1. The King of the Tropics: coconut. It has so many wonderful uses: a refreshing drink, a tasty snack, delicious milk (used in so many Thai dishes), a topic for desserts, and many uses around the house (such as bowls, utensils, decorations, and jewelry).
2. Dragonfruit: There are two varieties, one is white on the inside with tons of tiny black seeds, my favorite is the bright fuchsia inside. Tasty and juicy.
3. Rambutans: I first knew them as mamon chinos in Costa Rica, but apparently they are called rambutans. For those of you who watch veggie tales, I'm pretty sure that the dancing aliens in "Where's God when I'm scared" are rambutans. You crack them open to reveal a white, semi see-through inside.
4. I actually don't know the English name for this fruit. They are called "salat" in Thai. They are really sour!
5. Pomelo: the mother of all grapefruit. I don't know if I can ever go back to regular grapefruit again. Pomelos are huge, for one thing, but they're sweet and fun to eat. I will miss pomelo when we leave Thailand.
6. Longans are my new favorite fruit. They look like oversized, brown grapes, but you actually have to peel them individually. It's another white fruit, but they are sweet and tangy and they melt in your mouth. Yum!
7. Mangosteens are possibly the most exotic fruit here. Also white on the inside (what a surprise), they are so rich that you can eat them by themselves for dessert.
8. And last, but certainly not least, durian, the Thai national fruit. As Jack from small group says: "If you can get past the smell, texture, and flavor, it's not so bad." But the Thais love it, for some reason. It's funny that they would choose the durian as their national fruit, but they actually will not allow you to take it to school, on buses or in taxis, and in most public places....
There you go! There are many more, some of which we still haven't tried, but at least now you get a feel for what we see every time we walk out the door or go to the market.
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