It's amazing how just a little bit of durian fragrance can become so noticeable in a small closed space (the fragrance itself is highly perishable and with some varieties can soon resemble rotten eggs, particularly indoors, though that is not the original pleasant fragrance, as many people believe). Halfway to Bangkok, the stewardess went around sniffing the air and suspiciously asking each passenger, "Do you have doo-ree-ann?" trying to locate the source of offending jungle fruit odor... when she asked me, I immediately responded no, without even thinking; she didn't ask if I had durian <seeds>! Actually, it might have been my breath... :-)  Anyway, everyone made it to Bangkok okay, and the seeds made it to the post office. :-)

After I arrived in Bangkok, I took the riverboat taxi upriver half an hour to Nonthaburi, which most Thais seem to regard as the Mecca of high-quality durians in Thailand. The main marketplace there was and is abundant with many wondrous durians (currently going for about 30 cents U.S. per pound). More often, travelling alone, I am eating smaller individual-sized durians, but that time I went for a very hefty and beautiful Monthong (6 kg) for the benefit of seeds, photos, and not the least, eating. I got a lot of good computer photos with that fruit.

It was a superproductive tribal-size durian... great for a durian farmer's main crop. I must say, though it was delightful, it was a little watery, with very little of the butterscotch-like element in the flavor that I favor--a result I think of the heavy unseasonal El Nino rains that have been happening in central Thailand recently. 

Apparently Nonthaburi was the main center of Thai durian production for many years, where many superb clones were developed and grown. Starting in the early 1960's the provinces of Rayong and particularly Chanthiburi, to the east of Bangkok, began developing large plantings of durians and now out of the approximately one million tons of durians [!] produced annually by Thailand growers [800,000 tons in 1992 is the latest figure I have]-- about half comes from that one province of Chanthiburi. (Chonburi province is just to the east of Bangkok; Rayong province is to the east of Chonburi; and Chanthiburi is to the east of Rayong. To the east of Chanthiburi is Trat province and then Cambodia.) Nonthaburi is now part of metropolitan Bangkok's sprawl, and I'm not sure it produces the quantities of durians nowadays that it once did. I went up there again a few days ago  and got two more Monthongs--they were great. (Although there are over 300 distinct varieties of durian in Southeast Asia, Monthong is the most popular "ordinary" durian variety in Thailand, the only kind I'd had until recently.)

I took a bus over to Chanthiburi and Rayong on May 6, and returned on May 11. May is definitely peak durian season in Thailand. There was a fruit festival/fair in Chanthiburi May 1-9 and Rayong May 8-16.

The one in Chanthiburi was surprisingly small, it reminded me of the Maui County Fair and the Maui Swap Meet, only Thai style, with the emphasis on the merchandise part. There was just one street outside the fair with many fruit sellers. (I think much more must have gone on in the first days before I arrived.) The best thing, though, was that there were a number of different varieties of durian available there. Most durians that I have eaten before, I didn't really know what the variety was, or most likely it was just common luscious Monthong. The Chanthiburi fruit vendors, though, definitely had different varieties available with noticeably different appearances. So I got to experience Chanee, Kaan Yao, Kradoom, and Poung Manee (and send the seeds to Maui)... fascinating and memorable.

It is challenging already to attempt to describe an "ordinary" Monthong in words -- in the new durian section in my book, I described it like this...

"Imagine the best, most sensuous, and delicious banana pudding you can imagine, add a just a touch of pineapple, peach, strawberry, and butterscotch flavors, and a surprising twist of-- garlic??!! Like many great experiences in life, eating durian cannot be adequately described with words. Its own distinct flavor and texture is infinitely better than this approximate effort of description! 

Durians greatly vary in quality; the mediocre and low quality ones are often just OK to pretty good, edible but forgettable. But the really good ones...I can't imagine a more delicious, sensuous, and exquisite food in existence on this planet."

These other varieties I found have subtle differences and complexities of flavor and texture even <more> challenging to describe... Chanee at times reminded me of the texture of Velveeta cheese, and not so "sweet" as Monthong; and the locally highly-regarded Kaan Yao, which outwardly has an almost blue-greenish rind with many smaller sharper spines than the brown pyramidal spikes of Monthong, had a flavor element something like celery added to the flavor mix, and a texture like very soft margarine. I took a LOT of digital photos of all of these:

(the King and Queen of Fruits, durian and mangosteen,
in the looking glass!)

food bliss!

Rayong was more like the harvest festival I imagined I might find, with the emphasis on the fruit rather than the merchandise vendors.

Maybe a hundred different sellers of durians and other exotic fruits, pickuptruck load after pickuptruck load of durians. Chanthiburi was billing their festival to be the World Durian Festival, maybe it really was and I missed the early good parts, but from what I saw Rayong perhaps better deserves that title for their fair. Hundreds, maybe thousands of durians present.

An exotic fruit paradise -- everywhere lavish abundance of durians, mangosteens, rambutans, jackfruit, lychee, longkong, mountain apples, papayas, bananas, pineapple, coconuts, and more...

(from the lower left, moving backwards: mangosteens, durian chips in cellophane bags, bright red rambutans, large yellow sapotes, many clumps of tan-colored longkong, more purple mangosteens, durian toffee in brightly colored wrappings just above the mangosteens next to rolls of dried durian, and more fresh durians)

I fortunately arrived on the afternoon of the first day (a Saturday), and encountered a few very memorable events. Apparently that morning they had had a County fair-like competition and judging of durian fruits from many different growers, the prize-winners with their various ribbons were prominently on display. As I arrived, a very energetic durian auction was underway, auctioning off a small mountain of growers' best durians that had been in the competition and judging, all with attached tags and many with triangular windows cut into the rind for display.

The auctioneer was wild, and there was much mirth and laughter, as the crowd of durian-lovers bid for and bought these top specimens of durian-dom, all in Thai language of course... a real spectacle.

The other wild event was the durian-eating contest... there were 10 contestants at a long table, and they each had a very large plate of durian sections placed in front of them.

When the starting bell rang, they all chowed down -- a hilarious happening, particularly the winner, a young man who managed to consume an amazing quantity of durian in a very short time, twice as fast as any of the others who all retained their proper Thai etiquette --he instead stood up, used both hands and left table manners and the other contestants far behind! 

Like most everywhere I've been in this country, I felt completely safe and at ease circulating among the locals... Those provinces don't get many foreign visitors, it was a great experience being deep in provincial Thailand, at the Rayong festival there might have been one or two other foreigners there, and thousands of Thais. 

There was a surprisingly good Thai rock band playing on the outdoor stage at the Rayong fair, with a bilingual westerner as lead singer... many of the locals, sitting properly in their folding chairs, looked puzzled, but more of them were enjoying.

I found some good durian byproducts for sale in Chanthiburi and Rayong -- durian chips, which many vendors were making on the spot in Rayong, shaving unripe durian sections into slices and frying in oil like potato chips, tasted much like taro chips in Hawai`i, I usually don't eat fried chips, but these were <very> good!

I've since noticed them for sale in Bangkok too; durian toffee -- I'm even less inclined to eat candy like toffee, but hey, durian toffee, what to say, as good as toffee can get; and of course dried durian in packaged small log rolls or in bulk from big heaps. Also found durian Oreo-type cookies in a local store (not the fairs) -- only passable, as the flavoring is artificial. Imagine that, somewhere in Asia have been chemists concocting artificial durian food flavoring...

I loved the experience of being in Chanthiburi in the midst of thousands of durian trees, and amongst thousands of people who relish durians. Seemed startlingly normal there! Chanthiburi very well may be the true durian capital of the world. Durian is <very> important there! I even saw several sizable durian statues! Pickup trucks full and piled high with durians abound on the roads and highway currently...

and durian warehouses along the highways with piles and stacks and small mountains of durians, durians, and more durians. Such lavish abundance of them-- almost unthinkable that Hawai`i is so durian-deprived :-(   of course that is a great opportunity for Hawaiian growers :-)

The worst thing about being in a place like Chanthiburi and Rayong in durian harvest season is that there are so many thousands of exquisite durians around, and I could personally only eat a few of them! I did my best :-)

I must say, though, in my experience so far, all of the <very> best tasting durians I have had in Thailand have come from Surat Thani province, which includes Samui and Pha-Ngan islands, in the south. It was very interesting and enriching to experience some other known varieties of durian, but none of them were quite as flavorful to me as some I've had in the south in the past. Perhaps that may be attributed in part to the less than favorable weather this spring in this part of Thailand, and also to the fact that (so I have read) commercial durian agriculture in these provinces is now agrochemical-oriented. It was very inspiring and enjoyable to see large orchards or plantations of durian trees everywhere along the highway in Chanthiburi,

but I suspect the smaller-scale and more traditional agriculture in the south as on Koh Samui is producing richer-flavored fruit. But I'm not complaining! These Rayong and Chanthiburi durians were and are treasures, and I'm happy these varieties will get a start in Hawai`i! but so far the southern durians have proven even better, by my tastes. And I'm looking forward to visiting Bao Sheng durian farm just south of the Thai border in Malaysia in June!

During this 2-week excursion, I surprised myself by actually staying in Bangkok more than in those provinces. I originally thought I might spend a week or 10 days in those two provinces, but I felt that I had thoroughly experienced both fruit fairs, the small-city hotels I had found were quite noisy and funky, I had errands to do in Bangkok, and I wanted to get back to my more conducive-for-writing supportive environment down south by the beach. I didn't see any Internet shops anywhere, nor vegetarian food restaurants, nor was it possible to rent a bicycle -- all important elements for me in staying awhile in a particular place in Thailand during this trip-- but it was enjoyable and fascinating stepping back in time awhile. Once I got back to Bangkok, I felt like maybe I should have stayed longer over there, but in the moment following the flow there I felt to move on ahead back to Bangkok, and it all was perfect. However, now I feel like I've set myself up for going back again in a future year, now that I know the scene more, that the best time to go to these fairs is to be there on the first day from the opening. And presumably I can go in a future year when I'm more in a vacation mode and have time to hang out and explore those provinces more, which is inviting. There's a small island too called Koh Samet off Rayong province that I've heard is very pretty, with beach bungalows like Samui and Pha-Ngan -- I could get into a visit to there also in the future--this trip I wanted to stay more on purpose. Rayong is only a few hours' bus trip away from Bangkok, which makes that area very accessible.

On the way back to Bangkok, I stopped at a large commercial botanical garden called Nong Nooch, which my former longtime gardening employers Mike & Susan Graham had told me about, a friend of theirs had visited and recommended it. It is in the greater Pattaya area, in the province of Chonburi just to the east of Bangkok, which is one of the most touristy glitzy areas of Thailand -- one tour guide book described it as "Miami Beach without the glamour." Lots and lots of big tour buses and packaged tour groups. Going from neighboring Rayong on the bus into the Pattaya area was the equivalent in Hawai`i of driving the relatively short distance from rural local Waimanalo to touristy Waikiki. Nevertheless, I had a very good time at Nong Nooch, it is a huge park-garden very beautifully and impressively laid out around a reflecting lake.

Their palm collection, which is way off the beaten tourist track there on the edge of the property, is about to 10 or 15 beautiful acres of great variety of palm species. Probably the best thing though, was the friendly elephants... they had a truly spectacular elephant show,

and I got to experience them close-up outside a zoo context in a way I really appreciated.

Lots of other exotic animals and birds there too.

So that's the stories...all in all this was a wonder-filled excursion, a highlight of this trip to Thailand, I'm very glad I went. As of the date this was written (May 20) I've eaten 51 durians during this visit to Thailand. Strange things can happen, though, when one eats that many durians in a few months...

Aloha, Nirav

:-)