EVERY season, Kawasaki Malaysia Sdn Bhd (KMSB) will organise a durian ride for its loyal customers.
This time, a convoy of 65 bikers gathered at the KMSB headquarters in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, despite reports that durian supply was scarce this year. The destination was Raub, Pahang, a “durian” capital if there ever was one.
Nigh on 10am we set off after having breakfast at one of the many mamak restaurants in Glenmarie. The convoy varied from a lone Vulcan 650 to a gaggle of GTRs.
As usual, KMSB provided marshals to ensure security. Many Kawasaki clubs were represented as the kendurian ride was open to all owners of the bike brand.
The ride to Raub was uneventful. From Glenmarie, we took the North Klang Valley Expressway to the Duke Highway, and onwards to the Karak Highway through Gombak and Batu Caves.
Traffic was not heavy and the convoy stayed together. On the Karak Highway, the marshals kept the speed down to a sane level because of the high accident risk on Sundays.
But we still had fun playing catch-up. We took the Bentong exit and passed the Lemang To’Ki stall while riding through busy Bentong town.
As we went by the many stalls laden with durian, we wondered which one that KMSB had booked for the group.
Finally, after the second turnoff to Fraser’s Hill, we stopped at one of the bigger stalls. It was stocked with the kampung variety and other exotic species.
The cheapest durian was RM11 a kg (the kampung stuff), and the pricey exotic ones could hit RM40 a kg.
Since we were “going Dutch”, we skipped the most expensive fruits and indulged in the kampung offerings, with a little of the slightly-better varieties as well.
Mineral water was provided, thankfully, as it was quite a hot day. Coconut water was also available to those who were nearly overcome by the heatiness.
By 1pm, the whole entourage had eaten nearly RM2,000 worth (or 75kg) of durians.
The stall owner, who struck durian runtuh (windfall) from our patronage, was keen to have her picture taken with the group members, to which we obliged.
After tapauing (packing) some durians to enjoy back home (some of us were lucky to have top boxes or panniers on our Kawasakis), we left behind a mountain of durian skin for the stall owner to dispose of.
Maybe she could come up with an ingenious idea to resolve this “thorny” issue and commercialise it to strike more durian runtuh.
This event should be held two or three times a year. After all, the durian fruit colour do match the Kawasaki Green extremely well.