Best/Worst smells
 

So we've had plenty replies to Stephens best/worst noises, but how about aromatic Thailand. Here are some of my best/worst

1. That gagging stench that hits the back of your throat when you walk over a grate in the pavement. It is quite unique

2. Stale urine, although you get that everywhere and not just in Thailand I do seem to notice it quite a lot here.

3. Khlongs, say no more.

4.That teary, sneezy smell when kapow and chilli are being stir-fried. I actually quite like it coz you know good food is coming.

5. Grilled meat

6. Night markets. Nasal overload!

I almost fell into a khlong when I tried to board a boat - forgot the name of the canal. the one that runs east from the World Trade Center, parallel to Sukhumwit. I almost stank http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...es/biggrin.png was covered with bruises along my leg (fortunately I was caught), and will never ever set foot on one of these boats again. the smell is.... very characteristic http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/blush.gif and I always admire those ticket guys running up and down on the brim of the boat.

Everyone has avoided mentioning durian. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...es/biggrin.png

I've been thinking about this for the last couple of days. It's hard to think in terms of smell... but here goes.

My favorite thing to smell (already mentioned) are Jasmine Flowers. In particular, walking along a crowded stinking Bangkok (and I love her) street and all of sudden getting a waft...just a brief, beautiful waft, of Jasmine as I pass a garland maker/seller.
My more northern friends ask me how I can stand the weather in Dallas (notoriously hot in the summer) and I always answer "December" (as it is beautiful). When people ask me how I can stand Bangkok -- my favorite Thai city -- I answer "Jasmine"...for those particular moments.

My least favorite smell is the dried/drying squid on a cart. I have to hold my breath and keep my hankerchief over my nose whenver passing one of those. P. U.

I have a friend who fell into that Klong on his way into work. Luckily our work has a shower...he stank!

By far the worst smell in Thailand must come from Khlong Sam Sen in front of the New World Lodge hotel. As you are sitting in the hotel's coffee shop beside the canal, eating tea and cakes, and some water is emptied from a building opposite the smell that rises is beyond description. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...es/tongue2.gif

David

Worst: rancid, putrid, fermented fish, pronounced something like "balaa" (but not bpla/fish).

Best: the smells of the countryside like the trees and fields (not pig shit tho).

that's a self-evident one http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...es/biggrin.png
which side of the "love it or hate it" divide are you on?

Yes Lenss, that's the one. I wouldn't like to fall into one of those barrels.http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.png

Thanks David, now I understand the pronounciation better.

I don't find the smell of fresh durian at all offensive, and I think the taste far outweighs the smell. I love it, and my students last year did as well, when I took some in for my senses experiment I thought I would be on a winner, but they emptied the tray in seconds and I had to go and buy another one for the students that didn't get any :(

Smell of 'camphor' in temples, which I think I experienced in Thailand too. Its the same here in my place and in my kitchen. Because I was grown with it, that smell makes me feel at peace.

Khlong San Sap?

David

The two worst smells I can remember... Walking over that small bridge at the Huai Khwang night market. Stagnant water and who knows what was in it, it smells so bad. The other worst smell was walking into this old supermarket in the small streets behind Huai Khwang (around where the tailors are). This was a smell that I cannot describe, a mixture of livestock and rotting meat. I took a step in the door, nearly vomited, and had to go back out. It was a place like where they filmed that Asanee Wasan So Sad video.

Best smell is Sai Ua sausage in the morning at the market in Chiang Rai.

Post 2 by Betti....revealing and wise. Thanx...I thought I was alone on that stomach feeling.

There is a particularly bad smell in BKK that always reminds me of dead sheep (one that's been dead for quite a while). I think its from red chili paste that has gone bad and I smell it occasionally as I walk through the markets.

But the nice smells far outweigh the nasty ones, and all smells (whether nice or nasty) contribute to the excitement that assails your senses as you stroll down the sois and streets of the great city.

I've just had the latest "attack" in the long and regular series of gastroenteritises I keep having since I first came to Thailand 6 years ago (that first time I ended up in hospital for 2 days - some people don't understand why I ever returned) - anyway - I'm still sensitive and most strong smells make me want to.... run for it. I can no longer eat the food that I last had before falling sick in the past (though it might not have been the real culprit), the smell will always remind me. the list is getting ever longer: green curry, watermelon, pizza with a certain spice on it which I can smell but not name, banana pancake (a nice salmonella from the egg in there!), fried chicken (the greasy night market version), tofu, chili, certain foods in the school canteen - which sux anyway.
hope to get better.

the smells I like: all the "spring scents" around in Chiang Mai during the winter: flowers, fresh leaves, clean air for a while. the smell of fresh oranges, mangoes. jasmine flowers! and frangipani!

This isn't really a specific smell, but everyone will know what I mean . . .


That hot/tropical smell that hits you when you first step out of the plane onto the tarmack in Thailand. You have just had the first waft of "Thailand" smell! It's great!

There are plenty of weird smells in Thailand, but none of them bad enough to make me gag. My most memorable smell, though, is from my first visit in 1987 when I stayed at my wife's family's house in a "jungle" section of Bangkok, and the "fresh" water klong was literally 6 feet from the "sewage" klong. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.png That sewage smell was present 24 hours a day, but funnily enough, you (sort of) get used to it after a while.

DogoDon

That would be bplaa ráa = »ÅÒÃéÒ

David

Best smell? Paung ma lai or frangipani. Try putting either one close to your pillow before you go to bed at night. Sweet dream...

Sparky, that balaa you refer to is almost a main stay of the thai/lao diet. Yes, fermented fish. Quite often thai/lao with eat only rice, a little balaa and a bit of a veggie for a meal. It is and does have a remarkably nasty smell. I know about it well. Wife and son go fishing for fresh water fish and the wife ferments this stuff. Longer fermented, better the taste they say. Got about 200 pounds of the stuff in 8... 5 gallon drums. got em in a storage area in the back end of the yard. Some thai/lao around here have a thousand pounds of the stuff fermenting in their garage or yards.