absolutelyBangkok archive · Food & Drink
Originally published June 21, 2008
First the bad news. It may soon snow in Bangkok.
Asian Sweetheart has a short pithy take on our wannabe governor Khun Pluem. He doesn’t like working girls, “has fresh ideas” and “also a good idea of how Thailand is viewed by the rest of the world.” Blue-blooded governor Pluem’s priority would be to shut down embarrassing Cowboy, Nana and Patpong.
On a more constructive note the Wall Street Journal reports that the stinky, pricey delicacy durian has hit the $200 mark. Many poets have tried to pin down the odor of the smelliest and by now most expensive fruit. “Gasoline” and “blue cheese” are two tame metaphors people often use to describe that fruit that sends most foreigners fleing, writes the Journal.
“Garbage,” “stinky socks” and “manure” also are frequently invoked. Now if you just would have invested in a durian plantation. After the “white gold” rice Thailand enjoys the “smelly gold” durian. The price rise of the durian is even more astonishing as those “sulphurous… pineapples on steroids” are not even considered aphrodisiacs. Why else would you eat durian.
That smell. Bring durian to a party. Everyone thinks there’s a gas leak in the stove.
Durians may be banned in hotel elevators, subways, airplanes and bars for that — watch those smoke detectors! But nevertheless do durians enjoy a following of devoted disciples. The Journal’s sanctification of the stinker is followed up by celebrity chef Pichet Ong’s Durian Ice Cream recipe.
Last but not least, Asian lifestyle sexologist William Sparrow has another worthwhile read in the Asia Times: “Miss Tiffany, a good son.” Yes, you may have read a thing or two about ladyboys. But Sparrow knows a thing or two you don’t know. He writes about this and similar topics it with the normality of sipping a morning coffee.
“Sure,” writes Sparrow, “Thailand has less social stigmas than other countries, but becoming a national — even international — symbol of transgendered beauty has been a daunting experience for all involved.”
Read about 21-year-old Kangsadarn Wongdusadeekul, better known as Nong Noeng, who was recently crowned Thailand’s Miss Tiffany — the title bestowed on the kingdom’s most beautiful and elegant male-to-female transvestite, transsexual or transgendered woman.
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