A family from China found themselves in a sticky — and smelly — situation at Chiang Mai International Airport when they discovered their 5.5kg stash of durian wasn’t allowed on the plane. Their solution? Devour every last piece on the spot.
The incident, which unfolded on Sept 16, was shared on Douyin by a traveller surnamed Li and has since gone viral on Chinese social media.
Li explained in the clip that his father had bought several boxes of fresh durian that morning for the family to enjoy before their flight home. But after a series of other meals, they arrived at the airport still lugging the pungent fruit. When told it couldn’t be taken onboard, the family decided to eat it all then and there.
“When you have a stubborn father who buys 5.5kg of durian right before a flight, and your family has no choice but to eat it all,” Li captioned, showing himself grimacing as his dad happily cracked open another box.
Each family member managed four to five pieces of the fruit, but Li admitted the marathon left him queasy. “I ate so much that I never want to see durian again in my life,” he joked, adding that they still smelled like durian while boarding and even apologised to fellow passengers. “We won’t be so stubborn again. I never want to hear the word ‘durian’ again.”
The video has already drawn more than 150,000 likes, with netizens laughing and swapping similar stories of consuming forbidden items at airports — from bird’s nest drinks to kilos of fruit. One commenter bragged: “Eleven pounds (5.5kg), that’s nothing! Me, my mom, and my 11-year-old daughter once finished 9 pounds of durian in one sitting!”
Looks like when it comes to travel mishaps, nothing bonds strangers online quite like the smell of durian at an airport.
