Thanks to flowers founder Gareth in China for sending us this post as he continues to struggle to gain access to the GO! Smell the flowers blog in China. Here we GO, from Gareth in China:
I quite often I eat Durian. What is Durian some of you cry? Durian is known as ‘The King of the fruits’ (No not you Elton, but the edible kind of fruit). It a fruit that comes in a huge spikey shell and is a bit bigger than a bowling ball. It’s taste is hard to describe but it tastes like a sweet soft mild onion to me. There is a big problem for people like me wanting to eat Durian as in many places it is now banned. I haven’t found anywhere in China that bans it as despite what the press would have you believe we do enjoy a lot of freedoms. However in Singapore, Malaysia and many other places the eating or possessing of Durian is not allowed. Especially in snobby hotels.
Durian does have a strong smell and the reason its banned is some Western namby pamby’s don’t like the smell of it so the freedom to posses and eat it has been removed. When will these people stop suppressing our human rights and follow the good example of China by allowing the free consumption of Durian by anyone who chooses?
Have you ever been stopped from eating Durian? Should we try to surround and prevent passage of anyone carrying a Durian through our streets or offer them protection? Maybe four or five friends in blue tracksuits could form an army of Durian protectors around any of us wishing to carry Durian.
You altered the picture and changed some of the words, censorship, censorship.
There is one mistake there that I think I made, Durian is very popular in Malaysia and ts only certain hotels that ban it.
Australia on the other hand is incredibly Nazi about the whole affair after someone mistook Durian to be a bomb on a plane.
They wouldnt have been able to bring it in anyways…. our quarantine laws are very strict ….
no organic material other than human
aussiecynic’s last blog post..Canberra Roos Saved, But lost the Wallabies!
AC,
Well aware of quarantine laws and would not have posted this if it was international.
This was no Virgin Blue who are generally domestic flights within Australia, also I checked the facts and it was an internal flight.
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t39362.html
So like I say, Nazi attitudes to us Durian eaters – free the Durian, down with oppression. Lets pelt Aussies and obstruct their people going about their legal business.
G’Day GIC
Having Read the article I tend to agree with the Pilot…
Two things you failed to mentioned…
1 the flight was in 2003 at the hieght of the Terror alerts, the Bali bombings where still fresh in travelers minds and the security had been upgraded..
2. you also failed to mention the fruit had been covered with a white powder… now given the Anthrax scares in America and others their action was reasonable.
The powder was found to be carpet deodoriser, so the owner new they stank…
Passengers and crew had complained about the smell, and it could be smelt 50 feet from the plane on the tarmac….
Here is the article:
Thursday, January 16, 2003 Posted: 3:30 AM EST (0830 GMT)
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A box of smelly tropical fruit sprinkled with carpet deodorizer sparked an aviation alert in Australia on Thursday.
A Virgin Blue flight from the eastern city of Brisbane was delayed by four hours after cargo handlers noticed a pungent smell coming from the plane’s baggage hold.
When they finally found the source of the smell, it was a box of durian, a large, spiny tropical fruit renowned for its fetid aroma.
While many people in Southeast Asia consider the durian a delicacy, it is banned from Singapore’s subway and some restaurants in the region because of its overpowering smell.
Because the fruit on the Virgin Blue plane were covered in the white powder, a full-scale hazardous chemical alert was issued involving police and fire crews evacuated and sealed off the plane, said fire service spokesman Tom James.
It was not clear how many people were on the plane.
Virgin Blue boss Brett Godfrey denied the airline overreacted.
“I don’t think in this climate we can be overzealous,” he told reporters in Sydney.
He added that passenger security was not the only thing at stake.
“This wasn’t a safety issue, this was gross issue — no one wants to fly in an airplane that smells like that,” he said.
He compared the smell of the gourmet fruit to “something you’d find in your outdoor dunny [toilet]” adding that “it just is the most pungent, disgusting smell.”
“I actually walked out onto the tarmac and I could smell it from 50 feet away, it’s not pretty,” he said.
If you travel from MAinland Australia to Tasmania you are not permitted to bring any fruit or vegetable products in… sniffer dogs are present at the dock for vehicles and passengers elighting from the boat and each vehicle is checked before and after the voyage…. the same is at the airports, sniffer dogs to detect fruits veges and explosives…
and these are domestic flights….
and it is the same with pets, all birds must have a permit, all dogs are to have hydatid worm tablets and proof of this must be given upon request…..
We take our quarantine laws very seriously and if you consider that nazi like then good, it is what has stopped us gaining lovely diseases such as
Rabies,
Bird Flu
Eucalyptus/guava rust
Karnal bunt
Pine pitch canker
Plum pox
Avian influenza
Infectious bursal disease
Newcastle disease
Annosus root and butt rot
Asian gypsy moth
Asian longhorn beetle
Black carpenter ant
Black stain root disease
Blue gum mycosphaerella
Burnt pine longicorn beetle
Chestnut blight
Drywood longicorn beetle
Dutch elm disease
Eucalyptus rust
European house borer
European spruce bark beetle
Formosan Subterranean Termite
Hoop pine weevil
Mountain pine beetle
Nun moth
Pinewood nematode
Powder post beetle
Western drywood termite
Western gall rust
White spotted tussock
Classical swine fever
Foot and mouth disease
Surra
Asian gypsy moth
Asian longhorn beetle
Exotic fruit flies
Giant African snail
Erect tar vine
Hawkweed
Spiked pepper
Witchweed
And thats the short list….
it may be international but at least if we get biten by an animal we dont have to worry Rabies..
By the way how is your internet connection is the censorship over with yet…..
This has naff all to do with quarantine. The Durian was already in Aus. Its Nazi behaviour by a country that seems to escape any criticism for being the worlds highest CO2 poluter per capita, has a dreadful human rights history that they believe a single apology will fix and shirks its responsibility in helping migrants from poorer and repressed countries even though they have a huge land mass and resources to do it, not very charitable at all.
Because you agree with it you consider it fine and therefore anyone with Durian must suffer because of this harshly imposed undemocratic rule by a state with a poor record.
Ok, if you notice on the inital post I was making veiled references to the Olympic flame debarcle which you all seemed to back wihtout giving it thought. What I am trying to show you all by this post and the above paragraph is depending on your view point and through selective reporting and selective use of facts you can paint different pictures of any society. However I’m sure it won’t seem to stop all and sundry making a Devil out of China and a demi god out of a terrorist leader (sorry the Dalai Lama). Clearly the paragraph above is a biased and I’m sure you’ll take issue with it but factually it is correct. If I worked in the mass media I could have published all of this and it would be read and believed widely. If I also took away your right to reply in the same media then many would never see the flip side – a luxury often denied to those who are on the end of such press. I hope you can now see how the twisted reporting recently has been leading a lot of you up the garden path. I actually really enjoyed my time in Aus and look forward to heading back there, but do you see how easy it is to twist things?
GarethinChina’s last blog post..GO! Solve some puzzles!
This was an internal flight on Virgin blue. I am fully aware of the quarantine laws.
Free the Durain, free the durian, down with the oppressive regime, protest, protest.
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t39362.html
GarethinChina’s last blog post..GO! Smell the virtual personas
Feel free to publish your email here and show us what words we changed?
The image you attached wouldn’t open so we improvised and took the shot off the website….
Does the fruit taste like pineapple par chance?
Not a bit. Nothing like pineapple. Onion/garlic but a bit sweeter with more than hint of Sulphur.
You put the English first, my posts always have the Chinese first, petty but I’m in that kind of mood.
So yu’re putting us through the GIC ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001?
TS16949 if you please.
TS – A new one on us….
Ooooooh! Handbags!
Anyway, it can’t be as bad as the notorious sick fruit in Australia can it?
Or a Ginsters?
Lib’s last blog post..GO! Smell the upcycling!
A true tale about Durian
years ago a group of new romantic lads in Birmingham were sitting round after forming a band.
They purchased some of the durian fruit and being honest got addicted to it.
For many weeks they would lay siege to their local chinese supermarket screaming ‘durian! durian!’
those men were Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes. The rest as they say is badly spelt history
NEXT WEEK- Terry Hall and his mates turn from looking after down’s syndrome kids to form a coventry based ska band whose hits include too much too young and gangsters
Less of the handbags boys, more fisticuffs!
Urban – I remember The Specials well – I misspent my youth in Coventry
And I am now back in Coventry typing this literally less than a mile from where they started.
Not yet tried Durian fruit yet but will look out for it in my local Chinese shop.
arvind’s last blog post..Time to De-clutter your Life and make Space for more FUN!
The General Wolfe by any chance – was once my local
YES Angry! It certainly was The General Wolfe.
I didn’t know about your Coventry connection? Do tell more
arvind’s last blog post..Time to De-clutter your Life and make Space for more FUN!
I love Durian fruit! When I lived in Bali, I used to consume it on a regular basis. We can get it here in a local shopping centre but I have to admit… the smell is awful and even so, it has some wonderful nutritional and healing properties. Don’t ban the Durian, it’s good for you!
Buzzing with Ange’s last blog post..Yesterday was Blogger Appreciation Day
‘healing properties’ eh?
do tell more
Hi Urban, it’s been a while… I should have known better huh!
I have to put in a link as it is copyrighted and cannot copy and paste http://www.durianfusion.info/ … and it increases libido too! Check out the quote on the site… there is a saying in Asia… LOL
Buzzing with Ange’s last blog post..Yesterday was Blogger Appreciation Day
admin will have to fish out my comment as it contained a link
Buzzing with Ange’s last blog post..Yesterday was Blogger Appreciation Day
here’s another article on the Durian fruit http://ezinearticles.com/?Be-Happy,-Improve-your-Mood-and-Decrease-Your-Cravings-with-increased-Serotonin&id=573972
Buzzing with Ange’s last blog post..Yesterday was Blogger Appreciation Day
Smart, makes you horny but scares away the lasses with the smell. Natures joke?
I eat it because I like it and also because it pisses my German neighbour off.
GarethinChina’s last blog post..GO! Smell the virtual personas
Gareth – you just have to make sure the lasses have some Durian juice too!
arvind’s last blog post..Time to De-clutter your Life and make Space for more FUN!
Who gave the fruit the title “King of Fruits” ? Is this how Kings are treated?
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the prophet named it so DG
as the sacred text states
‘durian fruit is the king of fruit. and anyone who doubts it will be beheaded in an orange jumpsuit. now where are the 9 year olds at. I’ve got the horn’