The smells of Thailand

We got off the metro at Petchaburi Station and started walking on Asok Montri road towards The Eugenia. It was a road of heavy traffic, yet when we passed by a small open-air market the air filled with the distinct smell of grilled chicken and decaying food.

“It smells like Thailand!” El Mago said excitedly.

“Yes, like rotten food,” I responded without a quote of cynicism.

El Mago found this very amusing. “That is the way you talk about this country, which has hosted you with so much affection!” he joked.

The truth is that there are many markets around Thailand where you can buy raw and cooked food and the smells mix. And, where fresh meats are sold without the use of refrigeration at a constant summer temperature, it stinks. The juice of chicken, pork and fish drains from the tables onto the ground and rot throughout the day. The smell is somewhat covered by the succulent aroma of grilled meats, especially chicken. Although I do not eat meat, the smell of roasted flesh and burning charcoal briefly bring me back to my childhood Sundays. I like that, the memory of being at home for a fraction of a second.

Somewhere in between Phuket and Bangkok

The overall smell in Thailand is pleasant because different things balance each other out. Since nobody has drier machines, people hang their clothes to dry in the sun and the air becomes impregnated with laundry softener. This helps cover up the smell of sewage, which comes out of the open grates on the roads.

Then there is the smell of smoke. In my first morning in Thailand, four years ago, my travel partner said “It smells of the third world!” (I corrected him in my head “developing country”; however Thailand is neither). To me, it smelled like smoke. The air is never clean anywhere. In the cities, the smog is heavy from numerous motorcycles. On top of it, people burn grass –this smells a lot like pot- both in the country and in the cities. Another ingredient to the mix is the burning of tobacco, and people do smoke a lot in Thailand. Yet, there is also a sweet note of incense and people light tons of it. It is not like we do it in the West, where we burn one stick a day, at the most. The local custom is to burn a whole bunch and offer it to the spirits in their Houses of the Spirits.

Still, amid this concert of strong smells, the scent of jasmine makes a subtle appearance. At flower-shops and in many street stalls, women thread jasmine flowers into rosary-shaped ornaments that are used to perfume cars and to offer to Buddha.