If you live in the west you probably have no idea about this fruit. I know that I had never heard of it until I moved to South East Asia and it is considered a delicacy by many, disgusting by others. There are many different types of it just like there are many different kinds of bananas, which was also something I was unaware of when I lived back in North America.
Durian is a special fruit though in the way that love it or hate it, there is no denying that it is extremely pungent. Some would say that it smells really bad.
I'm more of a take it or leave it type of guy. If this is offered to me I will eat it but I am not going to go out of my way to acquire it. I have always wondered why almost all hotels have a sign somewhere in the establishment that bans their guests from bringing it into the hotel and in the past week I found out exactly why that is.
Almost every hotel I have been to in South East Asia has the usual No Smoking signs, which I think is understood basically globally at this point but here they also are adamant about no one bringing durian in. We have no such sign at our place but out of curiosity and took a look in our rental agreement and sure enough, it is in there buried in that middle part that I didn't read before signing it.
Someone in our building brought some durian into the building 6 days ago. I do not know who did it or how much of it that they had but now the entire building, which is 10 stories tall, absolutely reeks. It is a terrible smell and I don't know what makes durian so special, but the cleaners have been mopping and spraying air freshener for days now and the smell remains. I have been told by the landlord that it just is going to take a while for the smell to go away over time. I have noticed that it is fading a bit with each day that passes.
They also passed out free gel air fresheners for our condos. These things cost a couple dollars each and there are at least 30 condos here, so I would imagine that the owner is not very pleased about the person who violated the no durian rule. There is now a sign in the lobby that is prominently featured that says "No Durian Allowed!"
I knew this stuff smelled bad but I always though the ban on it from the premises was kind of an over reaction on the part of the property owners. I can no attest with 1st hand knowledge that there is a very real reason for them to have this hardline stance towards the green and yellow fruit!
There's just something about it that lingers and will not go away.
I think the $1000 fine is a bit excessive but I now know there is a very real reason behind why a hotel would be so aggressive about preventing people from bringing it in. There are only a couple of things that I have ever experienced in my life that have a worse smell than this.