Rob’s posting gorgeous photos from Penang, Malaysia. I’m apparently MIA. What’s going on??? Things are about to get crazy. Rob and I have split up and are double durian-ing it, which means that for the next month the blog may take on a slightly schizophrenic slant as we report on the durian scene from opposite sides of the world.
I’m back in the USA for the Woodstock Fruit Festival in New York, the largest gathering of durian freaks and fans outside of Asia. Rob and I attended in 2011, and that’s where our durian love blossomed into obsession. Last year, festival goers managed to consume a whopping 3,000 durians within a week. This year’s festival is even bigger, and I hear rumors that more than 5,000 durians will be available for 24-7 snacking.
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| Woodstock Fruit Festival 2011 |
I’ve been invited to give a presentation on our work with durian and other various fruits in Southeast Asia. No way could I pass up on this opportunity to hang out with several hundred avid durian and fruit lovers! I am so excited. Expect daily photos and videos of this durian madness.
If you’d like to attend, check out the schedule. I give my talks on Monday, August 19th and Saturday, August 24th.
Meanwhile, Rob is staying in Asia for the present while we figure out what to do. After his job in Sri Lanka fell through after only 2 months, we didn’t have any really good ideas of what to do next. I was already committed to coming back to the USA, but Rob had planned on staying in Sri Lanka for the next 4 to 8 months. Losing that job left us in a bit of a lurch.
When one door closes another one opens. It just so happened that this year Penang experiences a second durian season, a real anomaly. Penang ranks among our favorite places to go for durian, so it was the logical place for Rob to hang out, work on the site, wait for me, and plan our next great adventure. To see what he’s up to, check out an interview with Rob by Derek Howler, who’s currently bicycling 30,000 km through Southeast Asia!
After some major shifts in our lives, this blog is also going to make a
shift. You may notice a few things changing around here in the next few
weeks, as we make a few changes to the layout (expect some nifty improvements!).
So that’s what’s going on with the Year of the Durian crew right now. For the next month, expect some beautiful, mouthwatering pictures and stories from Rob while Lindsay goes wild with the fruit freaks in the US of A!
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