Some love it, some hate it
“THE durian is very smelly but it tastes so good,” said Park Chuel Soo, a tourist from Cheon-An, a city in South Korea.
Park, a teacher, made the remark while accompanying about 20 South Korean students from the Cheon Song Middle School to the Great Durian Festival 2008 in Bukit Gantang, Perak, last Saturday.
Park’s remark however contradicted with that of his charges.
Chae Jin Hyeok, 14, and most of his fellow students kept a safe distance from a cluster of durians laid out near their tables.
“It smells so bad and I can’t eat it,” said Chae.
But Chae gave the thumbs up for the rambutans and mangosteens which he described as “very sweet, cooling and nice to eat”.
Park, Chae and the rest of the delegation were later led to a wooden house nearby which had been refurbished into a homestay facility under a special programme funded by the Tourism Ministry.
Park said they had just arrived a day earlier and were eager to visit fruit farms in the vicinity as well as experience the villagers’ way of life as it was their first visit to Malaysia.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who opened the festival, suggested that other tropical fruits be showcased rather than concentrating mainly on durians.
The festival, initiated by former Changkat Jering assemblyman Datuk Md Isa Ismail two years ago, who is now Perak Tourism Action Council chairman, was a let down in terms of attendance.
Fewer than 3,000 people were present unlike previous years where the crowd was three or four times bigger, forcing traffic flow along the Changkat Jering-Kuala Kangsar road to a snail’s pace.
Kampung Jelutong resident Yusri Zan Mohd Yusof, 23, who is also a fruit seller, said the public was probably misled by a radio deejay’s announcement that it was three-day festival commencing on Friday.
He said the durians only reached the festival venue on Saturday and not on Friday as announced on radio.
“Moreover many villagers here are aware that most of the durians exhibited came from elsewhere such as Batu Kurau and Pahang because the durian season in Bukit Gantang is nearly over,” he added.
He suggested that the organisers plan the timing of the festival to coincide with the durian season in Bukit Gantang in future and not flood the festival venue with one or two-day old durians harvested from other locations.
However, a Taiping resident who wished to be identified only as Miss Ng, 45, said she did not mind as she could eat as much as she could for free.
Ng reasoned that the smaller crowd could be due to another durian-eating festival organised by PLUS at the nearby Bukit Gantang lay-by of the North South Expressway on the same day where for a payment of RM6.90, durian lovers could eat as many durians and other local fruits as they want.
Tourists enjoying the durians at the launch of the festival.
This article is courtesy from The Star Metro
