It may be the king of fruits, but the durianis quite a divisive one. You either love or hate it.

But a Chinese tourist who brought durians back to her hotel during a trip in Singapore found out the hard way when she was fined S$200 for bringing durians back to her room.

In a video posted by Xiaohongshu user Blue Mulberry, she said she had chanced upon a roadside stall selling durians but as there was no seating area near the stall where she could sit and eat, she decided to pack the fruit back and take a taxi back to her hotel.

Even before arriving at the hotel, the pungent smell had already started filling the cab.

“My friend even commented that the durian [smell] was really strong, so I tightened the container. I was worried the driver might not like it. But he didn’t say anything,” she said.

Perhaps the driver was a durian lover?

While taxis in Singapore don’t have an official ban on durians like buses and trains, drivers can refuse passengers if they object to the smell.

Who can forget that one time a plane in Indonesia was grounded after passengers complained about the smell of durian in the cabin?

Unfortunately, her luck ran out when she got back to her hotel as she received a notice the next morning that she had been fined S$200 for professional cleaning as durians had been detected in her room. She did not reveal which hotel she was staying at. 

“I only spent S$13 on the durian, but now I have to pay S$200 in cleaning fees,” she lamented, adding that she wished the taxi driver had scolded her on the way back to the hotel. At least she might have avoided the fine.

The woman even managed to girl-math the situation and concluded that luck was probably on her side because she would have been fined $500 instead if she took a bus or train.

She later called the hotel to apologise and explained that she didn’t know about the rule.

“They explained that they couldn’t waive the fine as a professional cleaning service had to be called in, and the room couldn’t be used for a few days because of the smell,” she explained.

The staff even told her that other hotels have issued higher fines in similar situations.

Many hotels in Singapore do have a strict no-durian policy. Some hotels even state their policy on durians on their website, like Intercontinental Singapore which imposes a S$250 cleaning fee if durians are found in the room.

In 2023, a Chinese tourist was fined S$500 by W Singapore after she had consumed Musang King durians in her hotel room. She too claimed not to know about the rule.

However, she was luckier as W Singapore waived the fine as she was a first-time offender.

In the end, she cautioned tourists coming to Singapore from making the same mistake as her.

“No matter how good it smells, don’t bring durians back to your hotel. It's not worth the fine!” she said.

Photos: Blue Mulberry/XHS