Bao Seng Durian Farm, Balik Pulau

Have you ever stay in a Durian Farm before? No? At Bao Sheng Durian Farm, you can do it! This 6.7 acres durian farm has been established in Balik Pulau since 1959. It really took them full 60 years to get the fruit of their hard work. Their villa is well equipped with air-con, hot shower and LCD TV with hundreds of Blu-Ray quality movies in it! They have existing queen size or king size bed and extra bed can be requested.

To get close and personal with the King of Fruit...the accommodation charges will be Deluxe Villa is charged at RM280/night and standard villa will cost you RM180/night. They only have 1 Deluxe Villa and 2 Standard Villa only. So it is very easy to be fully booked during the durian season. Advance booking is greatly recommended for at least 3 months ahead so that you will be able to choose the right schedule for the durian you wish to taste.

Why stay in a durian farm? This is what you see when you open the window with all the durian trees around you. The fresh and sweet durian smell will really lighten your day. 

I am not kidding since some of you might really hate the durian smell. To tell you honestly, a truly fresh durian is not smelly at all. It should be only fragrance smell. The reason the durian in the supermarket is smelly because the durian has been put for too long. It is the same concept like seafood. When it is too long, it becomes very fishy but if you freshly caught a fish and eat them...they are fresh and sweet. Understand now? That's why I am here!

Yup, I "abducted" and "seduced" my two new French couple friend, Jerome and Elise to this place. Durian Seng (he preferred to be called that way) brought all of us for an hour tour to his durian farm. We really opened our eyes with his knowledge in durian and his passion to bring the originality of the durian to everyone. You can also checkout my friends' honeymoon blog here.

Artificial fertilizer and chemical pesticide are forbidden from his farm because he got his own way to prevent his tree being attacked by the nasty creatures. This is to ensure his durian are naturally fresh and sweet.

This is his oldest tree among all the durian tree. It has been here for more than 60 years and counting. The older the tree, the tastier the durian. It is like red wine - that's what he said.

All his trees are tall and big so you will know that definitely you are not having a durian from a new tree. Enthusiastic Durian Seng has no reserve for his secret to grow this King of Fruit. He shared with us from almost 1959 till now in a rather summarized version. From a seed to a big tree like this.

There are more than 16 types of durians he owned in this farm. Mostly he will leave the best for his walk-in customers first. Those are leftover for the day he will sell it off to the local or international buyers. This is to ensure we are there for the fresh durians only.

Do not worry about "durian aerial bombardment" when you take a walk in his durian farm. He well secured his tree with a huge web to catch the durian from crashing the ground.

We were there in early June so we did not able to try their most popular durians which are Red Prawn and Hor Lor. These 5 stars rating durians are only available near end of June. So sad that we did not hit the prime time.

It is quite cute to see a durian this small. I really enjoy this 1-hour journey a lot. It is optional so you can just be there to stay and enjoy the durian.

Jerome had his durian debut at Laos but this is the first time for Elise. She is quite reluctant to taste because of the smell. However, when she was here...she told me that she does not find durian that smelly at all. She was expecting the stinky durian smell roaming all over the durian farm.

Our mission is not just walk the durian farm only. We were there to hunt some fresh drop durians. Yes, another reason for coming to a durian farm is to experience the numb taste of the durian. The numb taste will only happened if the durian is eaten within 30 minutes after dropped. So do you think you able to experience this other than a durian farm? No way!

They have other plants here to such as this apricot, bananas, lemongrass and some other plants which will not absorb too much nutrition from the earth. He just do not want these plants to take away the precious nutrition from his beloved durians.

Here are the fresh durians to be savored! Look at their stem...all are still green! Normally you see a local durian stall, you will only see dark brown color on the stem. I wonder how many days they have put there or maybe weeks!

This is Durian Seng's son whom already mastered his skill of choosing the right durian for us. Any bad durians they will put it aside immediately which later they will make durian kuih. They are really expert so just leave it to them and they will make sure you will not be disappointed.

These are the tables made of wood and their water is from the mountain. Every thing here are from the nature. His durian package is in buffet style which means eat all you can until you said enough. If you feel want to eat again after a couple of hours, you will be charged again. Or you can choose a normal package which is to weight the durian you wish to eat and you pay per kg. Normally this package is for those who does not like durian that much or just want to test the durian like my friend here Jerome and Elise. The full pricing will be stated at the end of this post. P.S: Do not worry about their dogs, they are meant to search for the durians in the farm. They are harmless. I called them the durian dogs.

We are here to breath in fresh air with sweet durians, savor the durians and enjoy the amazing scenery. Any type of other enjoyment comes near to this? FYI, you do not have to stay here to enable you to enjoy their durian. You can walk-in as well. However, the rate will be cheaper for the in-house guest if you are taking the pay per weight package. 

We were taught on how to choose a good durian. Just 3 simple steps which you can use to choose durians at any durian stall.

First: Check -  if the thorns are very well arranged means their trees are very new...maybe just few months old. The more untidy the thorns are the older the trees are.

Second: Shake - shake the durian until you hear the sound made by the seed inside. This is to let the durian inside to immerse the smell.

Third: Smell - smell the durian from the top not the bottom. You do not smell a person from their bottom don't you? Haha...the stronger the smell the better it is.

There are only 4 types of durians that day. I ranked them according to my preference starts from the best which are Lipan a.k.a centipede, Kungpoh Angbak, D604 and Little Red. This is the D604 which I find it rather sweet and very less bitter taste.

This is the Kungpoh Angbak. The bitter taste is much stronger and I find it the strongest among all the four. You should put it last to eat because you might not able to taste others after this.

Lipan is my favorite because the bitter sweet taste brings a lot of fragrance into your whole mouth and stay in your mouth which you will want for more! Very few Lipan on that day because their season is just started.

We were unable to experience the numb taste on the first day of our our stay so we had to wait for the next morning. We had to wake up by 9.00am and be ready to get NUMB!

His son chose a D604 and a Lipan for us. We are there to test so we were charged by weight. These two cost us RM38 which I find it very reasonable especially after I understand the true meaning of numb!

Started off with D604 because their taste is rather sweet and lighter. Yes, the numb is there right after the first seed. The numbness is at our tongue only. It is simply amazing.

This is the Lipan which had the greatest numb of all. The numb taste has made the durian extra delicious because it surrounded your whole tongue by contained the precious fragrance of durian on it. The numb taste lasted for 10 minutes after you stopped. I really cannot imagine how their best Hor Lor and Red Prawn numb taste will be like! I can't wait next year! Oh ya, by the way their season is from June to August. If their trees have extra flowers, you will able to enjoy again on November until early January but do not put high hopes.

My experience here was truly unforgettable. I will definitely reporting myself here every year because after you tried their durian, you will definitely will not going to try any durian from any local durian stalls anymore. Trust me! As for the price wise, you may read at the bottom which you might find it rather expensive but for me it is worth every cents.

SAVOUR THE CHAMPION (Level 1)
RM35/pax - Excludes Red Prawn and Hor Lor
RM45/pax - Excludes Red Prawn
RM55/pax - All Kinds of Variety

DURIAN CONNOISSEUR (Level 2)*
• Durian trees 40 years or older
• Thick and wrinkled flesh
RM55/pax - Excludes Red Prawn and Hor Lor
RM65/pax - Excludes Red Prawn
RM75/pax - All Kinds of Variety

DURIAN IN BLACK (Level 3)*
• Durian freshly dropped within two hours
• Sticky and numbing to tongue and lips
RM80/pax - Excludes Red Prawn & Hor Lor
RM100/pax - Excludes Red Prawn
RM120/pax - All Kinds of Variety
* Reservations must be made in advance

P.S: They do not serve any food here. However, if you want rice or bread to mix with the durian, they can provide. As for the breakfast, they willing to help you to take away from a nearby hawker stall for you. The food charges will be billed together with your room stay.

Total Damage: RM430.00
Ambiance: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Price: 4/5
Recommended?: Highly recommended!

BAO SHENG DURIAN FARM
150 Mukim 2, Sungai Pinang, 11010 Balik Pulau
Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 012-411 0600 / 012-401 0800
Business Hours: Only available during the durian season, call to check the schedule. They are usually awake around 8.00am.