[-YYZ-]

As soon as I saw that headline, I knew there'd be a durian involved in this story. Bizarre looking fruit, really does smell bad, but I've never tasted it.

[Andyman]

I used to live in Singapore, and once in a while people were killed when ripe durians fell off trees and hit them on the head. We once rode in a car behind a truck carrying a load of durains. We stopped and waited a few minutes, then pulled back into traffic. There is no way to properly describe the smell.

[wonders]

Me too! I'd been warned they taste like they smell, no I never tried one.

Once in Phnom Penh, my roommate and I were walking home to our guest house and about two blocks away, began smelling this awful stench. We thought a septic tank had blown up or something. The stench grew stronger as we approached our guest house and we saw that everyone was fleeing the house as fast as they could run. Turned out the Bulgarians in one of the rooms had bought a durian, didn't know what to do with it, and had microwaved the thing until it exploded! That awful smell lingered for days.

[Bobibutu]

When I first arrived in SE Asia (1966) I happened to be in Penang for a few days... BIG sign in the hotel lobby "Absolutely No Durians Allowed In Hotel Rooms" ...

We didn't have a clue what a Durian was then - thot it might be the local word for a professional lady. We found out the next day... it was a few years later that I actually got up the nerve to taste one... I was probably drunk at the time.