on another one of our day trips we drove through the Vizara Rubber Tree Plantations. at first we were wondering why so many locals were literally jumping out of the forest trying to sell us gigantic balls made of what looked like rubber bands. after a few minutes we saw the official signs for the plantation as well as the notices warning us against buying the balls. it's illegal to buy from the locals, most likely an attempt by the plantation owners to discourage them from stealing rubber off the plantation trees.

"The estate has approximately 600,000 rubber trees. These trees are a the decedents of the original 70,000 rubber tree seeds brought from Brazil to Kew Gardens by Sir Henry Wickham in 1876."