No Durians on the Bus!

So I had totally planned on one or two posts detailing Aunt Kara's trip to Singapore, but it's too overwhelming so I'm just going to post several shorter posts on some of the yummy, relaxing and sometimes downright zany things we did with our first guest!

Like most of you (I'm guessing), I had never heard of a durian before I got here.  Here's the official dictionary.com definition: 

The edible fruit of a tree, Durio zibethinus, of the bombax family, of southeastern Asia, having a hard, prickly rind, a highly flavored, pulpy flesh, and an unpleasant odor.

Well that is certainly accurate - the unpleasant odor part that is.  So much so that it is literally banned on buses.  What Jason thought was a sign indicating you cannot bring a bomb on the bus (because everyone needs to be told that), the sign he saw actually meant NO DURIANS.  But isn't it weird that it is in the "bombax family" of fruit?  I'm pretty sure MacGuyer would be interested in this.) Rest assured durian police, I will not be sneaking one onto the #7 bus anytime soon.

One of the things I loved about Kara's visit was that she had a short, but specific list of things she wanted to do or try here.  One was, you guessed it...try a durian.  Well it just so happens that within walking distance of our apartment there is a durian stand open for just a couple of hours every night in a random bus parking lot (ironic, huh?).  Honestly it hadn't occurred to me to go there, so late one night the three girls (Sophia was totally game) headed into the underground world of stinky fruit.

 

Oh what a scene.  To no one's surprise, we were the only non-locals.  People were just sitting at tables eating the durians.  Since we were obviously completely clueless, the stand owner/worker stepped up to help us.  For this post, I just googled "how to pick a durian" but in the interest of this not becoming "War and Peace", just trust me that it is a process best left to the experts. 

So after durian selection and preparation (everyone just eats it right then and there, which kind of makes sense considering their bus passes are deemed useless and since most taxis won't take a small dog in a carrier, I'm betting it's no dice to durian owners) we sat down and stared at our purchase. Oh and I forgot, the damn durian cost us $18! The locals probably paid $2.50 and were laughing their asses off at us idiots.

It looks gross.  Like something on the X-Files.  Or like pale yellow oddly-shaped damaged breast implants in a huge spiny shell.   Being the boring, non-experimental foodie person that I am, I just couldn't do it.  Kara went for it immediately.  She thought it had a faint garlic taste, but almost threw up.  Which could have been disasterous.  With all those eyes on us foreigners and no escape transportation she had to play it cool.  Sophia even tried it!!  (no go either).  But I was a proud mama watching her!

 

 

 

 

So the stand worker came over and offered us another fruit called a purple mangosteen.  This too had a thick (not spiny) shell and was about the size of a nectarine.  It had an odd looking semi-transparent flesh, but tasted pretty good - also similar to a nectarine.

So we asked to buy two mangosteens to bring home, which they thought meant we wanted two KILOGRAMS (4.4 pounds).  After correcting the worker, it was obvious that this was not a request that they were used to, we got a distinctly patronizing look but were handed our measly two mangosteens at no charge!  I think that's proof of the alleged durian price-gouging.  Feeling guilty, lah? (only people here will understand the "lah"...sorry for the inside joke)

So our durian adventure came to an end and we hiked up the hill home.  People sure do love their durians here.  I don't know why - I will never get it - but I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't understand my intense love of Velveeta Shells and Cheese either.

Next time - girls night out in Clarke Quay!

Disclaimer:  The durian stand people were nothing but nice to us, as were the other customers.  They actually were amused but not in any sort of condescending way. And I really don't think they charged us more.  Pure embellishment.