu, just a few hundred meters from the Bunihayu Lai Mother Tree.

Unfortunately, when we visited in late January 2021, Desa Wisata Sari Bunihayu was still closed to visitors due to Covid19, so we booked one of the cottages at the Marbella Twin Waterfalls Resort (pictured above) about a 10 minute drive away. That was a mistake.

Upon checking into the cottage, we discovered that the interior walls of the house were blackened and cracking with mold, to the point a light press of my fingers crumbled the interior walls. We left, and as it was late after a long day with Alvian, headed up into the touristy Ciater area.

We recommend you DON’T stay in Ciater. Or if you have to stay in Ciater, stay at the Sari Ater Hotel and don’t muck around with the smaller hotels nearby. Here’s why:

About Ciater

Ciater is a sprawling complex of hawker stalls, hotels, and thermal pools. It is only around a 30-minute drive from Bunihayu village further up the mountain towards Bandung.

The main attraction is the Sari Ater Hot Spring Resort, which is open both to hotel guests and for a day pass. Many other smaller hotels have opened up around the complex, which at the time of our visit had a gritty, desperate, dilapidated vibe. Hawkers selling Jalancagak’s famous pineapples, men with sad ponies offering rides, and everyone in winter clothing for the cold highland weather.

The hot water comes directly from Tangkhuban Perahu Mountain, which is another 35 minutes further up the mountain. The long distance is one reason why you’ll find the thermal springs in Ciater are not really that hot.

Visiting Tangkhuban Perahu

Tangkhuban Perahu is an active volcanic crater in Subang, about 45 minutes driving up and up from the Lai Mother Tree.

It’s one of the few volcanic lookouts that require no walking whatsoever, as you can literally pull up to the safety rails and peer over the grey canyon walls to the bubbling and steaming turquoise pool below.

For foreigners, the price is IDR 200,000 ($13.75 USD) each, so it’s considered expensive here for what else you can get for that price (like a D101 or 2 Lais).

Atherton Raspberries (Rubus probus)

The best part of visiting Tangkhuban Perahu for me was the discovery of these tropical raspberries, which must grow somewhere nearby.

Many hawkers wandering the rim of Tangkhuban Perahu were selling cardboard boxes of mulberries, strawberries, and these odd-shaped raspberries with bubble-like clusters of fruitlets that are shiny and crunch/pop delightfully under your teeth. They had definitely been sprinkled with a liquid sugar syrup, but were still a fun find.

Getting to Desa Bunihayu, Subang

Bunihayu Village is located in West Java, Indonesia, about a 1.5 hour drive down the mountain from Bandung, or a 3 hour drive along the north coast from Jakarta.

Use the map below to find Bunihayu Durian Lai or download our Durian App.