Thailand always astounds visitors with its infinite variety of cultures, landscapes and peoples, but it is its wide range of fruits that leave the sweetest of impressions. This is especially true in Rayong during June and July when the monsoon rains have restored lushness to the land, the soil is soft and loamy, and the season’s fantastic fruits hang ripening on the trees, ready to be plucked.

Visitors from temperate climates feel spoilt for choice when they enter Rayong’s orchards and discover this cornucopia to enjoy. They can feast on fruits barely known outside of Southeast Asia, (except as wildly expensive imports) and buy in bulk countless mangos, sourly sweet mangosteens, colourful, soft-haired rambutan and massive jackfruits and durian that hang improbably from the trees like fruity cannonballs. There are fruits of every possible creed, colour and taste to enjoy which is why the orchards offer a refreshing new diversion for tourists seeking a literal taste of tropical Thailand.

One of the most impressive sights is the durian, which appear too large, heavy and unwieldy for the trees they grow upon. They seem more like medieval weaponry than a fruit, yet the sweet flesh this “King of Fruit” yields is sought after by connoisseurs all over Southeast Asia. Durian’s famous scent takes some getting used to, “Like eating raspberry blancmange in the lavatory” British writer Anthony Burgess said, but here among the trees, it seems like a rich, heaven sent (if not heavenly-scented) pudding, to be savoured.