The first time I heard about Bao Sheng Durian Farm was when I watched a travel program on TV. Hence during our trip to Penang, I thought I would include a 2D1N durian farm stay in our itinerary. Just so we could experience life in the countryside. And at the same time, we could know more about the king of fruits and hopefully get to try different varieties of durian too.
After checking out of our hotel in George Town, we booked Grab and headed towards Balik Pulau.
Bring travel sickness pills just in case
The whole car ride took about an hour. Both my hubby and I ended up with motion sickness because the road up the hill was pretty winding. If you can’t withstand a meandering car journey like this, please eat your ginger pills before you hit the road.
About Balik Pulau
Balik Pulau means ‘the back of the island’ and it’s located in the southwest of Penang. Unlike the city centre of George Town, Balik Pulau is an agricultural town that is quieter and less commercialised. It’s famous for durians, nutmegs and cloves.
Look out for this sign (Bao Sheng Durian Farm in Chinese), which leads to the entrance of the farm.
The road going down is very steep. Gotta be careful.
You’ll see this Reception area. Just let the staff know you’re checking in. This durian farm is managed by the Chang family who also lives here. Unlike checking into a regular hotel with full-fledged services, everything is done in a casual manner here. After all, it’s a homestay with rustic vibes. Pretty carefree here. We can just make ourselves at home.
Check-in/Check-out time
Check-in starts from 3.00pm onwards and check-out is at 12.00pm.
We were welcomed by the boss himself, Durian Seng – a very warm and friendly man. Even helped us with our luggage as we had to go down a few flights of steps to get to our villa.
We booked the Standard Villa. There were two villas of this category, located at the same spot but divided by a small swimming pool in the middle.
What does a 2D1N durian farm stay includes?
- 2 durian tasting sessions
- durian farm tour
- free flow fruits – whatever’s available and in season
- 1 x dinner
- 1 x breakfast
Interior of the villa/room
Very basic but homely. Kept clean too. Great view of the forest from the window.
There was a queen size bed raised up on a wooden platform on the floor. Bath towels were rolled up and placed on the mattress. There was air-conditioning and we could turn on the ceiling fan too.
Wifi worked perfectly fine as well.
There were drinking water, instant coffee sachets on the dressing table.
In the bathroom, they only provided shower cream so you’d have to bring along your own toiletries.
Exploring Bao Sheng Durian Farm
Other room categories
Besides the Standard Villa, there were also other room categories like Deluxe Villa, Passion Hut, Family Villa and Tatami Room.
Check out their FB page here for their Durian + Stay Package 2022.
Before you book your durian farm stay with Bao Sheng Durian Farm, do check out their durian timetable just so you know what durian varieties will be available.
Scenic view from the common dining area
First durian tasting session
All guests gathered around the common dining area for a durian tasting session with the lady boss. We tried many varieties of durians – D15, D18, green skin, red prawn, MSW, horlor, kunpoh, etc. So many – I couldn’t even remember what was what, lol.
All were fresh and good. Sweet. Bittersweet. Creamy. Big seeds. Small seeds. Great experience to be able to try all in one sitting.
Our furry friends were all durian connoisseurs! I bet they know durians better than the both of us, lol. 它们肯定是吃榴莲比我们吃米多. ?
Went out of the farm to explore the vicinity for a bit. Came across some waterfall and many fruit stalls along the road.
Durian farm tour
The boss conducted a tour for all the new guests. We learnt a lot about the process of growing durians, harvesting durians, different varieties of durians and even spotted durian flowers before they became fruits.
Besides durian trees, there were plenty of banana trees too so there was basically an endless supply of fresh bananas which we could help ourselves to.
The durian trees here were grown naturally and organically, i.e. without the use of artificial fertilisers or chemical sprays.
Spotted wild butterfly pea flowers which are the flowers that give natural blue pigments to food and drinks. And a huge mountain of durian husks which would ultimately be made into compost. Nothing goes to waste here.?
Home-cooked food for dinner
For dinner, they prepared a feast of home-cooked dishes such as butterfly pea flower rice, fried chicken wings, omelette, stir fried kangkong & long beans and lor bak (ngoh hiang).
Delicious meal. We loved it!
Wake up early to catch the beautiful sunrise
We woke up like 6-ish in the morning just so we could catch sunrise. It was rather chilly and windy. But it was all worth it as the sunrise was absolutely stunning.
You can have as many coconuts as you want
So long you chop your own coconut, lol. My hubby became quite an expert!
The coconut water was so sweet and fresh. Very thirst-quenching!
Local food for breakfast
They provided popular local food for breakfast which they packed back from town. We had nasi lemak, prawn noodle, char kway teow and banana fritters. All were good!
Durian with ‘numbing’ taste
Another round of durian tasting. This time round with the boss himself. He let us sampled durians that just dropped from the trees. Interestingly, the taste was somewhat numbing – like a tingling numbing sensation on the tongue.
Nothing beats fresh durians like these!
The D88 durian was so creamy that I couldn’t even hold a seed properly with my fingers. Strong bitter taste with slight alcohol aftertaste. Finger licking good!
One of the guests found a cute heart-shaped durian which we took a picture of.
The boss would feed durians to these furballs. So cute! They were really good at licking all the durian seeds clean, lol.
Bye little fellow! We’ll miss you!
We checked out just before 11am and booked Grab to go back to George Town. Going to stay at G Hotel Kelawai for the last leg of our Penang trip. Will be blogging about that next.
Final thoughts
It might only be a 2D1N durian farm stay but it was a very fulfilling one. We managed to brush up on our knowledge of durians which we would never get the chance to if we didn’t come here. And of course, the best part about this durian farm stay was the durian tasting. Trying durian with numbing sensation was the most amazing experience. All in all, it was nice to have a countryside escape and be able to get close to nature.
Check out 12.00pm