In our time spent on Koh Samui Island, Thailand where we stayed one whole month and even thought we were up early every morning trying to get as much as possible into our days, was working out a real mission as we knew this Island was going to be impossible to see all in just one month but we were certainly doing our best. On this particular day while driving around in our faithful little yellow jeep we came across this beautiful lake nestled amongst a valley of mountains.
We spotted this lake driving around the Ring Road of Koh Samui Island from high up and it looked so inviting that we had to make a effort to get to it. Finding our way back down from the Ring Road though the narrow mountain roads we found the right road leading us to this beautiful fresh lake.
Once we reached the lake we saw no signs saying "No Trespassing" and no gates but we were uncertain if we could enter, it looked like a private property but then as we were deciding should we or should we not a older Thai gentlemen approached us and he wasn't armed with a shotgun, matter a fact he was welcoming us to come in, now this was Thai hospitality.
Once he had given us the warm welcoming he when on to tell us about this hidden gem, he was saying that people come to this lake in order to fish mainly, you pay a fee of 300 baht ( $10 US ) and can relax by the lake and catch as many fish as you like how awesome and this wasn't all.
If you wanted to stay a night or two in his little cabins around the lake side you could at a cost of 800 baht per/night ( $24 US ) and free breakfast in the morning at his lodge house. Also if you wanted to do some fruit picking you were welcome also at a small cost. Taking home freshly picked fruit straight of the trees by the lake now this was awesome.
It was amazing to see the amount and variety of fruits and veggies he had growing around the lake and so well kept, he had mostly mangoes and jackfruit but also some banana trees, gooseberries and pumpkins and let me tell you it was much cheaper buying mangoes from him then the markets.
Jackfruit in Thailand is called Kanoon very popular fruit amongst the Thai people use in various dishes and eaten fresh or dried out. We ate some fresh Jackfruit and it tasted very pleasant like a mix of pineapple and passionfruit. This tree bears the largest fruit of all trees, reaching up to as much as 55 kg (120 pounds) in weight, 90 cm (35 inches) in length, and 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter one huge fruit indeed.
Walking around this huge lake property was certainly an experience for us never had we seen Jackfruit trees and so many varieties of mangos even got to see and feed a cute friendly Squirrel and the water bug insect is also eaten by the Thai's it's high in proteins they say.
These Jackfruit trees have so many fruits blooming from one branch that the branch can not unfortunately hang on to them all so you will see a few fall of but they don't go to waste they are still used in certain Thai dishes as the owner of the property said to us.
So this was another knowledgeable and adventurous day spent on this paradise island one that I am looking forward to going back some day when travel restrictions are back in order.
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