Priceless Products and Packaging is a new feature on Travel Oops that celebrates interesting products and packaging from around the world. Wandering up and down the aisles of grocery stores or markets is always enlightening when you’re visiting another country. The text included on the packaging and in marketing campaigns often reflects characteristics and values of a nation. Translations are the best because, understandably, sometimes the meaning is inadvertently lost or tweaked slightly.
Or maybe the message is translated just fine and it’s fantastic and irresistible like the one below for Durian Pancakes. I love the rhetorical questions because, really, why would you not want durian pancakes? Then, the fact that the chef has special technology is what really convinced me to buy the product (which I did).
© Stephanie Glaser
Plus, these pre-packaged pancakes seemed like a great way to ease into the act of sampling a durian. I was a little disappointed that the pancakes didn’t exude a little bit of the smell of a durian. Reading about the notorious “kind of fruits” in various travel features has made me curious to try one. I’ll remember, however, not to bring one along with cigarettes, fries or flammable goods on the Singapore metro train.
© Kalai: Wikimedia Commons
© Steve Bennet: Wikimedia Commons
Travel Oops 
I love hearing the kids at school go off about the smell when one of the Indo teachers brings in a durian or two – it’s the talking point for DAYS! LOL
I can only imagine the reaction — actually, when I talked to one of the newer teachers, she mentioned the lingering smell of the durian and it didn’t seem to be a fond memory!
I too am curious about how disgusting they are. We saw them in the Hoi An fresh food market and the good-humoured chef who was giving us a tour posed for a photo with one but I think he warned us off them! I s’pose if we REALLY wanted to we could have bought one – a quick mouthful followed by a champagne chaser would surely be tolerable?
A champagne chaser! Brilliant, Hayley. That’s the way to go. Maybe even durian juice in the champagne (a hefty serving of the bubbly) for a new type of Mimosa.
Stephanie, I too am an admirer of mangled English signs and translations. They’re all over the place, and can be great fun to focus on. This is a good feature to add to your blog, and there should be lots of fodder for posts. Here’s a post that I wrote on signs:
http://gallivance.net/2011/12/04/heres-your-sign/
~James
Thanks for the feedback, James — I figured I had so many photos of funny signs and packaging that I may as well put them to use! By the way, great post on the signs (I especially like the donkey parking one). I bet you and Terri will have loads of encounters with funny signs and translations on your RTW trip!
Thanks Stephanie. BTW, sorry for the confusion, but we aren’t leaving for an RTW. We’ve been republishing some old posts that we wrote before and after our last RTW. And you’re right, we have lots of good signs for future posts. ~James