Singapore

So I have finally arrived in Singapore after many months of waiting.  So far it has been an amazing time!  The food is awesome, the people are nice, and everything is so green!  For being such a big city its amazing how much vegetation is everywhere.  So far I have focused my time on the food aspect of the country, trying everything, including the durian also known as king of the fruits.

Shown above is part of my first Saturday night out in Singapore.  Patrick and I had spicy Szechuan food and a couple of tiger pitchers with some friends.  After we got a coffee (to help with the jetlag) and headed to find a good durian place.  We walked to the street and saw a giant plastic durian perched on a rooftop and figured that would be a good place to find a durian!   In the picture above, the outside of the durian is shown on the left, and the inside (after it is broken open) is shown at the top of the picture. To open the durian the workers wear gloves to protect themselves from the spines of the durian and use a cleaver to bust through the hard exterior.   The yellow part is what you eat, which is much like the consistency of a custard, that surrounds a large pit.  The smell of the durian is very strong and to some is an unappetizing stench, therefore these are not allowed indoors.  

The fruit in the middle is a mangosteen, which is super sweet, delicious and known as the queen of fruits!  You only eat the middle of the mangosteen which is white in color.  The mangosteen can be broken into small sections (like a tangerine) and the biggest of the sections typically have pits in them.  

The fruit on the right is a rambutan which is also really sweet and delicious.  The rambutan is one large white/clear circular fruit on the inside with a large pit in the center that you eat around.   I really enjoyed all of the fruits that night, and can't wait to have them again!  All in all a great Saturday night!