'It's such a waste to throw away': Kelly Chen recounts gorging on durians at Malaysia airport after being stopped at customs

When Hong Kong singer-actress Kelly Chen visited Malaysia years ago, she tried Musang King durian for the first time and fell in love with it.

'It tasted really good!' said the 51-year-old to the audience when she performed at Genting Highlands on March 29 and 30 as part of her Season Two World Tour concert.

Hoping to continue enjoying the king of fruits when she and her staff returned to Hong Kong, they packed a luggage full of it.

Kelly recounted: 'It turns out durian cannot be brought on the plane. The stewardess told us that we couldn't bring it onto the plane and we wondered what to do.

"It's such a waste to throw away."

Since they couldn't enjoy the durians in Hong Kong, they resolved to indulge themselves until their last moment in Malaysia — by eating right outside the airport.

"We ran out of the airport, opened up all the durians and stuffed ourselves with it. We were so full!" she said.

Kelly added that luckily, it can be vacuum-packed now so she can bring it back home.

Joking with her fans, she asked: "How many durians have you bought for me to bring back to Hong Kong?"

As they shouted their answers, Kelly said she was concerned she might have acne in her next concert after eating too many of them.

"Drink some herbal tea!" a fan said.

Kelly wondered out loud what she could eat with the herbal tea to reduce heatiness from the durians and her fans suggested mangosteens.

She asked: "If I eat one piece of durian, how many mangosteens should I eat to reduce heatiness?"

"Ten!" a male fan screamed.

As the audience laughed, Kelly teased: "Ten! No wonder you are this size, brother."

At some point, she also asked her fans for durian recommendations and she heard some fans screaming from their seats.

"Auntie? Haan chin (Cantonese for save money)?" she exclaimed, confused.

It turned out they were recommending the Black Thorn durian (hak ci).

At the end of her performance on March 30, her fans congratulated her with a durian cake — topped with a Musang King — at the celebratory party.

She wrote in her Instagram post on April 2: "Thank you to the Malaysian fans for the cake!"

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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