Tonight, we went to Viv’s house for dinner. Her parents prepared a huge meal for us. As the pictures suggest, there was a lot of food! Also, everything was carefully labeled!
However, partway through dinner, a strange pungent scent filled my nostrils. It smelled both sweet and repulsive. Could it be? Yes, our hosts unveiled the infamous “king of fruits” known as durian.
You may recall that when I first landed in Bangkok, the Ibis Riverside had signs prohibiting durian. Although the fruit smelled repulsive, we were curious about the fruit’s taste and tried a few handfuls.
To call the mushy fruit repulsive would be an understatement. It tasted worse than it smelled, like old cake frosting that has been rotting for years. I could see my classmates running for water, furiously trying to wash away the revolting taste from their mouth.
I am convinced that the Malay people who used to live in Singapore in the old days used durian as a weapon of war. They probably threw the spiky fruit from atop their walls at invading soldiers, dispersing them with noxious fumes.
Let there be no mistake. Viv’s family made wonderful food and all of the other fruit was juicy sweet and pleasing to the taste. Durian, on the other hand, is just a cruel joke that Singaporeans play on unsuspecting tourists and foreigners desperate to appear cosmopolitan.
