Uncle Maeo’s Farm Tour
As you are visiting a coastal province like Chanthaburi, seafood is one of the most favourite foods you will think of.
The staff members of the Mangrove Resources Development Station 2 will suggest you to take a boat ride to the oyster farm owned by Lung Maeo, located around 20 kilometres away from the Station’s port.
For the seafood lovers, oysters are well-known due to their tasty flavor and excellent nutritional value.
Lung Maeo’s oyster farm is located in the middle of the vast brackish water where the river mouth connects to the open sea in Ban Tha Makham, Tambon Wan Yao.
Anyone who sees this site will be amazed because this extensive farm is floating on the sea with the support of bamboo poles and a scaffolding-like structure to raise oysters.
Lung Maeo or Mr. Preda Pokpipat, the kind-hearted, middle-age man who enjoys talking, will tell you about his oyster farm. He was born and raised as a fisherman. He has raised almost all kinds of water creatures, but operated at a loss until he changed to raise oysters.
Oyster farming is not difficult. It started from the baby oysters attached to vertical ropes. He tided the ropes to the bamboo scaffolding and left the oysters in the water. After that, it required no special care until 9 months later when it was time to harvest.
While other oyster farmers are using the floating buckets or cages to raise oysters, Lung Maeo has initiated oyster farming by using ropes tying oysters to the bamboo structures.
From a small farm, he has expanded little by little until he now has hundreds of scaffolding structures that hold hundreds of thousand of oysters.
Last year, he raised about 700 tons of oysters (weight including shells).
All oysters were sold out completely because he had a regular buyer who came from Ang Sila, Chon Buri province, where he supplied to a famous Sukiyaki chain.
There are tourists frequently visiting his oyster farm. They will enjoy eating the fresh oysters that are freshly pulled up from the sea and crack the shells to serve with minced chili and salt right on the spot.
In addition, you will be invited to join other seafood at Uncle Maeo’s farm includes cockle clams, sea bass and groupers.
Uncle Maeo and the village members who have the oyster farms are thinking about developing this area as the communial enterprise for a tourism attraction by building a pavilion restaurant in the middle of the sea. Boats will come to pick up tourists from the village and take them to visit the oyster farms, and then stay a little longer for a fresh seafood dinner brought up from the ocean.
Anyone who has a chance to try this fresh seafood will confirm that they are more than satisfied as the seafood is really fresh.
