durian oh durian...

I have just came back from rapporteuring..it's been a fruitful and excellent 4 days attending the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (17CCEM) at KLCC. It was once in a lifetime experience whereby this conference is held once in a three years. Malaysia is the 17th commonwealth contry who had been given the chance to host such prestige conference. So, I wonder when would be the next chance that Malaysia will get to host CCEM. There were so many happenings that I would like to share with whomever reads the entry, but I guess I'll have it written when I am totally free.

However, this particular happening is the one that will be most remembered by most of ours the rapporteurs. We were having lunch today and fortunately we sat at the same table with the Vice Chancellor of one of the university in Tanzania and one woman who is actually has a high position in the Commonwealth organization. From all the topics that we could discussed on (most probably education), we actually did have a chat about DURIAN. Yes, the king of the fruit in Malaysia. Not surprisingly, the european people would have the perception and opinion that they really can't stand the smell of durian. My colleague-MUN shared with us that she watched a program about this guy who actually travels around the world looking for the weird food such as an exotic food. However, durian was told to be the weird food in the world. And it is all because of the smell.

So, this woman and my german colleague are the two ladies who cannot stand the smell of durian. And because of the smell, they do not get the chance or I could say they do not want to take the chance to actually taste durian for real. The smell is actually the reason for this kind of people to not wanting to have a taste of durian.

I never knew in Tanzania there is durian. And surprisingly they also called it durian. It sounds weird though but after all it is a fact. So, this VC from tanzania said that he had to hide from his wife if he ever wants to eat durian. Coz his wife doesn't like the smell of it. But this VC is really enjoying the food and its taste. At the same time, this european lady and a german colleague of mine have been wondering how this Tanzanian enjoyed his fond of durian so much in spite of the 'wonderful' smell. Both of them just couldn't accept it. This topic or issue raised is then brought us to a professional chat. Moreover, our three UM colleagues who are also rapportuers are actually scientists. And one of them is so-called master of science in plants. So, he basically knows everything about durian. Of coz scientifically. He was saying that durian has 20 types which I don't really know about it. And the best type of durian is D24 which is the most expensive of all. However, he also said that it is not easy to find the 'real' D24 type because of it limitedness and also difficult to find. The real D24 is usually being exported to abroad because of its quality. (only the best will be sent away, anyhow) hhmmm...

There was one part that actually attracted me. We were explaining and informing both european lady and german colleague of mine that durian has been commercialized. We now have ice-cream with durian flavour, durian jam , dodol durian and lots more. Both of them were actually shocked that we can have these kinds of food in durian flavour. Suddenly, the Tanzanian VC interrupted our chat and said that it never happens that somebody who actually has the courage to taste durian with his/her perception of the bad smell that durian has, will eventually says it tastes terrible. Everyone who tried despite the negative connotation will find it tasty and the tendency for them to eat durian in the future is getting high. The taste will somehow exceeds the smell. And that is for sure! hahahaha...ye ker? (",)

And how irony life is. The moment i stepped into my house back from the conference, I smelt durian. I thought that I am already cursed with it but actually my mum had just bought the durian. huhuhuhuhuhu...On top of all, I enjoyed my experiences of a 4-day conference.