Stinky Fruit and Broken Banks

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My brother and his family were spending a week at a resort on Phuket and graciously allowed me to crash with them. It was a great time for me as I never really spent time at a resort and now had one with easy access to the beach and great pools. I love the ocean and it was fun but the strong undertow made it hard to really swim much. I stuck to the pools. In one, if you looked from the right angle, the pool appeared to blend in with the ocean.

The other thing I got to do at the resort was taste durian. Durian is a fruit that is considered a delicacy; however it smells so bad when the fruit is cut opened that it is actually banned on major airlines and large hotels. Of course as soon as I heard about that I had to try it. The fruit is green, a little bigger than a football, and spiky. When it is opened, there are sections of soft, almost custard like fruit. To get one would mean lugging around a smelly fruit with about a pound of food to eat. Too much for me. At the deli in the resort, they were kind enough to give me a chunk of the fruit to test and it turns out it really is delicious. It was sweet and reminded me of no other fruit I've tried. And although I have smelled the fruit in the market place and a grocery store (it does stink, like ammonia), once separated from the rind, I really didn't pick up on the smell.

In Phuket town, we walked around the market place. I picked up a funny elephant bank for about a dollar. About half a block from the stall I bought it in, the bag broke and so did the elephant. Members of my family found this funny and the elephant was named Dumptee. I was able to find som super glue and put dumptee back together again...for the most part. Dumptee's banking days are over though because I couldn't glue the bottom back together. Anyway in honor of all my hard work and getting the glue on my fingers, I have added a shot of Dumptee. I sent him back with my brother and his family and hope he made it.

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Photos

A Spiky Stinky Fruit
It smells worse than it looks but tastes better than it smells

The insides of the spiky stink fruit
Doesn't look much better this way either.

Dumptee
I tried by best to put him back together again, but some of the pieces were beyond saving.

Comments

[Mark P.]

Great photos!