Stop and Smell the Roses, or Durians

These were some suprised finds during a recent hike. We walked past a orang asli (natives) make shift shed. An old man weaving bamboo baskets (for durians collection), a few half naked (top half you perverts!) kids running around hollering, an old woman cooking, a young woman washing and a young man sorting out these thorny babies.

We went ahead and asked were they for sale. The reply was affirmative, but going by longgok (pile). He went on and told us that these were from the jungle around us, wild durians, the flesh was not as thick like the farm stuff but still meaty. No pesticide, no chemical fertilizer. Hmmmm organic durians.

"How many in a longgok?" The young man piled up 3 to 4 durians in front of us.

There were one and a half durian eaters in the group of three of us, one fanatic, one indifferent, one fanatically swear off it. So a longgok was definitely too much.

"We just want to try, can we get just one?" The young picked up a machete and we were ready to bolt.

Oh wait, he also picked up a durian and hacked it open, telling us that that particular one jus dropped from the tree that very morning. He then presented us the shinny smooth yellow flesh of durian within the thorny shell. The humid jungle air was instantly infused with the wonderfully pungent and distinctive sweet scent of the fruit. (Well depend on who you talk to, some said it smells like moldy blue cheese in old sweaty gym socks, stinky to high heaven!)

The fanatic gorged them down like a pirhanna feeding on meat. He was in ecstacy. The indifferent got one, felt the firmness of the mustardy yellow flesh, took a whiff of that intoxicating aroma and sank his teeth to it. The fanatically swear off it stood quite far away aside.

Oh my, the sweetness was perfect, not overpowering and the silky smooth creaminess was to die for, melting away slowly, permeating deep into the mouth, waking up all the tastebuds from their deep slumber with an orgasmic jolt.

"It was so gooooooooood!" The indifferent exclaimed. The fanatic continued shoving them down. The fanatically swear off it inched closer, towards the fruit. He took one and put in his mouth in a dash and then acted as if nothing happened, as if the other two did not see it. The other two played along, pretending nothing happened.

Time to pay up.

"How much?" The young man turned to the old man and talking softly for a bit. He turned towards us with an awkward smile and looked at the old man.

The old man stood up. "1 ringgit lah. We also don't know how much to charge you." The old man said.

We looked at each other in absolute awe, eyes so wide opened that the eye balls almost fell of the socket. We gave him 5. We couldn't do it, paying so little for something sooooooooo goooooooooood.