Bizarre fruit rule that could land you with a hefty fine in tourist hotspots Aussies love
When my husband and I picked Thailand and Singapore for our honeymoon, we never dreamed we’d be threatened with hundreds of dollars in fines over fruit.
But that’s exactly what happened when we touched down in Koh Samui, Thailand one sweltering night and went to check in to our beachside resort.
The idyllic resort we'd chosen to kick off our honeymoon came with an unusual rule. SALA Samui Chaweng Beach Resort
After taking us through the usual check-in process, the lovely staff at SALA Samui Chaweng Beach Resort warned us that we’d cop hefty fines for smoking or eating durian in our hotel room.
The first half of their warning made sense, given most hotels are non-smoking these days.
The second half had us scratching our heads a bit, but we nodded along anyway.
We were more shocked when we arrived at The Carlton Hotel in the heart of Singapore a week later and got the same spiel.
There was even a sign right above the handle inside the door to our hotel room reminding guests of the SGD$500 ($546) cleaning fee for breaking the rules.
We were warned again a few days after that, when we checked in at The Outpost Hotel Sentosa on Singapore’s famous resort island.
We had no clue what to make of it all until we learned exactly what a durian is and why it’s so divisive.
Our first hotel in Singapore threatened a SGD$500 cleaning fee if we brought one in the room. Maddison Skipper
Durians are a spiky tropical fruit with a rich, sweet-savoury flavour that has been likened to vanilla, almond, caramel, as well as more unusual notes like garlic, onion, and cheese.
They also have a very, very strong smell.
People have described it as smelling like rotten onions, smelly feet, gasoline, rotten fish and even a dumpster on a hot day, though some fans say the fruit doesn’t smell that bad.
Durians are a very divisive fruit in South-East Asia. Maddison Skipper
Either way, its odour is incredibly pungent and can linger long after the fruit is gone.
Which is why they’re outlawed in many hotels and airports across South-East Asia, including in Thailand and Singapore.
Singapore has also banned eating durian on most forms of public transport and I saw ‘no durian’ signs on trains, buses, a monorail, and even the back window of a taxi during my travels.
No matter where we went in Singapore, there were signs banning the smelly fruit. Maddison Skipper
The craziest part is that you can also find durian merch in just about every souvenir shop in Singapore.
Sometimes called the ‘king of fruit’, durians are printed on shirts, bags, and hats, you can get durian magnets and keychains, and even licensed characters like Snoopy appear alongside the smelly fruit in some durian merch.
It’s been weeks since I got back from my honeymoon and a part of me still regrets not snapping up some durian merch, or at least sampling the fruit itself.
