After 45 years of experimenting, Mr. Han Wai Toon who came to Singapore in 1915 managed to produce highly sought-after rambutans in his 2½ acre estate in Old Thompson Road. By combining the sweet and firm Sumatran strain with the juicy Batavian strain, he successfully turned the once sour fruit into something tasty. Mr. Han also had a rambutan tree which bore bright red rambutans on one side and pale yellow ones on the other, which he used to amuse his friends. We are planning to search for this mysterious ‘Han Rambutan Orchard’ and hunt down these rambutan trees. Do you know anyone who visited this Orchard?
Reference: “The long search for better rambutans”, The Singapore Free Press, 4 March 1960
We believe several of the grafted Rambutan trees still exist in this area and the landscape, which is one of a slope, seems likely that the Orchard existed here.