"The sharp knife of a short life

I've had just enough time..."


- "If I Die Young" The Band Perry


I see Beauty in many things. And like the ghosts that only speak to you if you notice them, they tell me wondrous tales. With my camera and my thoughts, I captured these as faithfully as I can to share with you. And by doing so, they gave me the reasons. And though the thousand reasons may not all be sweet and some indeed bitter; they are still reasons to live. Come to think about it, that is Life, isn't it?

Thursday 15 November 2012

Durian may be the King of Fruits but 24 hours a day?



I've had just enough time to...   enjoy a feast of durians!



Much had been said and written about Durian, the undisputed King of Fruits and arguably the best fruits in the world are to be found in Malaysia with exotic varieties such as “Red Prawn”, “Water Gourd”, “Little Red”, “Green Skin”, “Red Heart”, “Khun Poh” (named after the grower), “Red Flesh”,  and “Red Flower”. As if these are not enough, we have even stranger names such as “Centipede”, “Coupling”, “Pork Fat”, “Bean Curd”, “Tiger Hill” and “Olive”. You have to agree that the naming of fruits is very creative and there are reasons for the names which I will leave it for you to figure it out. By the way most of these are names are translated from the Hokkien dialect which is just the way most of the fruits are named.

There are also the less creative names usually headed by a “D” alphabet which obviously stands for durian. Whereas durian itself comes from the Malay word “duri” meaning “thorns” which ineffectively protects the fruits from our greedy hands. But they do exact their revenge for which of us had not cut our fingers from a careless slip? As far as I know there are D numbers from D11 to D700!


But the most creative name may be “Lin Fong Jiao” named after the beautiful romantic actress of the 70s who won a Golden Horse Awards for her role in “Story of A Small Town” (小城故事) and the wife of Jackie Chan. The taste is said to be reflective of their bitter sweet husband and wife relationship. However, the King of the Kings is claimed by many to be “Raja Kunyit” or “King Tumeric”. This Malay name however got strangely translated into Cantonese as “Mao Sang Wong” or “Mountain King Cat”. The Hokkien however chose a more direct approach and called it “Boh Tang Pii” or “No Comparison”. So a durian by any other name is not THE Durian!


Found this 24 hours durian shop in Medan, Indonesia late one night after dinner.



Malaysians may have justification to claim their durians as “World Best” but even they do not eat them 24/7. That honor goes to the Indonesians. I’ve known of 24 hours clinic and even 24 hours workshop but it is the first time I came across a 24 hours durian shop! I found it not in a small dingy hawker stall but in a brightly lighted 4 double-storey shop lots that caters to durian aficionado round the clock. So if you have difficulty to sleep and fancy durian for supper, get on a bike and head to this durian paradise. But before you rush there, those who had not tasted durian before, beware! It is said to taste like heaven but smell like hell. But of course to us durian connoisseur, it taste like heaven and smell like heaven too! Unless you burp.



3 comments:


  1. A 1000 Reasons (Off to The Philippines)
    Just got back from Manila and glad to be free of the terrible jam, and I thought KL traffic was bad. Will need time before I can catch up with what I miss during this absence. Meanwhile just a quick post - Malaysian are crazy about their durians but even we do not have a 24 hours durian shop! So I was pretty surprised when I was taken by my Indonesian friends to this 24 hours durian shop in Medan right after dinner! And we walloped this very heavy fruit until we could hardly moved! The durian is not as good as the Malaysian varieties which you can read more about following the link above and learned why we called it the king of fruit.

    ineedathis
    I think you have to have a taste for that fruit I heard, great shot my friend!
    Glad you are enjoying your travels.
    ★ineedathis added this photo to his favorites.

    henrhyde (gill)
    Enjoy !
    great image.

    ★ΞSSΞ®®Ξ and i_still_believe_in_u added this photo to their favorites.

    ♥♥Evergreen Veronica♥♥
    Hello and Welcome back Dear Thou..... I like this lovely lighted and 24hr shop to distribute Durian (which I do not know ... but I am very interested)..... Maybe I will look around & here where it is sold around here...
    In the meantime I wish you a good day and thank you very much.... Blessings my friend and take care.... Have a good week..... VeRo ♥♥

    MAMEDE HARFOUCHE
    HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW WEEK, Thou.
    KISSES AND PEACE.
    الله أكبر * " ALLAH HU AKBAR! "

    Emmanuel_D.Photography
    nice pic

    ReplyDelete

  2. ★Geo_grafics added this photo to his favorites.
    cWonderful presentation !!

    ★october blue added this photo to their favorites.
    A wonderful shot ! And I enjoyed so much reading your delightful commentary about durian in your blog ! Well, sadly, I have not yet had a chance to taste this famous fruit ...but of course I would love to someday . I have the feeling that I would like it very much . I would surely want to try "Raja Kunyit" ...":Lin Fong Jia" ....and many other varieties ...right up to 'D-700" ! And I would like to sample at least one durian at this '24-hour store' ..because this must be a favorite gathering place for true afficionados of durian ! Thanks for sharing ....welcome back :-)

    ★♥♥Evergreen Veronica♥♥ added this photo to her favorites.
    Hello my Dear Thou..... I hope you will find some time to rest... as I see you are again off....
    Oh my friend take care & I wish you all the best...
    Big hugs.... Vero ☺☺☺

    ginopucci
    Bellissimo racconto di vita quotidiana.........complimenti.

    ★Steve Taylor (Photography) added this photo to his favorites.
    Durian is not my favourite fruit

    ★娜 娜☂Nana added this photo to her favorites.

    Jude's Jewels
    Ha! I always get a chuckle when I hear durian described as smelling horrible yet tasting delightful. Surely, there must be more like me who LOVE the smell and hate the taste? Durian smells wonderful and because I found the smell so nice, I was sure I'd love the taste too. After all, Asian foods are much better tasting to me than Western or European foods.
    So when I cut into the durian I bought, I was upset to discover I disliked the taste and texture. The firm custard texture isn't to my liking, especially in fruit. There's no slight acidic taste that I like in fruits plus it seems to have a musky taste. It's really hard to describe.
    At the time I bought the durian, Mozza, my cat was still alive. He was remarkable for his love of vegetables! His favourite by far was raw green beans but he'd happily chow down on the following raw - red sweet peppers, broccoli stems (peeled and sliced), mushrooms, potatoes, pea pods, orange fleshed squash among a number of others. As I opened the durian, he watched me closely so I thought of offering him some. He gobbled it up and waited, eager for more. When I found I disliked the taste, I figured I'd put the rest in a container and into the fridge to feed him some each day.
    When he used the litter box layer that day and the smell of rotten durian filled the air, I ended up tossing the rest. I've since been told by others, that durian here tastes nothing like fresh durian since it's shipped and kept frozen for the North American market here. Durian may be the 'king of fruits - it's a very Yang in nature. On the other hand, mangosteen is considered the 'queen of fruits' and is very Yin. I love mangosteen but sadly, it's far far too expensive for me to buy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm typically searching for on-line for blogposts that could aid me. Thx!

    ReplyDelete

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