By Thai Newsroom Reporters
SOME PEOPLE would decidedly brave a heavy rainstorm traveling all the way from Bangkok to a small village in Krabi just to taste durian from 100-year-old trees, literally.
Prachak Khayankarn, the owner of 20 organically cultivated durian trees, each aged over 100 years, welcomed all visitors to his plantation in the southern province including those who came from the capital city only to take a bite at a ”vintage” durian and take some home.
The 46-year-old villager said his grandparents had grown the indigenous durian trees, each being no less than 15 metres high. It takes three people with fully stretched arms to hug one around.
Though his plantation did not yield much volume due to drought this year, Prachak said he gladly offered to sell his durian fruit for only 50 baht per kilogram, compared to as much as 150 baht per kilo elsewhere in the country.
None of the fruits from the 100-plus-year-old trees found its way to a local market or any traders to buy it at the plantation since all were sold up to visitors who simply walked in during this time of year.
A middle-aged woman said she spent 10 hours driving her SUV with the company of a niece on a 780-kilometre route to Krabi only to buy some ”vintage” durian. She just arrived yesterday, realizing most of the fruit were already sold to those who came hours earlier. Some bought as many as 100 fruits and others came for a dozen. She could only grab a few.
The Bangkokian said she already made up her mind to come again next year, hoping to get more of the delicious fruit than this year.
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Top: Durian for sale at a market in Singapore. Photo: Rod Waddington (CC BY-SA 2.0)
