Friday, July 4, 2008

Expensives Durians in Singapore

I was feeling very down with that Mr Chan's case today because I was obviously being verbally abused by him. I was trying to help him with an appeal but he kept picking bones from my words, with acute sarcasm. He insisted that NTUC Income and I want to cheat him. As I am naturally a soft-spoken person, I end up receiving the other end of the abuse. I thought I was fantastic initially by being able to endure such abuse but as I left the house, I started to get angry with myself.

On my way back to office, I passed by Bugis. I decided to eat their Mao Shan Wang, the best durian to make myself forget all those sarcasm. Since I ate durian today, I shall write about Durian. Talk so much on Mr Chan case again. No wonder people says that I'm a Whiner!!! (I got to admit that I am a whiner)

The actual Durian season is around Late May to Early August though you see durians all year round. But durians during the actual season is still the best. Let me share with you what are the best Durians you can find in Singapore.

Mau Shan Wang (Cat Mountain King)
* Grown in Pahang and East Malacca
* Golden Yellow flesh
* Very smooth texture and no annoying fibres
* Sweet initially but get bitter when you swallow
** Price ~$15/kg

Jin Feng (Golden Phoenix)
* Grown in East Malacca
* Light Creamy and Milky flesh
* Soft and creamy texture and seeds are shrivelled and flat
* More towards sweet but a bit bitter
** Price ~$15/kg

Hei Zhen Zhu (Black Pearl)
* Grown in Johor
* Slightly greyish flesh
* Each piece is small and have a smooth and creamy texture
* More towards Bitter taste
** Price ~$12/kg

Qing Zhu (Green Bamboo)
* Grown mainly in Pahang
* Have a thin layer of skin to its flesh and extremely creamy when the skin break
* Very mild taste, not too sweet or bitter
** Price ~$12/kg

D24
* Grown in Pahang
* Each piece are big and creamy
* Normally used in durian puffs due to its taste, price and amount of flesh in each seed
* Taste bitter
** Price ~$9/kg

XO
* Grown in Johor
* Pale Yellow colour
* Texture are quite soft and runny. The seeds are characterised to be very small.
* Taste Bitter
** Price ~$9/kg

D13
* Grown in Johor
* The exterior of the fruit is small and round compared to other Durians
* Dark Yellow flesh
* The texture is moist and have no fibre
* Taste sweet but seeds a bit big
** Price ~$8/kg

Hong Xia (Red Prawn)
* Slight reddish flesh
* The texture is firm, yet creamy
* Has a bittersweet taste
** Price ~$8/kg

11 comments:

Falcon said...

Actually why don't you just leave that Mr Chan to Income to follow up since you have already left Income. Concentrate on your present company. Once the trust is broken it is very very difficult to regain. I suggest you let Income assign their own agent, maybe people like Linda Oh to handle him. No point making yourself miserable.
My advice to you is reflect on your strengths, you have identified your specific area of intelligence and go towards building that area and in the kind of jobs that is suitable for you. My professional advice to you in your career, limited to what I gather through the interactions here, is that you may want to take some time off and reflect on your strengths and weaknesses and in which niche areas you will be able to excel and be happy in. Passion to help others is not limited to the sales line and certainly not only to insurance.

Wish you all the best

Anonymous said...

Just tell yourself it is another round of patience and tolerance being tested. Good that you could destress by eating durians. None of us loves durians at home and what an expensive fruit? Never bought a durian, tasted before but no big deal.
As for me I walk away my worries and frustrations. Save transport fare and keep fit! Don't get disheartened and never give up doing good. Cheerio!

Anonymous said...

Let NTUC deal with him. It wasn't your fault. You did your best.
As I said before customers see insurance agents as some greedy, without them they die, footstools, beggars 'prostitutes' and liars.
This is true that insurance salesmen and women are behaving this way to make up for the financial skills they lack.These agents don't mind so long they get the money. They don't mind being called by the worse names so long they get the money. Don't you think they are no different from the prostitutes? The agents are prostituting their service and they don't care who are their customers.
This has been going on for so many years. The customers saw your kindness, saw you as no different from the rest. I understand how you feel. Your professionalism was hurt, your self esteem was hurt, your self worth was hurt and even your self respect was hurt and you tried to heal it with durian.
Must pick up the peices and reposition yourself. Shake off those ntuc disgusting habits.(an advertisement in the ST says there are a lot of diamonds in NTUC. I say there are a lot of prostitutes ) Ask yourself, are you different from those disgusting salesmen and women, those beggars, liars and prostitutes? If you are, take a good look at yourself in the mirror and start thinking, eating and behaving that you are a financial planner, ethical and competent and caring and one who helps the poor and the needy and one who earns by providing value for money advice and one who believes in win-win deal and one who is not beholden to the customers. Once you have these attitudes, no bullets can hurt you anymore.Good Luck, you need a lot of it.

Khiat Han Hwee Adrian said...

3 unreasonable things he pick on me y'day:

1) I'm not able to answer him the cost of acquiring human organs in a transplant as I am explaining the exclusion in the Incomeshield.
He sacastically criticize on me as incompetent for not able to answer him the cost of bringing in an organ.

2) In the policy document, a copy of the proposal form is attached in the policy. He insisted that the original proposal form must be included in the policy document, not a photocopy one.

3) I gave him a hardcover folder to allow him store his policy document properly. In the folder, there are 10 pockets. He insisted that every policy of his family member should be given one folder. The best thing is, they are incomeshield policies all under the name of Mr Chan.

4) The policy document must be translated into Chinese. He now accused me of not competent in translation and caused him misunderstood on the policy commencement clause. So NTUC Income must pay his claim. He might make a complain against me on this translation issue.

This allegation comes about when I am not able to translate the word "Nuclear Fallout" into Chinese.

Anonymous said...

What about those that are sold at a dollar a fruit? What classification are those? They taste quite good too. No bitter taste and cheap to boot.

Khiat Han Hwee Adrian said...

Haha. Some durians no classifications and taste quite okay also. When I crave for durians, I also just go Cold Storage and buy those from styroform boxes. Not that fresh and watery and sometimes a bit blue black, but still enough to curb my cravings...

If you eat the Mao Shan Wang, you will taste the difference. Firm outside, soft and creamy after you break that thin layer of skin, sweet on first taste and a little bitter when you swallow it.

Anonymous said...

Adrain, i notice you are still thinking of ntuc and cannot let go.It must be very hard for you. if you can you better rejoin otherwise it is going to affect your career with new company.

Anonymous said...

I walked past a durian stall and remembered your posting. There were durians selling for two dollars a fruit. Then I saw it, D24, selling for five dollars a fruit. As it was closing time, the durian seller ask me whether 3 for ten dollars I want or not. So I bought 3. The flesh was orangey yellow and creamy. I do not find it bitter. Neither is it sweet. I wash it down with a bottle of Heaven and Earth Jasmine Tea which I bought at seven eleven for 2.30 for two small bottles. And it is supposed to be on special offer.
I recall I bought Heaven and Earth Tea for 1.10 per litre. Now even 450 ml cost more than that. How inflation has eaten into our savings.

Roger

Khiat Han Hwee Adrian said...

I think Durian prices did not really go up over the years. It seems like the same price.

Hi Roger,
The durians must be small durians. 3 D24s at $10 is cheap but they probably weigh less than 2kg. Don't think got much meat in it.
If its neither bitter nor sweet, then its not good D24s.

Anonymous said...

Hi Adrian,
The three durians were medium sized ones, probably all three should weigh about 4 Kg. I ate it through two sessions as it was quite meaty and creamy.
Actually I wonder how people can identify whether it is D24 or not. We all depend on the durian seller to tell us what it is. But the durians I ate were orangey yellow which makes them look very nice. I noticed durian prices fluatuate quite widely from place to place. I think durian sellers practise a philosophy of how much you can afford, they will charge you as much.

Roger

Khiat Han Hwee Adrian said...

Actually quite true. If they don't put any sign on top of the durians, I will not be able to identify what durians they are.

I went Malaysia to buy some Durians recently. They only display their durians and the price. I have no idea what Durians they are selling until I ask.

I have to trust that they are telling me the truth. We are not durians experts, we are unlikely able to identify by the smell and shape of the Durians.