Of Durian Diplomacy and Kampong Spirit

Recently I took some time off to reflect and hopefully to return more purposeful. At least that’s how I marketed my absence to my colleagues. But who am I kidding that they bought any part of it because I was heading to Penang, the land of durian. To the uninitiated, durian is a currency of joy in my part of the world. 

Days prior to my departure, I received a spreadsheet showing the itinerary. For a three-day get away, someone has put in a lot of thought in creating a jam packed extravaganza. The aloof traveler that I am was slightly worried but then I saw I was to visit three durian farms and that alone made sense of everything else. But now that the trip has been done and dusted, I would say while, the durians were great, the lessons learned were priceless. 

Observation 1 – Relationship Comes Full Circle 

The organiser in Penang has been a longtime friend of someone in the group departing from Singapore. Many years back, they had a supplier and customer relationship. Never mind who was in which capacity back then, the point was then someone was buying, and someone was selling, the power equation was clear. I have been a service provider all these years and I have so many stories to tell of customers who made things very clear that they were the pay masters. However, life has a curious way of going full circle, one day you are the giver and the next the receiver. Case in point with this friend of mine and his Penang friend, in their 30 years of friendship, one sought help from the other at different points but they never use position power: they partnered each other through the years. I saw for myself how much the Penang friend was willing to extend himself to a group of us whom he hardly knew just on my friend’s account. 

Observation 2 – Kampong Spirit  

Prior to us getting our itinerary, apparently there was already a frenzy of activities. A committee was created, scouting the best durian farms, planning the meals and selecting trekking routes. For those that have visited durian farms, you would appreciate that firstly they were difficult to get to with all the slopes and tiny roads and secondly the durian harvest is a temperamental one. Now imagine our hosts cycling to farms checking on the durians before deciding which farms to bring us.  

It took a team of four to chaperon the eight of us. They were with us for three whole days, some even trekked with us up 800m of the Penang Hill for four hours. They drove, arranged and ensured we are looked after. But most of all they were great company, inviting us into their lives, favourite haunts, friends and life stories.  

Us Singaporeans were left scratching our heads. We could hardly imagine doing more than a meal in our version of hosting let alone spend three whole days. Then someone suggested that they still have the “kampong spirit”, to which we all nodded. Kampong spirit refers to the days of village living; everyone saw each other as part of a community where sharing, caring and giving were common place. It made living even in the most trying physical and economic situation so much better. 

Observation 3 – Durian Diplomacy 

We visited a different durian farm for each of the three days. Lots of calories later, the durians were memorable but the encounters with the farm owners left the deepest impressions.  

The common theme at these farms were that they are not commercial, meaning not focused on production volume but quality, not open to public but selective about who they sell to. I could only taste these durians thanks to my local hosts who are good friends of these farms. The farm owners were there when we visited, again there were common themes across these owners. They were all humble, friendly and had lots of stories to share. Interestingly at one of the farms, the owner allowed a neighbouring farm (a competitor!) to bring their customers over because their sitting area was not available. 

So with a tummy quietly awashed with durian pulp and fibre, what have I gained from these observations besides the few new pounds around my waist? I think it all comes down to respect and how you treat the subject in question: how you treat your vendors, how do you treat your customers, how do you treat people around you, how do you treat the products you produce. My Penang experience shows that it doesn’t have to be a cut throat, you win I lose, winner takes all world; we can all thrive together in this world and eat lots of great durian!