The Hunt for Yala Durian Yaolynchee ทุเรียนยาวลิ้นจี่

Outside of Betong City, there are not many hotels or places to stay. But I was determined to stay nearby the durian farm where the famous and elusive Yala Durian Yaolynchee variety originated, so I zoomed in and out on Google Maps until I found the Bentong Camping & Homestay next to the Piyamit Tunnels.

This put us just 10 minutes from the durian farm, and blessed with a view over a durian valley like this:

About Tano Maero in Betong, Yala

The entire valley was filled with old, mature durian trees, the hillsides ribbed in new durian farms. This is one of Yala’s main production areas for varieties popular in Malaysia, like Black Thorn and Musang King. The majority of these farms actually export across the border to their southern neighbors.

After all, the district is only 25km from the Thai-Malaysian border post – much closer than shipping to wallets in Bangkok.

This proximity to Malaysia also makes Tano Maero a major tourism destination for Malaysians on self-driving adventures through the misty and somewhat mysterious mountains.

Betong District is famous for the cool mountain air, hot springs, a unique Chinese-Thai fusion cuisine, and relics of the communist conflict that defined this region from World War II all the way until 1989, when the fighters officially laid down their rifles and agreed to peace.

A peace that has lasted until today – unlike the rest of Yala, Betong is a safe haven free from the bombings that plague southern Thailand.

And of course – it’s a region famous for durians!!

We decided to do all the touristy things in Tano Maero, with the ultimate goal of finally getting a taste of the famous Yala Durian Yaolynchee, which sells for up to 2,000 baht per kilogram! 😱

That’s $60 USD per kilo, not per fruit – and this variety is renown for being an extra BIG one.

The Piyamit Tunnels

We started our misty morning by walking about 400 meters down the hill from the hotel to the entrance of the Piyamit Tunnels. There were more private vehicles with Malaysian license plates than Thai parked along the bend in the road, and the mini-market of fruits stalls at the entrance was bustling with vendors all making deals in Chinese or Bahasa Malayu.

I eyed the hanging Rollinias, some as big as my head, and my stomach started making breakfast plans.

Rollinias are native to Central America and can be hard to find in SE Asia. We usually only find them in more mountainous, highland areas – like here.

As non-Thais, we paid 80 baht per person in cash at the tunnel entrance and immediately set off onto a jungly path covered with a green awning.

“Is this the tunnel?” Richard asked. I laughed, thinking he was making a classic Richard joke.

But he was actually serious, not having listened to me reading aloud to him on the car ride over the border.

So I filled him in on the region’s unusual history as we walked.

The Malaysian Communist Party (MCP) in Thailand

Tano Maero District and Betong in general was a well-known “communist hive” of concern since before World War II.

The United States CIA, in a 1951 Classified Report now available for free online, noted that Betong District was a wealthy rubber-growing region with close connections to mainland China. The population was 85% Chinese ethnicity and spread communist propaganda that wasn’t easily intercepted by the non-Chinese-speaking Thai government authorities.

The wealthy rubber barons also had close ties to Malaysia, with a better quality and shorter road leading south than north to Yala City.

The biggest problem was that Communism was synonymous with Liberation Freedom Fighting – first against British Colonialism, then Japanese occupancy, then British occupancy again in the post-war period. It took an unbelievable 12 years for Britain to relinquish administrative rights and allow Malaysia to run itself as an independent nation after World War II.

But even once Malaysia declared independence in 1957, not everyone was satisfied with the new government. Some people felt the Malaysian government were acting lackeys of the British, running the new nation for the benefit of the old colonialists.

So backed with funding from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the communists chose to fight, creating havoc and terrorism in Malaysia for the next 32 years, and returning to their jungle haven in Thailand to hide.

The Thai government, overwhelmed by a series of coups de etats and the Vietnam War, mostly ignored the Communists on this very remote corner of their southern border. The Malaysian government, unable to legally perform military actions inside of Thai territory, had to watch as the communists dug in, literally building tunnels under the mountains in Tano Maero.

It’s interesting to remember that the conflict only ended in 1989, so any of the locals older than myself would likely at least remember the communist camp here – if they weren’t guerilla fighters themselves.

In total we spent just over an hour in the Piyamit Tunnels and museum, and then exited through the Fruit Shop.

The Piyamit Tunnel Fruit Shop

Someone had clearly been eating durian before we arrived that morning – several fruit vendors had baskets heaped high with empty durian peels and there were two more in the covered eating area.

A group of Malaysian tourists sitting nearby denied they were the culprits – although they had enjoyed a few of the fruits for sale at the nearby stalls. They pointed us to one selling durian.

We took a peek. There was a rather sad looking Ganyao, it’s bottom splitting, as well as a few packets of very pale Musang King.

The prices were not that bad for a major tourist site – just 100 baht (Rm13) per packet for the Musang King and 120 baht per kilo for the whole durians.

As we debated over which Rollinia to choose, another tourist walked off with both the Musang Kings.

We ended up adding a fat Abiu (Pouteria caimito) to our breakfast purchase, but departed sans-durian.

After all, we needed to save our durian budget (and stomach space!) for the famed Durian Yaolynchee.

Happy’s Garden Durian Farm in Betong สวนแฮปปี้-ทุเรียนยาวลิ้นจี่

From the Piyamit Tunnels, we drove 10 minutes (6km) down the hill and into a small valley where the road wound along a narrow river.

The farm was definitely set up for casual tourists, with a few durian posters and places to sit, but on the day we arrived the only other visitors were a gaggle of policemen taking rest from the noon-day heat. They had been assisting a big festival at the nearby temple.

In the gravel parking lot, half a truckload of Monthong was waiting for a buyer from Malaysia to come and collect it.

The owner of the farm, Mr. “Happy” Kaiful Saechin (เกียมฟุย แซ่ชิน) immediately apologized to us. Although there were still durians on the trees, the season for his famous durian, Yaolynchee ทุเรียนยาวลิ้นจี่– which ripens a little bit after Monthong – hadn’t quite started. He was planning to cut in about a week.

But – we could go and see them on the tree if we wanted to.

The Story of Durian Yaolynchee

Happy’s Garden Durian Farm stretches over 100 rai (nearly 40 acres) up the hill from the winding river to the top of the hillsides.

It used to be a rubber farm mixed with fruits, but then Happy’s mother accidentally discovered the Yaolynchee variety. She had been planting her favorite durian, Ganyao, when one tree matured and made a fruit that was something different. That discovery was over 30 years ago.

Happy’s mother noticed that while the immature fruits started off with having very long stems, similar to Ganyao, as the fruits matured and got bigger, the stems got shorter and shorter. The fruit was far larger than a normal Ganyao, and had a different shape with prominent lobes and a slightly pointed bottom.

The heart-shape reminded her of a lychee, so they called it “Yao Lynchee” – Long Lychee – a reference to the tree’s assumed Ganyao parent.

In 2018, Durian Yaolynchee was officially registered as a Thailand durian variety. The Plant Variety Registration Certificate sat in a frame on their table.

That’s the year the family opened a nursery to spread the variety.

I asked if many of the neighbor farms in Tano Maero were planting Yaolynchee, but Happy shook his head. Those farms just grow Musang King and Black Thorn for the Malaysians, he said.

The majority of orders for baby Yaolynchee trees were now coming from Chiang Mai – where big plantations are in process of going into the ground.

He said the most of the visitors to the farm were Malaysian (no surprise) – but that the family also sold Yaolynchee to buyers all over Thailand through Facebook – for a whopping 2,000 baht per kilo!

Our bank account might have gotten lucky that he didn’t have any fresh ones for sale. One fruit is typically 4-5 kilos, so an average fruit costs around 10,000 baht ($310 USD).

Tasting Durian Yaolynchee

As luck 🍀 would have it, Happy had a few pieces of freshly frozen Yaolynchee in the freezer. He pulled out a bucket for us to share with the visiting police officers.

I was immediately struck by the size of the fruit. These durian pods were hefty, huge pieces! They had a pretty daffodil Easter yellow color and felt heavy.

We waited patiently for the white frost bloom to fade so we could experience the full flavor. This is typically the best time to enjoy frozen durian – before it’s fully thawed, but after the white frost has melted. We made a video here to show how the best time to eat frozen durian.

It was delicious. The texture in half-frozen state was just like ice cream, the flesh very thick and bite-able.

It had the slightly flowery, thick density of Ganyao but with something more fruity and more custardy at the same time. There was no spring onion aftertaste like Monthong, nothing sulfurous or funky. It was just pleasantness.

Somehow it reminded me a lot of the pleasant sweetness of GD69 in the Philippines.

We thanked Happy and his daughter for their generosity in sharing both their time and some frozen Yaolynchee, got back in the truck and debated what to do next.

We’d noticed a lot of durian sellers across the street from the Betong Hot Spring, just a 9 minute drive away, so we decided to make one last shot at trying a fresh Durian Yaolynchee.

Betong Hotspring (Pong Nam Ron) Durian Stalls

We parked outside the OTOP souvenir shop in front of the Hotpsprings, just in front of three restaurants with baskets of durians, soursops and rollinias spread along the roadside.

A large fluorescent tour bus was idling along the road, it’s Malaysian passengers milling about in all three shops. We decided to let the crowds clear and took a lap around the hot springs.

The Betong Hotsprings is a large plaza that is open to the public for free. In the hottest part of the pond, sulfurous gases wafted in a mist along the water surface. A family perched in a man-made peninsula boiling eggs – a popular activity at the hotspring.

There were several other tiled pools of different temperatures around the big boiling one. I dipped my hand in to feel the heat as we passed by – but all the pools were empty of people.

As we walked back to the durian stalls, it began to rain.

The tour bus passengers ran for cover on the bus, leaving us alone with the seller and a durian perched on the egg-crate table that looked very familiar.

It was a Yaolynchee! We cheered in unison, and the seller looked at us funny – probably shocked that two falang had recognized the local variety.

There was just one fruit, and as promised it was huge. The seller put it on the scale for us, so we could see the enormous durian weighed in at over 5.3 kilos.

He gave us a skeptical look – “350 baht per kilo,” he said – and taking the fruit off the scale he set it down and turned away, assuming we would walk on.

Quick durian maths put that fruit at over 1,500 baht ($46 USD). Compared to 10,000 baht, it sounded like a pretty good deal.

We looked at the stem. We smelled it. The stem was fresh, it smelled good. It was tree-fallen – another stroke of luck! The seller confirmed that it was freshly tree-fallen, his eyebrows silently lifting higher toward his hairline.

Scurrying out of the rain ourselves, we took the Yaolynchee back to the homestay to relish in the peace and quiet of the mountain.

Trying Fresh Durian Yaolynchee

Once we got it open you could really see just how much fruit there was to eat.

The skins were not thick – they were relatively thin. The seeds were flattish. Each pod was longer than my hand and as tall as mountains. It was intimidating to even start.

Seriously, durian lovers, we needed you there with us to help out!

The flavor on the fresh, tree-ripe Yaolynchee was equally nice. Just flowery, custardy and sweet with that slightly powdery dense texture that did actually remind me of Ganyao.

We’d already eaten a few big pieces at Happy’s Durian Garden, found ourselves too full to finish the whole fruit. Luckily we brought a few food storage boxes, so we emptied the last 3 sections to save for the drive north the next day.

Durian is always allowed on our roadtrips!

Where We Stayed in Tano Maero

We picked the Betong Camping & Homestay just next to the Piyamit Tunnels. This is a simple hotel with parking outside the room. There are three rooms per building, and all 3 rooms share a toilet with hot water shower. The internet worked just fine – not super speedy, but good enough for our travel needs.

The room was very clean and new, and had lots of small details that I really appreciated – hooks for hanging towels and clothes, a dimmer light over the bed (rather than the single glaring fluorescent bulb), and a window that opened with an intact, new screen.

There is no air conditioning, but with the cold misty nights and the open window we were just fine. We will definitely stay here again when we return to Betong and Tano Maero!

How to Taste Yala Durian Yaolynchee Yourself

Message Happy’s Garden Durian Farm for bookings or online orders (within Thailand) or try your luck at the durian stalls across from the Betong Hot Spring in Tano Maero.

All location pins from this post have been added to the map below: