Seniors' tour of Desaru Fruit Farm

I’ve lost count of the number of times I visited the Desaru Fruit Farm.

All aboard the farm truck with Hayati, our guide [Right]

In fact, there was a higher frequency last year because I went to meet the owners again for interviews and photography to feature them under Portraits in my book, My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People.

For my book launch event, I had also arranged to involve as many of the featured subjects – through serving their products for refreshments and by sponsorship of items for a Lucky Draw – so that guests may not only read about them but also have their own experience of them.

Desaru Fruit Farm supplied a variety of fresh and pickled fruits that were served along with other food items in the buffet of refreshments at my book launch event.

A noodle lunch before the farm tour, [Left to Right]
Aunty Sylvia, Aunty Polly, Uncle Steven and my mum

The farm also participated in my event by sponsoring vouchers where each voucher entitles four visitors to enjoy a farm tour with a Set Lunch* that includes a fruit buffet.

It was so good to see my guests winning something from the Lucky Draw and it turned out that one of them was Aunty Polly, who won a voucher from Desaru Fruit Farm.

My readers will recognise Aunty Polly from my story on, Our Han Su-yin Connection in Book 1, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage, because a long time ago, she used to work with Universal Pharmacy.

[This building no longer exists.]

Uncle Steven and Aunty Polly, feeling perfectly at home
in the farm tour at Desaru Fruit Farm

The pharmacy which was then located at Jalan Ibrahim, occupied the ground-floor of the dispensary or clinic upstairs, where the Eurasian doctor and internationally renowned author with the pen-name, Han Su-Yin, used to see patients in Johor Baru.

Aunty Polly and her husband, Uncle Steven, are also mentioned in my story from Macap, Aw Pottery Studio in My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, because they used to live nearby at Jalan Kluang, in the compound of the government-owned animal husbandry station and dairy farm, where uncle used to work.

Now retired, they live in Kuala Lumpur but they came to JB to witness my book launch.

When they left for KL, aunty decided to leave her voucher with me for safekeeping and promised to claim it on their next visit here.

Aunty Sylvia capturing a shot of her husband, Uncle Mok

Even though both my aunts, Aunty Polly and Aunty Sylvia, have relocated to KL, their bond with JB remains ever so strong.

This is evident from their deep longing for JB street food and how they often compared KL food (usually unfavourably!) with JB food.

So when the foursome – Aunty Polly and Uncle Steven, Aunty Sylvia and Uncle Mok – visited us again in JB, one of their must-haves is a noodle meal at Mee Ho Seng Kee.

While discussing lunch, aunty also mentioned that we should go to Desaru Fruit Farm!

It was then quickly decided that we should head out to the farm after our noodle lunch.

Mum with her sisters at the cocoa tree

Ah! Finally, we can claim the voucher which aunty had won from my book launch event!

Because there were six of us (four plus mum and I), we would buy two more tickets for the farm tour and fruit buffet. So I phoned ahead to make a prior reservation with them.

[Even though the voucher included Set Lunch for four, we would only claim the fruit buffet.]

Readers who are familiar with my story about, Mee Ho Seng Kee, featured under Heritage Trades in My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, would recognise these aunts of mine as they were very ones who introduced me to this popular brand of wanton noodles.

Incidentally, Uncle Mok’s family were neighbours with the Ho family who used to run their family’s noodle business from a shophouse located at Jalan Meldrum.

The Moks did not attend my launch event for Book 2, so meeting Elton Ho at Mee Ho Seng Kee again, was a happy reunion for them!

Mum escorted by Uncle Mok, walking the
shady passionfruit trail in Desaru Fruit Farm

So after our satisfying Mee Ho Seng Kee lunch, we enjoyed a smooth and comfortable drive along the Senai-Desaru Highway to the Desaru Fruit Farm.

The weather was bright and sunny, just right for an outdoor activity with the seniors.

Hayati, our farm guide, was waiting and she welcomed us to board the open-ended farm truck to ferry us into the farm.

Escorted by her two sisters and their husbands, my mum – armed with her walking stick – felt rather confident and was game to explore the farm on foot.

As Hayati provided a guided tour under the trees and around the farm, I could not help observing how the seniors were enjoying themselves, getting closer to Nature again.

Uncle Steven, in particular, was in his element – enjoying a lively banter with Hayati – because he is familiar with the local flora and fauna.

Aunty Polly blowing her leaf whistle!

I guessed he probably missed being so close to Nature again, especially since he was retired from a career in animal husbandry and farming.

It was simply heart-warming to observe how the seniors were able to identify the flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables that were thriving in the farm.

“Cocoa!” the sisters exclaimed when they saw the cocoa pods growing abundantly on its tree.

And so they went on and on, happily seeking out and identifying each plant and bush.

While it was really warm and humid, I did not hear a hint of complaint from the seniors.

Instead, I was amused when Aunty Polly picked up a big dried leaf from the Breadfruit or buah sukun tree, to fan herself…

Aunty also found a fresh leaf and folded it into a whistle to demonstrate how they used to have fun playing outdoors.

Aunty Polly kicking her capteh ,,,

At the Heritage Gallery, I was thrilled to watch as my aunts relived their childhoods.

Among other things, Aunty Polly was happy to see a traditional woven chicken coop.

And then they had fun rediscovering the joys of playing traditional games like throwing five stones (Batu Seremban) and kicking the feather ball (Sepak Bulu Ayam) or capteh.

I thought that her career in national and international badminton has clearly kept Aunty Sylvia physically fit to challenge her sister in kicking the capteh…

It was already late afternoon so Hayati proposed that we kept the tour short so that we could have a longer time to linger over our fruit buffet.

So we had a pleasant trek as we backtracked on our route to the drop-off point where our transport was waiting to ferry us back to the restaurant.

Aunty Sylvia showing off her skills at kicking capteh!

Hayati helped to serve the recommended brewed tea made from Cat’s Whiskers and left us to savour the tasty spread of a variety of local fresh and pickled fruits.

I’ve always considered their fruit buffet as a fitting end to our farm tour.

Among other juicy fruits, there were slices of watermelon, jackfruit, star-fruit, passionfruit, chiku, mango, pineapple, rose apples, guava and papaya, both fresh and pickled.

And as I looked around the table, I could tell from their sweaty but beaming faces that this was an absolutely worthwhile afternoon with the seniors at Desaru Fruit Farm.

Desaru Fruit Farm is located at No.1 Hentian Penawar, Sungai Cemaran, Desaru, 81930 Bandar Penawar, Kota Tinggi, Johor.

The seniors sit down for a fruit buffet, a most fitting end to our farm tour!

For more info about their farm tour and hotel packages, visit webpage: https://dff.world

Note: My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage and My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, are available from MPH bookstores nationwide and online from www.mphonline.com

* Look out for a separate story about this Set Lunch, made up of white rice served with dishes like soup, fish, chicken, squid and prawns that are creatively presented with a variety of fresh fruits.