Eating Durian... can cross that off my bucket list.

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Last Friday we had a girls night... 2 of us in the picture below are leaving Singapore and we all wanted to get together one last time... each of these ladies play a special place in my heart and most of our memories are serving at VBS together... oh what good memories. We finally got a night on the town together so we started at Morton's steak bar... where if you order a drink they will bring you FREE steak sandwiches... nothing is free in Singapore so we had to go check it out... and boy was it nice.

These 2 woman have taught me alot about serving in the church... to do it with a smile and joy in your heart ALWAYS.

Yummy... Lychee Martini's (not a martini fan but these were good) and steak sandwiches.

Afterwards my friends Ellen, Kalin and Janet (residents of Singapore) were asking what was the one thing I had not done yet in Singapore... and I said "eat the local famous fruit.. DURIAN"... now if you don't know about Durian it is a delicacy here... they love it... the locals that is... they will grab one of these and the whole family will eat on it for dinner and nothing else. They have durian icecream, durian candy, durian spice, etc... but the funny thing is you are not allowed to bring it on the buses, in the taxi's or the subways (it is illegal to do so) bc of the smell.. yes it smells that bad... There are alot of people that won't taste it bc it smells so bad... but I had always heard that if you try it you will either love it or hate it... and I was curious as to which one I would be. I traditionally like fruit but this one was described to me as a rotten sock or 30 day old custard, etc... not that pleasing but curious none the less.

I also learned this night that there are different type of grades for this fruit... and one of the best ones is called KING MOUNTAIN and we of course had to go for the best one and spent $32 just to try it... so here we go...

We went to the best local place to get Durian... Geylang... I do have to say I was the only Angmo (white person) there.

Hummm... which one to chooose????

How does it look?

My friends are experts at this... they were talking with the guy in their own dialect... and we went through 3 different ones until we found the perfect one... the boy kept opening..Kalin and Janet would try and then say no... then he would open another and on and on... you can see the table behind him was very interested in our party and what we were doing... what else trying to find the best durian amongst 1000 of them...

Here are our taste testers... I was just busy taking pics...

Ok this was a joke... trial for the camera... I was just getting pass the smell and we acted like we were ready but not yet... I had to get situated at a table and get the full experience.

Here she is... our Durian... they told me to smell it, taste it, savor it and enjoy it... kind of like drinking wine I guess... but I don't like wine...

Ok here it goes... they showed me the best piece was the end... so first step pick it up but I was coached to only use one hand the whole time bc my hand would stink and then I would have one good hand left...

Not so sure... it feels funny... can you see my face...skepticism.

Smelling... and still smiling... I think i am numb to the smell by now...

Ok maybe not... the smell is back and it stinks... yuck.

Trying to take a bite and just can't... it's like when you are in an awkward spot and you just laugh to break the ice... here I am sitting with 3 people who LOVE (I mean love) Durian and I can't even take a bite.. come on already.

Here it goes... going to be a small bite but a bite it is...

There it is.. and I am not yacking yet... (and by the way they are laughing the whole time and love taking all these photos... I did not even have to ask).

There it is... once you close your mouth... something crazy happens... can't describe it but it is like nothing you have ever experience... 10% of it was good and 90% was not so good.

Not so sure about that.. but I am committed now and would never waste this precious fruit so I must finish...

Going in for some more... and I survived.

You can tell by the fruit size that this was like my 5th bite or so... I not only ate one whole piece but 2... yeah... but that was enough for me.

Here are the experts... loving life... and loving durian.

After you finish you just stink... your hand stinks, your breath stinks, your burps stink... everything... so they say you have to pour water into the shell of the Durian and wash your hands and drink the water and that will take the smell away...

Ok... that was 101 on how eat Durian the RIGHT way... so glad that I did it but it might be awhile until I do it again...

Here are some other pics I took on the fruit street...

We got in the car a headed to a local hawker stall to get something to eat.. while at the light we saw this girl getting a tat... had to take a picture.

Local Hawker Stall eating some local food.... and definitely the only Angmo...this was good... yummy... thanks sweet friend for a great night on the town as a local... great memories... for sure.