Fairy Cave
After our introduction to Kuching at the Da-Light Food Court, we take a 45-minute drive to the outskirts of Bau, a former gold mining town, to Fairy Cave (Gua Kapor) and Wind Cave (Gua Angin). We pass rubber estates, pepper plantations and lush rainforest on the way.
Our cave tour guide David from gives us each a bottle of water and a torch.
Selamat datang ke Fairy Cave (Welcome to Fairy Cave)
We climb five storeys of concrete stairs to reach the cave entrance, where we find…
Outside Fairy Cave. We need to climb these steps
…more stairs!
Steps leading into Fairy Cave
Once inside the cave, there are even more stairs, steep and slippery. We switch on our torches as we carefully climb the stairs to get to cave’s main chamber.
I could’ve also called this “my knees hate me so much right now”
I’m secretly starting to worry that my creaky knees will fail me but amazingly, I manage to keep up without falling over. I don’t know where the fairies are supposed to be but there are A LOT of stairs. They really should rename this “Stair Cave”!
Inside Fairy Cave – more stairs!
The view inside is beautiful. Sunlight streams in through a hole in the roof of the cave, giving the cave plant life a bright green, almost surreal aura.
Inside Fairy Cave
Inside Fairy Cave
Inside Fairy Cave
Juggling my torch and taking photographs in the cave proves challenging and hazardous – I know I’ll be extremely lucky to find my lens cap again if I drop it in the cave – so I don’t photograph the roosting bats and swiflet nests that we see in the darker parts of the cave.
The worst part? Realising we have to go back down all the stairs again to get out!
Inside Fairy Cave
Be prepared to emerge from Fairy Cave a lot dirtier than when you went in. Inside, it smells of damp, rust and what I presume is build-up of many years of guano (bat poo). Be warned, the wooden hand rails are also covered in bat poo so watch what you do with your hands after gripping the rails!
Wind Cave
We get back in the bus and drive a few minutes to Wind Cave. David assures us Wind Cave will be not as physically demanding as Fairy Cave – access to and through Wind Cave is via wooden walkways rather than stairs. A few of us breathe audible sighs of relief.
Welcome to Wind Cave sign
We are even more relieved to see the Wind Cave trail guide and note that none of the trails are particularly long! But we take the longest trail, Passage No.1.
Wind Cave trail guide
Here we go again!
Wind Cave walkway
We see more bats and birds nests inside Wind Cave and get a glimpse of the Sarawak River. It gets very dark in the heart of the cave and once again, I decide against using my camera for fear of losing my lens cap.
In Wind Cave
We can’t completely escape stairs at Wind Cave!
In Wind Cave
Exiting the cave, we follow David along the walkway through the nature reserve. We make jokes and laugh about all the food we’ll eat tonight to undo all the good from this afternoon’s unexpected exercise!
Walking behind David, leaving Wind Cave
Huts outside Wind Cave
Fairy and Wind Cave tour
Fairy Cave and Wind Cave are located in Bau, around 45 minutes drive from Kuching.
Toilets are available, but very basic (not everyone will feel comfortable using them).
Essentials:
- Water
- Torch
- Appropriate shoes (with good grip, good for walking)
- Mosquito repellent – don’t forget to put in on BEFORE you get inside the caves
You need to be reasonably fit to access/explore Fairy Cave. Wet wipes may come in handy, especially after visiting Fairy Cave.
Our tour guide David was from Cat City Holidays
Suite 29.0, ground floor
Kueh Hock Kui Commercial Centre
Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce
93150 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Telephone: (+60) 82 414 200
There is a Cat City outlet in the Pullman Kuching hotel lobby.
Durian and water guava, roadside fruit stall
On the way to the caves, Natalie and I spot a roadside stall selling durians and other fruit. We ask David if we can stop there on our way back.
By the time we get back to the wooden shack, there is just one durian left. Thank goodness – I’d be devastated if we’d missed out. Two large papayas sit on old newspaper. Bags of water guava and starfruit and bunches of petai (stink beans) hang from raffia strings.
David asks the two girls running the stall if we can buy the durian. Because of its smell, we can’t take the durian back on the bus with us to the hotel, so David asks the girls if they’ve got a knife that we can use to open the durian right here.
Roadside fruit stall
One of the girls runs up the path to the house and comes back with a man (I think he’s their dad) carrying a cleaver in one hand and half an open durian in the other, which he offers us to taste. I don’t think he really believes this group of foreigners (apart from David our tour guide, I am the only one of Asian appearance in our group) will like the durian, and I think he’d rather not waste the last one on us! David assures the man we do want to buy the durian.
Durian sampler
You can tell he’s done this many times before. He doesn’t bother protecting his hand with a glove or tea towel as he grips the durian firmly by its thorns.
A cleaver to open our durian
Opening our durian
He pokes the cleaver into the durian, twists it, and then prises the fruit open with expert ease. A durian will have a number of chambers inside, each holding the soft, yellowish pieces of fruit. The first time Jac watched a durian being split open to reveal its chambers with the fruit inside she said it looked like an alien having babies. There’s a seed in the middle of each piece of fruit – you eat the flesh around the seeds and discard them (when I was little girl, I tried burying one or two to grow my own durian tree).
Prising open the durian
It’s the first taste of durian for most of the group. They describe it as “custardy”, “nutty” and “oniony”. Most admit they wouldn’t jump at the chance to have it again. Me, I lick my fingers and relish every bit. I secretly laugh to myself – we’ve gone from bat poo to eating a fruit that smells like poo.
Prising open the durian
I’m often asked what durian smells like. Durian is both famous and notorious for its smell, which has been described as being like rotten onions, the stinkiest overripe cheese you can imagine, petrol, turpentine and old gym socks wrapped in a dirty nappy. It’s sort of like all of those yet has its own distinct, recognisable aroma. To many, it’s an offensive shocker of a stench that in some countries has seen durian banned in hotel rooms, on public transport and planes and places like cinemas (can you imagine a durian in a cinema?).
Durian!
On his TV show No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain ate durian in Indonesia and said: “Its taste can only be described as…indescribable, something you will either love or despise. Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.”
British novelist Anthony Burgess described durian as “eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory”.
In a comment at my previous post, reader Ivy described the taste of durian as being “like eating custard off a toilet seat”.
My favourite descriptions of durian in a long time come from Perth food blog Hungry Again?, where durian is described as “The fruit that smells like it’s run a marathon then rolled in poop” and “the pungent, foul smelling spiky fruit that you can use as a weapon and kill someone a thousand times with its thousand daggers”. Indeed, durian is dangerous – people have been killed by durian – no, not from the smell, but from being struck in the head by durians falling from the tree. When I was a child I was warned not to stand under my auntie’s durian tree for that very reason. Luckily, I was a very obedient child.
To me, the penetrating, pungent scent of durian is reminiscent of sewage (yes, I did say that) but it’s a smell I find intoxicating. Durian smells like… durian. I get excited every time I catch the faintest whiff of durian. If I can smell it, there’s chance I’ll get to eat it!
When perfectly ripe, the durian flesh is creamy. It clings to your fingers. It’s finger-sucking good and the aroma stays in your fingers even after you’ve washed your hands. And for hours afterwards, there will be durian burps.
I’m not trying to convince or convert anyone with my post – I know it’s a polarising topic. Some of my best friends are durian haters.
If we’re ever walking together down a street in Malaysia, will you be trying to avoid that stench of blocked drain or rotting carcass… or will you absolutely crave and be seduced by the glorious siren scent of durian?
Loading ...If you’ve eaten/smelled durian, whether you love it or loathe it, feel free to share your stories and descriptions in the comments!
More durian tales
- An old post from 2008 – durian gelato ecstasy: much to Jac’s disgust, I eat durian gelato
- Another from 2008 – two sponge cakes slathered in durian cream at my Dad’s early birthday satay lunch
- and again in 2009 – a durian cream cake at an August birthday family feast
As we stand on the roadside finishing the durian, Anna buys a bag of water guavas (jambu air – pronounced “jumboo ah yeh”). These bell-shaped fruit don’t have much of a taste but are crisp and juicy – their crunch reminds us of water chestnuts.
Water guava
And moving onto more malodorous foods and durian’s smelly associate, petai. David explains why petai are also called stink beans. They have a pungent, pervasive smell that lingers for days afterwards. The standard warning that comes with petai is not to use the toilet after someone who’s eaten petai. You don’t eat the twisted pods – you eat the bright green beans inside them. I’m not a big fan of petai myself. Any of you guys love it?
Petai (stink beans)
We get back to the hotel for much needed showers and a very quick rest before dinner. I’m ready for a lot more eating and looking forward to dinner!
TFP visited Kuching, Malaysia in September 2011 as a guest of Malaysia Kitchen, MATRADE and Tourism Malaysia. I won a place on this trip as part of the Malaysia Kitchen Blogger Summit.
More Kuching posts
Read the posts in my Kuching Trip 2011 series
Where is Kuching, Malaysia?
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 58 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes there were a lot of stairs, but you have to admit that the caves were very pretty!
Ah yes, durian. For a long time it was a fruit that I was keen to try, if only to experience it.
Recently I did. Not in it’s raw form, but in the form of a whipped cream and durian pancake. The pancake was sealed in plastic and offered no hint of what was to come. I opened the packet and sniffed. It instantly smelled like onion to me. Eating it was strange. Indeed the taste of the durian was creamy, despite the fact that there was actually cream in the pancake. It was actually very nice, however the smell is a bit off-putting. It’s not just the smell. You know how you can “smell” the odour of perfume by accidentally inhaling it? It’s the same thing with durian. As I’m tasting this nice creaminess, I’m inhaling it’s smell, and it tastes like raw onions. It really messes with your mind.
Now I answered “indifferent” to the poll. I certainly don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. But that said I don’t think I’d have it again for the same reason that I rarely eat raw onion or raw garlic, and that is that I can’t handle having it on my breath.
Admittedly it was a rather stupid idea to eat durian, and then step onto a bus, followed by an hour long trip on a ferry. I felt very conscious of my stinky breath and that lasted all day. Not to mention that even after the obvious durian breath had gone, the slightest burp would bring it all back.
I’m happy that people like them, and I’m glad to have tried one, but for me the cons are far more than the pros! :-)
Craig,
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the caving. I wouldn’t choose to go caving ordinarily; it’s never been something I’ve wanted to do. But I’m glad I got the chance to do it.
It was a very good thing I didn’t know about the stairs beforehand! :)
I love hearing others’ impressions of durian and find them so interesting. I’ve never found durian even remotely reminiscent of onion myself, but many of my friends, including you, find it distinctly oniony. Another friend (you know who you are ;) insists it smells like petrol.
It’s good that you’ve tried it, despite the off-putting smell/taste. A whipped cream and durian pancake sounds wonderful to me and I wish I had one now for breakfast!
Another great Malaysia post TFP ;)
On the topic of durian, i have had it in numerous forms and i can handle it but only in small doses. Any more than say half a lobe and the richness causes me to feel a little ill.
As far as the smell goes i normally tell people that it smells like you get some rotten onions and mix them with some rich custard and thats what it smells like.
Cheers, Simon. Glad you like!
As I said above to Craig, I’ve never found durian to be anything like onion! But clearly that’s how a lot of people perceive its smell. I can eat a lot of durian in a sitting, but there’s a very fine line I have to be careful not to cross – “I’ve eaten too much durian” is one of the worst feelings ever!
Great post, have never really wanted to venture to malaysia, but seeing those sites make it seem very appealing!
Also i am now intrigued yet scared of durian, it seems appealing yet unappealing at the same time!
You referred to the blog ‘Hungry Again’ i cant seem to find the web address for this though, could you please let me know what it is so i can save it? Need another perth blog to add to my list! (yours will always be the favourite though!)
Kristy,
The words “Hungry Again?” in my post are the link to that blog. :)
Although i do seem quite stupid right now i swear when i clicked on it, only your web address still appeared!
No worries, kristy!
Are you coming to Penang? :D
(Sorry, deviate from your post. I haven’t been reading for a long long time :()
Hi Peky,
No, the trip (which is now over) was to Kuching only. Hoping to get to Penang sometime in the future though.
You have lots of reading to catch up on! ;)
No to durian, but a big YES to jambu air. I love its mildly sweet taste, and crunchy texture. It’s a very refreshing fruit. I actually like mine chilled and very lightly salted. It’s a nice addition to fruit rojak as well. :)
Dea,
I prefer jambu batu to jambu air. We used to have a jambu batu tree in our backyard in Malaysia, and I loved eating its fruit. I haven’t tried jambu air salted – will do next time I have some.
I’m laughing as I picture you with your camera, torch, water. Bats! Swifts (they come down my chimney)! Guano… I’m really glad it wasn’t me. If you were creaky, they would have to carry me out! I ‘m older than you. Durian just sounds disgusting to me. I’m enjoying your posts
very much. Your photo stream is really interesting, also. It looks like a great experience!
kathy,
:D Oh… and at one stage I had to put on more mosquito repellent too. The Wind Cave mozzies had a great time biting me. I had a bag with me to put stuff into but didn’t really want to keep touching it with my filthy hands. It all worked out OK in the end.
Durian is definitely not for everyone. Which means more for me! ;P
Glad you’re enjoying the posts. Lots more on the way! Been working on the next couple of posts today.
you need one of those little sticky dots with the string on it for your lens cap! (have no idea what the correct name for that is, but camera shops should sell them!!)
Just did a stair session at bootcamp this morning, so can feel your stair pain :-)
Ali,
Good idea, I’ll look out for that next time I’m in a camera shop.
I was worried I’d be aching when I woke up the next morning but I was surprisingly all right!
I’m a great lover of durian (yes, I’m Malaysian, and also a Penangite- where we have the best durians ever!) so I feel a bit sad that the other people on the food trip weren’t so keen on durian. Custard-y, yes, but I can’t imagine how it can taste onion-y?? I especially love eating durians right out of the fridge, and they taste great with rice too. I always look forward to mid-year for the durian season! And I loveee the smell.
I’m so happy that you love them, TFP. (: A true Malaysian should!
Durians with rice? As in, white rice? I’ve tried durian with glutinous rice, and while I don’t like durian, it wasn’t too bad. My mum loves to freeze durian and enjoy it a day later. She says it’s just like durian ice cream. :)
Dea,
Yeah, I thought sandra’s durian with rice sounded interesting! I’d eat durian with rice. But since I can make a meal out of durian on its own, I probably wouldn’t think to eat it with anything else.
sandra,
I didn’t mind that the others didn’t like the durian as much as me – I still got more opportunities to eat durian, which I took great advantage of. :) A lot of people reckon it tastes like onion to them, so it must just be the way some people perceive it. Just like how many people say coriander tastes soapy and unpleasant, while others can’t discern that at all.
I’m a proud Australian but will always be a Malaysian gal at heart. And at tummy. :)
Durian looks appealing, but sounds horrible!
In your last picture of durian, is the part you eat the part that is in the middle?
Sarah,
I think the trick is to forget about the smell and what everyone else says about it and just try it. :)
Yes, the edible part is the pale yellow thing in the middle. You throw away the spiky skins.
TFP, what an honour :)
looks like you were in heaven! I guess heaven smells pretty bad LOL
lolol,
Well, I meant what I wrote – your description of durian cracks me up, I love it! Yes, heaven stinks! LOL.
I love Petai!!!! Having lived in Indonesia it was one of my favourite foods. I love it stir-fried with other vegies or meat, the best being Tempe Tahu Sambal Goreng Petai or it’s also great in Nasi Goreng, or even just fried up in the pods and then popped out and eaten…
I think the main rule is to make sure everyone around you, or that you might want to kiss anytime soon has also eaten it and you should be fine. It’s very very bad for your breath!
I love it when I find it here in Perth, always canned or frozen, but it seems to keep it’s original texture and taste pretty well.
Mary,
That’s a good rule for any smelly food. I also make sure I have minty chewing gum to help with the breath problem.
Brrrr, no durians please. At least petais are crunchy and can be eaten with hot sambal belachan (or like Mary M said, with tahu (beancurd) & tempe (errrm, what is it?)) and compliment rich dishes very well. But durians? I think the combination of the smell AND texture makes me have a gagging reflex.
Looking forward to Malaysian “real” food posts! (Am checking in every few hours. That’s how crazy this blog made me.)
Khal,
No need to check every few hours!
I work full-time and simply don’t have the time to update the blog daily. Currently, I publish a new post on Mondays and Wednesdays, and if time permits, Fridays.
It’s been a busy week and I’ve getting home close to 7pm most evenings so I don’t think I will have finished the post for Friday this week. I don’t just write down whatever’s in my head and publish – I edit and spend time to ensure I’m happy with what I’ve written. I go through the photographs I’ve taken, select and edit the ones I think will be best for the post (I take hundreds more photographs than what ends up on the blog). If I’m not happy with a draft of a post, I don’t publish it and will work on it until I am happy with it. The posts you see on the blog don’t happen without effort!
I’d love to have the time to post every day, but sadly I have to work for a living and also somehow find time to sleep and spend time with Jac, friends and family as well as work on the blog.
But on the topic of ‘real’ food you will be pleased to know the next post about Kuching is all about the dinner we enjoyed on the first night of the trip. I do think durian is real food though. It was a highlight of the trip for me.
Yeah I understand. Trust me; we appreciate the effort you put in… that’s why we’re all fans!
:D
Sorry I meant “real food” posts, ie waiting for “real food”, not that I was implying anything bad about the posts!!! :P
Sorry TFP hope you know what I mean!
I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed the caves having been to Batu Caves as a kid in humid weather. I don’t crave durians but will eat it if it is conveniently opened in front of me :)
Looking forward to your dinner posts. I remember konlow noodles in Kuching were topped with tomato sauce, just like what the Singaporeans do – weird!!
ChopinandMysaucepan,
I did try tomato mee in Kuching (our last meal) – didn’t really like it. But I don’t know if it was due to a bad version of the dish. I’ll have to try a known “good” version to make sure. :)
Hey TFP,
All the stairs at the first cave makes me want to visit it.
farmerjac,
I’ll be waiting for you at the bottom. :D
I love love love looove durian! My silly twin sister hates it so my family have all agreed she’s either mentally damaged or that my parents picked up the wrong child when leaving the hospital (although that’s a stretch since she looks alot like me)… Either way, she’s close to being disowned for her opinion on durian!!
My bro-in-law is American and he was trying so hard to be polite and pretend it tasted nice but his face turned suuuuper red like he was about to explode from the effort to not spit out the tiny bite had taken >=) my elder sister an i just laughed and laughed at him while my other relatives smiled in confusion at his expression… Heehee…. And yet he eats stinky horrible cheese but thinks durian is gross?! Weirdo!
Averil,
Haha, but if your twin sister doesn’t like it, there’s more durian for the rest of you!
It’s funny, isn’t it, how stinky cheese can be heavenly to some yet they balk at durian? :)
Oh durian, I like!
Ate it for the first (and only) time in Thailand last year. Bought it from a roadside stall and took it back to my room…….. BIG MISTAKE! My other half banished me to the rooftop garden to eat it. Smelly custard and delicious.
Obviously as i’m in the UK we can’t get it here. :-(
kissy,
We have frozen whole durians imported from Thailand for sale in Asian groceries here in Perth. In the freezers of some of those shops sometimes you can find packs of frozen durian meat (no shell). It’s good but not the same as eating (and smelling) it fresh. Which is why I was so thrilled to get to eat fresh durian in Malaysia! Jac isn’t fond of the durian smell either. She’ll put up with me eating it from time to time but I try to be considerate and not expose her to the durian too much. :)
Oh my goodness……!!!!!!!!!!!
After posting my last comment my other half said he had found a cheap flight…….
I’M GOING TO MALAYSIA IN FEBRUARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kissy,
FANTASTIC!!!!! :D Which part(s) of Malaysia?
jambu air is tasteless at times, but after a little sprinkle of salt..it’ll be sweet and yummy.. same with malaysian guava
sour oranges is nice after rubbing a little salt too…
grandma’s tricks to get us to eat our fruit..
sam,
I’ll try that next time I have any jambu air.
We used to like eating apples with salt as kids. I must admit I probably don’t eat enough fruit these days. So much of it doesn’t taste particularly good.
jambu air is beautiful in a fruit salad or malaysian fruit salad – rojak
it’s served with prawn paste.. ready made ones are available from the oriental shops..just add in cucumber wedges, yam bean wedges, sliced semi-raw papaya, semi-raw mangoes, pineapple wedges, a few strands of wilted kangkung cut in 1 inch pieces, top with crushed toasted peanuts and prawn crackers… mix sauce and vege/fruit together before serving..semi-raw mangoes may be difficult to come by, replace with granny smith apples
this dish would remind your parents of malaysia.. :)
I like what you said – durian smells like ‘durian’. For me, I can’t describe the smell as I think for you to do that, you’d have to be smelling it for the first time and not actually know what it smells like before. I grew up going back and forth between S’pore and M’sia so for me growing up, I’ve ALWAYS had durian around me in my family. One of my favourite family memories was when we got together at my grandfather’s apartment, and my aunties go out to buy massive quantities of durian (big family, lots of cousins) and then we lay the floor with newspaper, and everyone sits in a circle munching on durian happily, and rolling the seeds in the centre. So yes, durian odour is pungent and offensive to others but i love it! I think its one of my fave smells in the world! Unfortunately, my husband wont kiss me after for at least a few hours but eh…totally worth it :)
Btw, what’s your method for getting rid of the smell? Our familys’ way is to rinse your hands and gargle with water poured out of the empty durian shells. Never really seems to work, but its a ritual we do anyway….
Sandra,
You just described a typical family dinner we’d have during durian season when we were kids in Malaysia. Dad would come home with several durians and we’d all gather to sit around newspaper laid on the floor and eat durian and nothing else for dinner. So good. I don’t remember doing anything special to get rid of the smell from our hands. I love smelling the durian on my fingers long afterwards!
My fiance tried durian in Indonesia, and over there they rub a piece of the inner rind on their hands to get the smell off. He said it was quite effective but didn’t help with the durian burps!
Such natural beauty! Such **GREEN**. That lush, bold green is a very nice sight to these desert eyes. I would try durian. :-) I think they’re cute.
Cindy,
Yes, the green in the cave was quite surprising.
I hope you’ll get the chance to try durian someday.
Came to your post from a tweet by @MalaysiaKitchen.
Great post! We live in Kuching now, but haven’t gone to the Wind and Fairy caves. Didn’t know about the stairs, so thanks for the warning. I don’t think my creaky knees will be able to take them.
Durian season is normally in November -December but for some reason it came early this year. I’m glad that you had a chance to taste the durian in Sarawak – it’s different from the durian varieties in West Malaysia. In my opinion, Sarawakian durian is not as stinky, so the inherent sweetness shines through better.
I’m not a real big fan of petai, but sometimes I’ll take it with assam prawns.
Hi Nate,
Thanks for stopping by!
I would’ve been devastated if there had been no durian to eat while we were in Kuching!
We were hoping to have a holiday in Penang and/or KL last year but a few things came up and thwarted our plans. When we finally do make it, the plan is to time the trip for durian season. My other half is not a durian fan but is very understanding of my durian love.
Hey TFP, not sure where we are going yet! Flying in to KL then…? Any suggestions?
Any food suggestions as well?
kissy,
Will have to take some time to think!
In the meantime, have you checked out the Malaysia posts at Grab Your Fork? Should give you lots of great ideas for stuff to eat! Start at this post and keep reading the rest!
On my recent trip to Vietnam I had the mis-fortune to but into a durian flavoured donut… I had to brush my teeth to get rid of the taste :(
Ally,
I’d love a durian donut, but fully appreciate how awful it would be to bite into one unexpectedly if you don’t like durian!
I bought Durian at a Chinese grocery store that opened a little while ago in Ottawa. I am always one to try new fruits and I was intregued by the look and size of durian. I asked some customers about it and they told be it tasted wonderful but had a really strong smell. How bad could that be?? I brought it home and forgot about it for a few days as it sat on my counter top. Then I started smelling this absolutely horrible smell that was turning my stomach. I cleaned everything and couldn’t find where it was coming from then I remember what I was told about the durian. I opened up the bag it was in and nearly fell over it was so discusting smelling. I decided to open it but the smell was so bad I couldn’t stomach it and threw it out.
jojo,
Sorry you had such a terrible experience! Durian’s not for everyone! :) But good on you for wanting to give it a go.
In Hawaii, we call what you call “water guavas,” Mountain Apples. And I miss them so much. There used to be a mountain apple tree behind my grandpa’s house, but it stopped giving fruit a long time ago. Your photo brought back so many memories!
TFP, you should come to Singapore. You’ll find durian in many food, like Durian Ice Chendol, Durian pancakes, Durian sturdels, etc..
There’s even a durian buffet!! ^_^ Love to the max!!