Any new smell may be considered bad at first. You might call it an aroma if it was pleasant, and bacon or coffee are perfect examples. Frangipani and Bougainvillea have beautiful aromas, too, as do sizzling satay-sticks on the barbecue and incense pods at a wedding.
The aroma of rain bucketing down after a hot day is something we all recognize, and fresh bread can make your mouth water simply by thinking about it.
Every one of these ‘smells’ will be experienced in Thailand, so the simple answer is: NO, Thailand really does NOT smell so bad. Sure, there are bad smells that can assail your olfactory senses, but many other ‘smells’ are simply new to you and convert to aromas with time.
Traveling to, from, and in Thailand extensively, I realize that certain smells – let’s call them that for ease of reading – are unpleasant at first. There are overflowing drains, diesel, jet-fuel, joss-sticks (incense), a myriad of spices – both fresh and dried. There are fish products drying, frying, and lying on tables in the market, and we’ll touch on these and some others in this article.
What is the Smell in Bangkok?
Most people fortunate enough to visit the Kingdom of Thailand enter via one of the two international airports in Bangkok (BKK): Don Muang, used more and more for domestic flights and short-haul, and Suvarnabhumi. Here, the smell of aviation or jet–fuel will be the first thing you smell, and as that smell abates, you reach the bus or taxi area and are greeted by a diesel cloud.
Bangkok has scores of smells, and depending on who you ask, it’s entirely possible that one or two (or more) will stand out. However, there is no single ‘Smell of Bangkok,’ but once you get into your transportation and away from the airport, you will start to discern the smells typical to any big city in Asia.
Depending on whether you go to the air-conditioned accommodation in the more upmarket part of the city or the bohemian guesthouses in the Banglamphu area, you will be regaled with very different ‘smells.’ This applies particularly to food and foodstuffs.
In areas like Sukhumvit and Silom, hotels are immaculate, well run, and can be expensive, even by Western standards. Their kitchens are well run and hygienically sound, so the smell of food cooking rarely, if ever, reaches the diners.
Not so in Banglamphu, and in truth, most of Bangkok. Here, frying chickens’ feet, fresh Durian (the smelliest fruit on the planet, I swear!), and fish heads are cooked in food stalls on the streets. I know I said Durian smells terrible, but you can’t blame Thailand for that as it is a delicacy all over Southeast Asia.
I’ve met westerners who love the taste and the smell, but a sense of decency and respect for this page prevents me from accurately describing what the smell does to my delicate tum-tum…
Walking through the food markets really does clear any sinus problems you may have had because there is rarely one (or two or three) smell/s. Instead, you have 50 or 60 dishes being prepared in a single, often poorly ventilated, area, and excess food and oils are often tossed into drains and gutters right beside the tables.
This ‘garbage disposal’ traps dirt, hair, bones, and all kinds of things, and of course, rats and other vermin move in to clean up the scraps. Cats move in to keep things in order, and roaches join the menagerie to get the leftovers everyone else missed.
This pragmatism on the part of the traders leads to combative smells. While this all goes on UNDER the tables, the effect is not lost on the noses of first-timers who may recoil in disgust.
If any smell at all can be called The Smell of Bangkok, I believe it is this mixture of smells, both delightful and downright rotten, hitting your nose at the same time and thoroughly confusing it in the process.
Let’s Chat About Smells, Both Good & Bad
As I alluded to earlier, many smells that are at first very disturbing are only considered thus because they are so new to you, the visitor. So many of the foods you may never try as a guest of the kingdom are incredibly delicious, but the smell, perceived by the uninitiated nose, is considered unpleasant.
More often than not, this smell will prevent you from attempting the dish, or even if you do go ahead and take a brave bite or two, your sense of smell may, unfortunately, overrule your taste buds. I must confess that I have never overcome my dislike of the Durian, a fruit found all over Thailand, and it’s all because of the smell.
Five Foods That Are Local, Yet Smelly Delicacies
- Kao Klook Gapi – Shrimp paste and rice are fried, often with mackerel or other fish, and while it smells
- terrible, it is delicious, though breath fresheners are required if you’re on a date.
- Som Tum Pla Ra – Pla Ra is fermented fish, and while some folk use just the sauce, real connoisseurs use the whole fish and even add salted crab in this spicy papaya salad. Rates very high on the ‘Stinkometer.’
- Pad Sa Tor – A bean stir fry made with green fava beans that grow a meter (3.3 ft) in length and are nicknamed stink beans – seriously! – and minced pork or shrimp.
- Tao Jeow Lon – Visually, this has been described as closely resembling an infant’s vomit, with a similar smell. Fortunately, the fermented soya bean, chili, and coconut milk dish is extremely tasty. Just eat with your eyes closed!
At this point, I’d like to point out that fermentation plays a big part in Thai food preparation, and once you acquire the taste for fermented vegetables and fish, this change will open up a whole new world of dining experiences for you.
- Durian – My kryptonite, I fear. Often cooked in coconut milk with sticky rice, I cannot overcome my gut-lurching reaction to this vile-smelling fruit. I traveled from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi many years ago in a crowded bus with chickens and durians and seventy-one passengers, in a bus meant for 45.
The trip was arduous enough, but the sun gave a unique tang to the chicken mature/rotting durian stench, and I have never recovered from the nasal battering. I hope you fare better because enough people love the fruit to convince me there is more to this than meets the nose.
Big City Smells
Like the rest of South and Southeast, Thailand is situated in a very hot belt, between the two tropics (Cancer & Capricorn), and as such, these bigger cities all suffer from the usual big city smells. Diesel, rotting vegetation, exposed sewage, particularly in the waterways, smog from industrial areas, etc., are ubiquitous. Certainly, Bangkok is no worse than Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, and other similar-sized cities.
Are There Any Pleasant ‘Smells’ in Thailand?
This is the part where things take a decided turn for the better:
Take a stroll around one of the many Wats, (temples), and you will immediately notice the smells from the incense sticks that are part of the offerings to the Buddhas. These burning sticks are fragrant and help to reduce stress levels of the visitors, Buddhist or not, and they assist with relaxation as meditation is practiced.
Night markets countrywide have wonderful aromas wafting on the breeze, as meals are prepared for visitors and locals alike. Tom Yum soup, grilled chicken, and fried rice compete with squid and wonderfully fresh fish dishes to lure your digestive juices to the surface.
Flowers and trees are wonderfully fragrant, and the Frangipani must be the favorite for many visitors, but there are so many others. Several species of Jasmine abound, and Canang odorata – better known as Ylang Ylang, is found here with its wonderfully pleasing fragrance, said to awaken love, passion, and even secret desire within one.
Spice stores and vendors are everywhere, with their arrays of color and fragrance adding to your Thai experience and giving western noses a final working over, in the nicest way, of course.
Conclusion
Yes, Thailand has some vile smells, but so what? Those are totally outweighed by all of the delicate aromas, fragrances, and exciting scents that you will possibly never smell at home.
Come to the kingdom and take in all of the smells, sights, and tastes, and I guarantee you will return home richer for the experience.