Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Living abroad

A few times i try to finish up this post, but it keep on delaying. Whatever written below, was supposed to be post last week.

Last month, my hubby received a job offer based in Saudi. Riyadh to be exact. I dunno how to react when he told me about it. Of course I knew he went for the interview, and I even prayed for his success but, deep down my heart, I feel horrified.

A lot of things came up to my mind. I can’t sleep well that night. Should I stay or should I follow? And the biggest headache is I have to quit my job! Oh no, I love my job. Though I’ve been complaining my jobs sometimes, but I feel so sayang to quit la.

The past 2-3 weeks, I started to compile information on Riyadh, ie: the culture, education, lifestyle, shopping, house etc.

I posted out one question in a forum called expatinsaudi, nasib baik ada yang sudi me- reply. Since then, I and ‘Siti’ selalu la ber emel-emel. Siti dah stay sana for 4 years. Banyak info I dapat from her. Thanks a lot, Siti.

Kat sana, women are not allowed to drive. Most of the places, including Mc Donald pun men and women have to be separated. But, if I’m not mistaken, ada area yang disediakan untuk family.

Since my husband dapat housing allowance, we thinking of getting a stay in a compound. Compound ni just for expats sahaja. Orang Arab tak boleh masuk. Price of compounds, range between SAR 60,000 to SAR 220,000 per year. Mahal, with just a 2 bedroom apartment, kena bayar lebih kurang RM 5,000 sebulan. Dalam compound ni, ada banyak facilities such as laundry, mini mart, nursery, playground, swimming pool and etc. The price depends on the facilities yang ada dalam compound. Ada juga yang sediakan shopping bus. Dalam compound juga, attire kita bebas. You can wear your normal clothes whereas bila keluar from compound, it is a must to wear abaya (jubah hitam).

Attire is not an issue to me. I wouldn’t mind to wear abaya and headscarf. I pernah study kat International Islamic University, so I’m sure the environment are pretty same. I think I can easily adapt to the culture there compared to my husband. With his chinese looking look, sure kena stare aje nanti. Dahla mamat ni jenis yang suka pakai short aja, macam apek. Very the selekeh ! He would have tougher time to adjust himself.

To be continue..

Friday, June 20, 2008

More info on Taiwan

I would like to continue my entry on Taiwan coz susah nak dapat info pasal this country. Berjam-jam jugak la di habiskan kat depan PC surf pasal Taiwan especially on halal food. So, here are some of the info.





Halal Food
Try this
http://www.zabihah.com/ . I only got the chance to try Thai Food House while I was there. They have varieties of Thai Food. The tastes are somewhat like Thai restaurant in Malaysia. Very nice, especially the Tom Yam soup. Memang Kow!

Note: Most of these restaurant are located in Taipei, no halal restaurant in Kaohsiung while only one halal restaurant in Taichung.

Electrical plug
Below is the sample. You can rent it from the hotel and need to pay deposit NT20 (about RM22). You will get back the deposit once you return it.



International Call
First, your handphone mesti ada roaming…Press * 120 6012 xxxxxxx #

Malaysian Representative in Taiwan
Malaysian Friendship and Trade Centre, Taipei

Address :
8th Floor, San Ho Plastic Bldg. 102, Tun Hwa North Road Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Telephone : 886-2-2713 2626
Fax : 886-2-2514 9864
Email :
mwtaipei@ms34.hinet.net, maltaipei@kln.gov.my
GMT :+8.00


Work day :
Monday - Friday 9.00 a.m - 5.00 p.m
Holiday :
Saturday & Sunday


Friday, June 13, 2008

Life is about beautiful days

Mother’s Day has gone, come Father’s Day. I am one person who appreciates these special days. To me, Father’s Day is a day of commemoration and celebration of the man in the house. It is a day to honour the fathers, be it father in law, stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers and even HUSBANDS. I have three special men in my life, my own father, my father in law and of course my other half.

This year, I have additional reasons to celebrate Father’s Day. Why? Because my husband is a first time father, our twins Adrianna & Arissa are 10months old now. When we celebrated Father’s Day last year, I was still expecting them.

I like Father’s Day because it is a day to reflect on how I treat these special fathers in my life. They don’t expect to be given expensive gifts, a simple sms and a nice lunch or dinner will do. To them, the thought that really counts.

Try asking yourself, “Are you grateful for what they have done for you?”

Happy Father’s Day to Ayah, Daddy and my dearest husband, Rizal.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Taiwan Trip - Part 2

Day 3- Taichung
4 April 2008


After breakfast, we packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Before we started our journey to Taichung, we stopped at National Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. This memorial hall is a monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai Shek, former president of the ROC in Taipei. It was later change to National Taiwan Democracy Hall.

Our journey to Taichung was a long one. It takes us about nearly 4 hours to reach Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village. Tempat ni kira kawasan pendalaman sikit. Before sampai sana, ada satu area ni famous dengan perempuan jual buah pinang. Yang kelakarnya, perempuan yang pinang ni, pakai ala-ala bikini aje! So, bila Cindy inform us yang we all akan lalu di area tu, all my male colleagues dah standby kat tepi tingkap, siap dengan camera and videocam.

Tiba di Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village lebih kurang pukul 2.30pm. Terus ke restaurant yang terdapat kat situ. From today, tak ada lagi halal food yang di provide oleh tour agent. We were given seafood and vegetables only. But of course, ramai yang ragu-ragu termasuk saya sendiri untuk makan. Walaupun tak ada pork, but the they still use the same utensils to cook that pork kan? Frust betul.

It was a nice place to visit. Throughout my tour to Taiwan, I think this is the most ok place to visit. We took a train ride and pusing-pusing the park.

Lepas tu, we went to the other side. Kat sini ada themepark, indoor and outdoor. Lebih kurang macam kat Genting Highland. We took cable car to uphill and turun jalan kaki. Sambil turun tu, we all ambil gambar dengan Orang Asli di sana. Kat sini, we all dapat lihat mock up rumah orang asli yang represent 13 tribes yang ada kat Taiwan. Tempat ni, lebih kurang macam Mini Malaysia di Melaka. Cuma yang bestnya, di setiap kawasan rumah tu ada real orang asli mingles or buat kerja. So, bolehla ambil gambar with them.

Kat sini we all spent about 2 hours aje. Memang tak cukup. Tak berkesempatan pun nak try roller coaster kat situ.

Then, we moved on Sun Moon Lake. Nothing much here. Cuma ada lake yang besar aje and adalah beberapa tent yang picnic kat tepi lake. Tapi lake ni tak boleh mandi. According to Cindy, Sun Moon Lake is the largest lake in Taiwan.

Later, we proceed to Mao WangYe Memorial Resident. Ini rumah ketua salah satu tribe kat sana. Kat sini ada jual Royal Jelly. Diorang siap bagi demo lagi pasal kegunaan royal jelly. Kat rumah ini juga, ada banyak tergantung gambar-gambar kenangan ketua tribe dengan pembesar negara and famous people including Tun Mahathir.

Disebabkan hari dah gelap dan takut tiba lewat di Taichung, Cindy terus booking dinner kat salah satu restaurant di Sun Moon Lake. Tidak ada apa yang boleh kami makan. So, we all keluarkan lah Maggie dan instant food masing-masing. Ramai juga malays yang lain tak masuk restaurant ni. Bau pork kat sini kuat sangat.

At last, semua orang melayu keluar and we had a discussion with Cindy kat luar. Cindy tak puas hati sebab dia dah banyak seafood and vegetables untuk kami, tapi kenapa kami tak sentuh langsung. Dia kata membazir. Dia masih tak paham yang no pork tak semestinya halal. After much discussion, we told Cindy, “Ok, from tomorrow onwards, you don’t have to order seafood and vegetables for us. Just give us plain rice and boiled egg.” Tercengang Cindy bila mendengarnya. Yelah, takkan makan telur rebus aje. We told her yang we all semua ada bawa instant food. No big deal.

It’s time to shopping again. We went to Fong Jia Night Market in Taichung. We were given only 1 hour. Damn, that’s not enough! Although the things that sell here are same as in Taipei, but the price here are much cheaper. I bought a few tops and shoes.

Later that night, we checked in at DeBao Hotel. I got a corner room and it was really huge. Memang best.

Day 4- Kaohsiung
5 April 2008

Surprisingly, unlike Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung were very hot and humid. Day 4 was to be our final day for sightseeing. Upon entering Kaohsiung, we stopped by at the Spring and Autumn pavilion. There’s nothing here, the lake were dried because of lake cleaning and construction works, a little unpleasant to the eyes and nose. I bought some souvenirs like key chain and fridge magnets. It was quite difficult to find those items. Tak banyak souvenirs shop yang jual Taiwan premiums.

After lunch, Cindy asked the malays whether we want to follow them to visit Fo Kuang Shan Buddhist Monastery or go shopping. All of us opted for shopping of course. So, the bus driver dropped us at Sogo. We were given 2 hours but dalam ½ hour dah abis ronda satu mall. So, me and Kak Faudzillah pergi la merayau-rayau kat luar mall cari Pet Shop. Kak Faudzillah ni gila kucing. Ada funny incident happened mase we all jalan-jalan tu. Until now, we cannot forget.

Communication is the barrier here. Most of the salesperson I met, cannot speak English. Susah nak beli barang. Guna sign language je la. Dah penat berjalan, we singgah jap at Starbucks. This was what happens, which I cannot forget until now.

Me: Is there any Pet Shop around here?

Cashier: Pek? Pek?

Me: No, Pet Shop. Whof..whof..whof ..(Siap buat bunyi dog lagi)

Cashier: Meyo, meyo sambil menggeleng kepala. (Meyo maksudnya tak ada)

Susah betul. Kena buat sounds baru la faham. So, I terus la bayar what we ordered. Dah puas lepak minum kat situ, we all jalan. Ada another shopping mall. Besar juga. Tak ingat namanya. Kak Faudzillah pula pergi tanya kat Information counter whether ada tak Pet Shop kat area ni.

Dengan confidentnya, perempuan tu kata, “I’ll draw up the map”. Fuh, lega. At least yang ini faham English. Tempat tu tak jauh sangat. Tak sampai 5 minit dah sampai. Alangkah terkejutnya kiteorang, bile tengok itu bukan Pet Shop, but Pet Clinic. There were a few cats inside tengah check up. Tak boleh tahan, kiteorang ketawa terbahak-bahak.

The bus picked us up, and later we went to check in at Holiday Garden Hotel at 4:30pm. Today, baru ada time nak rest sekejap. If not, everyday, keluar awal pagi and balik hotel tengah malam.

Malam, shopping pulak at XinJue Jiang Night Market. We were given ample time to shop. Disebabkan ini our last nite in Taiwan, everyone semua shopping sakan because nak habiskan our Taiwan dollar.

The trip was very good indeed. Although we have communications and food problem, but I enjoyed shopping . Besides clothing, electrical and IT stuff pun not bad. The price are also cheaper.

Taiwan Trip - Part 1

The recent company trip to Taiwan was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. Even though I feel a bit sad to be away with my little twins for 5 days, I know they will be in a good hand with their Atuk and Opah. (Atuk= grandfather, Opah= grandmother)

Day 1- Taipei
2 April 2008

Arrived at KLIA at 7:30pm. First group ini ada lebih kurang 40 orang. Next week, another group, yang akan berlepas pula. Nasib baik tak ramai orang yang beratur di kaunter check in. Inilah baiknya kalau pergi trip pagi-pagi. My husband sends me off that morning. Last nite, we all over night at my parent’s house in Seremban. My daughters ada kat sana.

I was the last person to check in. Nasib baik rep from the tour agent ni ada sama. Dia lah yang uruskan semua. Dia pun akan ikut sama trip ni nanti. After check in my luggage, i and Kak Faudzillah (my roomate kat sana nanti) pergi breakfast dulu.

We reached Taiyoun International Airport, Taipei, at around 2pm. After collected our luggage, terus pergi passport counter. Bila tiba my turn, tetiba officer tu tanya I, how long I would stay in Taiwan. I replied, 5 days. Suddenly, dia asked for my IC. Tak percaya I Malaysian kot. Yang pelik, my other colleagues tak pula kena show IC.

Bila dah keluar from airport, our local tour guide, Cindy dah tunggu. She briefed us on our itinerary for that day. Our first stop for that day was 101 Shopping Mall. It took about 45mins to reach there from the airport.

101 Mall, was not like I expected. Being the tallest tower in the world, I thought the shopping mall would be something similar to our KLCC Twin Tower. 101 Shopping Mall, tak besar sangat compared to KLCC. Lebih kurang macam StarHill aje. Untuk naik ke atas tower, bayaran RM45 dikenakan. According to my friends yang naik, nothing much to see but the lift was incredible. It took only a few seconds untuk sampai atas.

After mingled four an hour, we all terus pergi dinner at one of local restaurant, can’t recalled the name. This is not a halal restaurant, cuma no pork. But nasib baik before I go to this trip, I ada email to Malaysia Trade Centre di Taipei for their advice on halal food. Di sebabkan restaurant halal tu jauh sikit from the places we went for that day, the tour agent dah order awal-awal pack halal food and bawa ke restaurant ni. To tell you the truth, I tak lalu makan langsung. Dalam each pack, dia bagi nasi pulut (macam nasi dagang), ayam goreng, fruits, pau and pudding. When we arrived, the food was already there, dah sejuk.

Habis dinner, we all terus pergi night market. Shopping kat Xi Men Ding. We were given 1 ½ hour to spent. Environment kat sini lebih kurang macam Petaling Street. Macam-macam kedai yang ada, but mostly women clothing and shoes. Rambang biji mata! I didn’t buy much because I don’t know whether the price is competitive or not. Lagipun ada 3 malam lagi boleh shopping. Some of my colleague yang pegi the same trip last year said, kat Taipei ni harga mahal sikit. Kalau nak shopping, better kat Taichung or Kaohsiung. I ended bought some baju for myself and sis in-law.

Lebih kurang pukul 10 lebih, barula we all check in to the hotel. We stayed at Fortune Hotel. Boleh tahan la hotel ni. Eventhough 3 star but plasma TV lagi tu…Sampai bilik, terus mandi and tido.

Day 2 – Taipei
3 April 2008

Woke up at 6am. Breakfast ready at 7am. Tak banyak yang boleh makan masa breakfast. Apa-pun Cindy, our tour guide dah inform whatever yang ada red label, are not halal. Makan roti la jawabnya. Terkebil-kebil mata tengok budak-budak cina lain makan. Dalam trip ni, ada 20 malay staff and 20 non malay yang join. But yang malays la kena banyak sacrifice. Almaklum la, visit pun non muslim country. Tak bolehla nak demand.

The weather was so cold. Hujan. I was not prepared because masa briefing kat office dulu, Admin kata bawa light clothing. It’s spring time. Bila sampai sini, hujan pula. Nasib baik la ada bawa raincoat and umbrella. Itupun pun saya dapat tahu from blogs and websites yang bagi tips to visitor yang nak melancong ke Taiwan. Mesti bawa raincoat atau umbrella!

Our first visit for the day was Yehliu Park. We saw the amazing rock formations that were naturally crafted by the sea. Masa ni, hujan turun renyai-renyai. So, terus pakai raincoat, lagi senang compared to umbrella sebab angin di sini kuat.

Tak ada apa yang best sangat. Tengok batu-batu aja. Kena guna banyak imagination bila tengok batu-batu ni sebab ada macam-macam rupa. Rupa kapal selam, badak air, Queen’s head and macam-macam lagi. Bagi yang otak lembab tu, slow lah sikit nak catch up.

From there, we moved to Chiu Fen. Tempat ni atas bukit, famous dengan local delicacies and souvenir. Lorong kedai kat sini sempit. Susah nak berjalan. Bukan hanya penuh dengan orang yang leka menjamu mata, motor dan van kecik pun sibuk nak lalu. Terpaksa la berhimpit-himpit ke tepi bila ada kenderaan nak lalu.

Tak ada barang yang saya berkenan di sini. Almost all of my chinese friends sibuk borong asam, tart nenas and tit bits lain. As for us yang malays ni, tengok aje la. Tapi I sempat juga try home made ice cream kat sini. Kulit popiah yang putih (macam popiah basah) di sapu dengan kacang tumbuk, lepas tu letak ice cream perisa lemon and gulung macam popiah. Boleh tahan juga rasanya.

After Chiu Fen, we proceed for lunch at Thai Food House. Only malay staff saja yang makan di sini. The rest makan at Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant. Makan di Thai restaurant ni memang puas hati and tak payah nak ragu-ragu because it’s halal. Masa ni we all semua makan tak ingat dunia. The tom yam was superb. Ada yang tapau lagi.

Lepas makan, we went to National Palace Museum. Kat sini, tersimpan bahan sejarah awal Taiwan. Selepas membayar harga tiket, each one of us diberi headphone. Kami hanya akan dengar suara Cindy yang beri history explanation, jadi tak menggangu group tourist yang lain.

We continued our trip to Martyr’s Shrine, to view an elaborate ceremony of changing guards. Mase ni pun hujan juga, so ceremony tu buat simpler than usual.

After that, we all pergi visit Yang Ming Shan National Park. All the tourist spots kat sini jauh-jauh belaka. So, we all banyak waste time on the bus. Sampai kat sini, hujan lagi. So, tak boleh nak walk around. At last, ramai-ramai pergi beli jagung rebus kat stall yang di recommend oleh Cindy. Tapi hampeh, tawar gila. Dah la mahal lak tu. As far as I know, kat Taiwan ni famous dengan jagungnya. Pelik. Rasanya jagung Malaysia lagi sedap.

We all sempat juga ambil group photo kat sini. Lepas tu, we all proceed to Fisherman Wharf. Kata Cindy, kat sini famous untuk view sunset. Nasib tak baik, we all sampai hari dah gelap gelita coz perjalanan lama sangat. Lebih kurang 2 jam. Kedai pun dah tutup. So, turun pergi toilet aja la. Semua orang tak puas hati and merungut sebab dah 2 jam dalam bas, sampai sini hanya pergi toilet dan patah balik ke Taipei.

Sampai di Taipei, we all terus pergi dinner at another non-halal restaurant and we all makan pack food again. Nasib baik la we all yang melayu ni ada bawa Maggie, roti, rendang and lain-lain. Boleh la survive. Geram juga bila tengok my chinese friends dapat makan sedap-sedap.

After dinner, we went for shopping again. Can’t recaledl the name of the place. We were given an option, spent for one hour and take the bus to return to the hotel or spent how long do we wish but balik tanggung sendiri, either you take taxi or MRT. Terleka semasa belek barang, kelam kabut lari ke arah bas. Sampai kat tempat bas, tengok bas dah takda. Sah, kena tinggal. So, we decided to take a taxi. Middle of the way to the taxi stand, we met Hadi, Mawi and Amin. Rupa-rupanya diaorang pun tertinggal juga. So, we all pun squeeze la naik same taxi. Nasib baik driver tu ok coz dah terlebih orang. Kak Faudzillah duduk depan, I and mamat lagi 3 orang ni berhimpit-himpit kat belakang.

Sampai hotel, mandi and start packing barang. The next morning, we have to check out and pergi Taichung pula.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Kring...Kring...

Pagi-pagi lagi telefon di pejabat saya dah berbunyi. Siapa lagi kalau bukan kawan baik saya yang bekerja dengan syarikat penerbangan yang sedang sibuk perang harga dengan syarikat penerbangan murah tu.

Saya tahu dia yang telefon kerana nombor telefon ofisnya keluar di skrin telefon saya. Mungkin dia nak membalas panggilan saya yang tidak berjawap malam tadi. Dengan suara yang kontrol, saya mengangkat gagang telefon.

Saya: Hello

M: Wei, aku ni. Busy ke?

Saya: Tak da lah. Tengah baca paper. Apa hal? Rutin kerja saya setiap hari ialah membaca lebih kurang 10 jenis suratkhabar

M: Aku ada cerita baru ni. Pasal artis ni. Saya namakan artis ni sebagai artis A

Saya : Apsal dengan dia ?

M : Memang betul la dia keluar dengan husband pelakon B. Cerita sensasi tentang perkelahian kedua-dua pelakon wanita ini pernah banyak kali disiarkan dalam kolum-kolum gossip sebelum ini.

Saya : Mana kau tau ? Tiba-tiba saya rasa macam jadi wartawan hiburan pula.Best juga kalau dalam kolum sendiri dalam akhbar atau jadi macam Michelle kat Melodi tu, suka terjah artis dengan soalan-soalan maut dia..

M: Macam ni, last night kawan aku telefon. Tengah-tengah malam pasal nak bagitau aku pasal cerita ini. Kawan aku punya husband berkawan dengan husband pelakon B tu. Ada satu malam, baru-baru ni juga, husband kawan aku tu keluar clubbing dengan husband pelakon B kat club baru. Aku pun lupa nama tempat tu.

Saya: Pastu?

M: Masa kat sana, husband pelakon B open dua table. Satu untuk dia dan kengkawan, satu lagi untuk pelakon A. Semuanya kaki minum. Husband pelakon B tu belanja sampai RM2,000 untuk pelakon A. Yang paling aku tak percaya sekali, pelakon A ni angkut mak dia sekali.

Saya: Huh? Mak dia pun minum ke?

M: Ya. Tak sangka kan. Ada lagi, kawan aku yang lain pula kata nampak pelakon A check in flight pagi pergi Bangkok, naik first class baru-baru ni.

Saya: Pergi holiday kot.

M: Yelah, tapi takkan pergi sorang. Pukul 3petang hari yang sama, kawan aku nampak husband pelakon B pula check in pergi Bangkok.

Saya: Lah..Boleh tahan juga eh pelakon A ni. Nampak macam baik.

M: Ntahla. Agaknya hobi dia kacau suami orang kot.

Saya tidak faham kenapa ramai pengarah filem/drama masih suka ambil Pelakon A pegang watak utama. Saya dah meluat baca cerita-serita liar dia di surat khabar. Cepat-cepatla berinsaf…

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

P.Ramlee The Musical

Back by popular demand, P.Ramlee The Musical will presented again at the Istana Budaya starting from 28May til 14 June 2008.

I had the chance to watch it last year. Definitely, it was a great performance. For me, i give two thumbs up! I really enjoyed the singing, dancing and the spectacular props also amazed me. Believe me, it's worth your money spend.

This time, Musly Ramlee will takes on the central role as P.Ramlee replacing Sean Ghazi while Emelda takes Azizah role replacing Dato' Siti Nurhaliza. Apparently, many newspapers and blogs i read give good reviews on the play.

For those who wish to watch, you can call 03-2091 1666. Tickets range from RM30 til RM200.

Sypnosis:
Follow in the footsteps of the late, great P.Ramlee, in a musical that traces his early days in Pulau Pinang, right up to his heydays in Jalan Ampas. Spanning some four decades, the musical recounts the highs and lows of P.Ramlee's life and his sacrifices for his art.

Musly Ramlee takes on the central role of P.Ramlee, with Liza Hanim playing Saloma. Also starring Emelda, Melissa Saila, Atilia, amongst others.

Written by Adlin Aman Ramlie, who also co-direct with Zahim Albakri.

Presented by Enfiniti Productions Sdn Bhd.

Durian Lovers

My husband and I are durian lovers. I remembered during our courting times, we used to buy packets of durians from Jusco. Yang bestnya, we all tunggu after 9pm baru beli sebab masa ini lah diskaun 50% akan diberikan. Memang worth it! Rugi kalau terlepas.

I prefers Malaysian durian especially from Perak because of its bitter and sweet taste. However, my other half preferred the Thai durians because of its thicker flesh.

Kalau nak tahu, durian lah antara sebab kami boleh jadi rapat dan akhirnya menjadi husband and wife. Tapi, tak boleh cerita lebih-lebih. Malu lah.

Our durian scouting sekarang ini bukan lagi setiap minggu macam dulu tapi dah jadi sebulan sekali tak pun dua bulan sekali . Sebabnya? Dr Normah yang consult my husband on his diet programme pesan tak boleh makan durian banyak sangat. Cholesterol level dah tinggi.

Anywhere, I enclosed here some tips on picking a good durian which was published in The Star, Metro section. Check it out.

Durian lovers take note! Before you fork out some hard earned cash for the King of Fruits (which incidentally,is costlier this season due to the lean harvest), there are some general tips on choosing a good durian.
According to Bao Sheng Durian Farm co-owner T.S Chang, several factors including the size, colour, texture and appearance are good indicators of whether you are getting your money's worth.
"When it comes to durians, bigger is not necessarily better. Smaller ones will have fewer fruits but they are often tastier and more fragrant.
"In the old days, people preferred Thai durians because the flesh is thicker. But in recent years, the vote is for Malaysian (or more precisely Balik Pulau) durians because they are more fragrant, thanks to Penang island's optimal soil and weather conditions.
'True durian connoisseurs look for quality rather than quantity," he told StarMetro during a visit to his estate in Sungai Pinang recently.
He also advised customers to always "inhale".
"Pick up the fruit and hold it close to your nose. Look for the fruit that omits the strongest and most overwhelming (which non durians will describes as pungent ) scent.
"If the scent is strong, it means that the fruit is ripe. Once you are happy with the strong scent, shake the fruit-a good fruit will have an echo because the flesh inside is not stuck to the husk," he smiled, adding that fruits with a yellowish hue were not fresh.
"Brownish and greenish durians would be your best bet. But to be sure, take a closer look at the stem- if it is green and damp, it means that it has just dropped off the tree. Within a few hours, durian stems dry up," he explained.
Chang also revealed that fruits drom older trees were better than those from younger ones.
"Durian trees can bear fruit until they are about a century old. Unfortunately, unless you are an expert, you will have to ask the seller whether the fruit is from an old or young tree," he said.
"Finally, once you have made your selection, tell the seller to make an incision to allow you to have a peek at the flesh inside.
"What we are looking for is a wrinkly texture. Also, use your finger and poke the flesh lighly- the thin layer of 'skin' should not break," he added.
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