On a Durian Mission

 

The sun was shining with white fluffy clouds against a blue sky - the perfect setting for a trip to Balik Pulau for a durian buying spree last week!  My aunt, an avid durian fan, recommended a shop which my cousin, who was driving, managed to find with the aid of her GPS.   The drive there was very interesting and my cousin, who is a regular to B.P. pointed out to us various sights on the way.  I hadn't been to B.P. for years and I must say she's an amazing driver.  She skilfully negotiated all the curves and bends though at times I felt she was going too fast!

Nevertheless, we arrived at our destination safely and fortunately, durians were still aplenty.  My aunt placed her order for Musang King, Black Thorn, Green Skin, Red Prawn, D14 and Red Heart, all names of durians some of which I have never heard of before since I am not a durian fan.  I was quite impressed by this shop which has its own vacuum pack facility to enable their customers to bring home their purchases no matter where they come from.

 

Neatly vacuum packed boxes of durians

Patiently waiting for our order to be packed

Little patch of garden in front of the shop

Having finished our purchases, we proceeded to have Laksa, a must-have for brunch.  It comes in two flavours, Assam and Siam.  Since I don't like sour things, I opted for Wan Tan Mee which was also very good and all that was washed down with warm nutmeg juice.  The coffee shop also has a variety of dishes like braised pig trotters, pig stomach, "kiam chye boey", "lor bak", roasted pork/duck and noodles and my aunt couldn't resist buying a few items to take home!

Of  course no trip is complete without some shopping, so we went to this thrift shop nearby which sells almost everything under the sun.  I noticed that prices are much lower than in town for some goods and each of us left with two or three items !  As my cousin put it, it's a "dangerous" place to shop!

My cousin was kind enough to take us for a spin round  B.P. town after that and we saw some new housing estates and an upcoming retirement village which had a nice old English country style setting.  Consideration should be given to retiring here!  

B.P. small roundabout

We didn't reach home until after 1 p.m.  My aunt actually fell asleep at the back of the car on the way back and went for another nap on reaching home!  

Thanks to my cousin, we had a lovely and well spent morning!  We shall have to do it again one of these days.....

(Durian pictures courtesy of Shan Cheng Durian Penang)