At The Orchard

While almost everyone I know online was updating about rain on the first day of Chinese New Year, we had a sunny day in Raub, which was great because we spent the day by being outdoors.

The plan that day was to visit a fruit orchard at 10.00am before going for a dip at a nearby waterfall and have a picnic afterwards. Since we run pretty much on Malaysian time, all four cars (Dad's, ours and brother's and sis') only made our way at 11.00am! Well, just one hour later than scheduled. (^O^)

City folks, how many of you have seen local fruits still on their trees and not at a stall or supermarket shelves? (^。^)

Dokong tree. Click here for more info about the fruit.

An unripe mangosteen

Here's Raimie with a ripe one. Mangosteen turn purple when it's ripe

Just look at the white flesh ensconced in that purple cocoon. Yummy, yummy mangosteen. But  make sure your clothes aren't stained by it! (*^0^*)

Rambutan tree with red rambutans. There's the yellow variety too, called the "Rambutan Gading"

Rambutan collected and safely stashed in a plastic bag. Picking rambutans can be rather a "painful" affair. See that one "kerengga" or weaver ant on the plastic bag handle? They make their nests on trees especially fruit trees like rambutan trees and if you dare to come near the tree, the ants will attack and those tiny creatures sure can bite! Weaver ants aren't exactly unwelcomed though, as they act as a natural protector to fruit trees.

How do you pick fruits here?

By using a "galah" or pole, usually made with bamboo.

or just simply by climbing the trees and throwing down the fruit to the people waiting below.

Both instances are of course not applicable when it comes to durians. Imagine the head injury one might get waiting below for the fruit to fall down!

To enjoy durians, we just wait for the fruit to fall to the ground and pick it. Wear a helmet for protection, just in case.

Half of our bounty that day. My Dad told us while we were scattered around the orchard looking for fallen durian fruits that there were signs of a tiger visiting, judging by some eaten durians he saw there. Yes folks, tigers eat durians too. Bears like them too. Don't worry though, they aren't usually seen during the day. They come visiting at night. Lots of other "things" come at night too. Ever heard of "hantu durian"? Heh heh

Small sized durian does not mean it isn't good. This one was very, very sweet.Yummy!

Of course, while traipsing around a fruit orchard near a forest, we'd encountered plenty of bloodsuckers. Mosquitoes are pretty normal. How about "pacat" or leech? That fella on my foot was a small one, it didn't have time to get fat sucking my blood yet. It'll grow bigger as it suck your blood!

While it isn't painful to have pacat suck on you, it sure isn't a nice sight seeing blood like this afterwards!

After getting all sweaty and clammy collecting lots and lots of fruits, we drove off for a dip at a nearby waterfall!

Anyway, on the second day of CNY; a villager came looking for my Dad. A deer was caught in a trap and my Dad is usually called by both villagers and Orang Asli to help slaughter the wild animals and also sell them. This time, since we are all at home - all of us got "kijang" meat/venison to bring back home.

A "Kijang"/venison lunch - a simply fried venison with tumeric, a "masak merah" dish and sup tulang (bone soup?). The meat literally melt in our mouth. Om nom nom

My Sis cook the meat differently. Sis no 3 cook it "masak kicap". Sis no 5 cooked "rendang". Black pepper style would be nice too. ^^