After a bumpy night of sleep, all of us were awake by 4:30 am. We are definitely still adjusting to the time change.
We were supposed to cook breakfast with the groceries we picked up the night before; however, Sue, Ghan, and Ahn were superb hostesses and did everything for us much better than we could have (they let me make the eggs for a bit. I immediately broke a yolk, and they slowly took back over). We ate mangosteen with our eggs and toast (something most Thai's never eat).
After breakfast, Dr. Yingyoong took us on a tour of his orchard. You would hardly be able to tell that it's an orchard. He forgets all those neat rows, and allows the wild flora to take over. I took a billion photos of plants because I loved all of them, but I imagine it will take me a while to rummage through and label them all. Dr. Yingyoong had a variety of fruit trees including durian (the king of fruits) and mangosteen (the queen of fruits) along with banana and a handful of endangered trees. The girls and I were swarmed by ants and stung by strange, tiny wasps, but we made it out of the forest alive and healthy.
After a slow morning of eating, cleaning, and exploring the property, we headed off to a more traditional orchard. The owners were so friendly! They spoke Thai while Sue and Dr. Motsenbocker translated for us. Originally they had a coconut plantation; however, it can take up to 7 years to get merchantable fruit from the trees, so he started planting zalacca (the Thai word is sa-la) which produces fruit much quicker. He let us taste test multiple cultivars. They can be very sweet to incredibly sour, almost like a warhead (those were Erica's and my favorite). Zalacca is a dioecious tree meaning the male parts and female parts are on separate trees (most trees are monoecious have the female and male parts on the same tree). Because they are separated, it makes pollination more difficult. The orchard famer illustrated to us how he helped the trees mate in order to increase his fruit production.
To finish off the tour, he got each of us a coconut. I quickly drained the water and ate the meat. I used to think that I hated coconut, but I found that I just don't like the mature coconut flavor. The coconuts we consumed were immature and still green on the outside. Those are the most ideal coconuts if you want water!
After our tour, we went and ate lunch at a nearby restaurant. I can't remember most of the dishes names. I think I need to start taking a pen and paper with me to the restaurants just to help me remember what I'm eating.
After lunch we visited another orchard. A single woman owned the farm. She had rubber trees, mangosteen, and longkong. The longkong tasted almost like a huge grape. Even though we ate a huge lunch, we couldn't resist taste testing the delicious fruit. So far the rubber tree orchards are my favorite. The trees are tall and most of the trunk is bare of leaves and branches until the top. The trees are almost ominous with the way they sway. She hasn't harvested anything from her trees, but normally famers score part of the trunk of the tree to allow the latex to drip into a cup positioned on the tree almost like sap. Then the latex is sent off to be processed into rubber.
We left her farm and headed to the Nice Beach Hotel. We're positioned right on the Gulf of Thailand. We swam and enjoyed the warm seawater after the hot day. The weather here is very similar to Baton Rouge. Hot and humid (it feels like it's worse!).
I love putting my feet in new bodies of water. The idea that it's new, yet all water is interconnected. It makes me feel connected to every other place in the world while still giving the thrill of checking another sea, gulf, or ocean off my checklist.
We ate dinner on the beach and watched Erica do karaoke with a Thai man which was definitely a highlight so far. I couldn't stop laughing the entire time. We all stumbled back to the hotel room, exhausted from the day.