Durian Mob 2014 – Durian Lovers, Assemble! Let's Makan!

Over 350 durian lovers gathered for a good cause with their own picnic gear at the Telok Ayer Green Community Centre this evening for the Durian Mobilisation 2014 event. Dr Leslie Tay, famous blogger from ieatishootipost.sg has been organizing durian gatherings since 2008 with a simple idea of helping durian lovers gain a deeper appreciation for the different varieties of durians. This annual gathering has since grown into an event and now into its seventh year, Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) came in as co-organiser, supporting his efforts of promoting graciousness and kindness among Singaporean.  

Photo Credit to Lee Xin Ying

Participants who turned up were in for a treat as about 900kg of the buttery Mao Shan Wang and the fleshy D24 were brought in from Malaysia and served. 

Photo Credit to Lee Xin Ying

Opening address were given by Dr Leslie Tay (Left) and Dr William Wan, General Secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement (Right) to the participants. 

Beneficiaries from The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund were invited to join in at the event and enjoy the durian feast with the participants. Part of the $35 cost to this event will also be donated to charity organisations Goducate, which is a non-profit that seeks to provide a better life for needy children by empowering them with education, and Prison Fellowship Singapore, a charity that runs programmes to help prisoners and ex-offenders, as well as their families.

Dr Leslie Tay with Ah Seng, the durian supplier for the event today giving us insights on how to buy good durians as well as how to differentiate the real and fake Mao Shan Wang. 

Photo Credit to Singapore Kindness Movement

National Day Parade has the Kallang waves, Durian Mob has the durian waves. Possibly Singapore's first ever Durian Wave led by Dr Leslie Tay on stage 

After the durians were served, Mangosteens were distributed to each mat number. We were really lucky to be able to taste the king and queen of fruits for the night. Nowadays, everywhere we go, we see the majority of people checking on their handphones and mobile devices. Event like this helps to build up the kampung spirits and bring people together because we use our hands to eat the durians and won't be able to check on our phones and thus drives us to talk to one another more.  

The event was a success. The family from Cheekiemonkie, http://www.cheekiemonkie.net/ were there as well. The boys even opened their own durians! Applause to that, though I'm a durian lover, I always wait for other people to open the durians for me. Also nice to know Wan Ling and Eliina from this event. Both of them are so young! 

I don't think I can ever have enough of durians. With the durian season ending soon, I better stock up on them. Here's a nice photo of the Mao Shan Wang I'm having now to make you drools! Thanks for reading my blog. Stay tuned for my next post, I sense a giveaway coming up soon! ^^