Every place that exists possesses a distinctive smell of their own. The smells are hard to notice in a familiar place and are distinctive in a fairly new place to travel. It takes time to develop the senses to feel them everywhere.

These smells are due to many reasons. The places’ widely available fruits and vegetables, cooked traditional food, tolerated levels of various effluents, the smell of the most manufactured goods, weather and climate, and terrain play a key role in contributing to the scent.

A place which experiences a lot of rain or is near any coast would possess a strong smell of its water. And every country has its distinct water conditions. Hence, each such place would have variants of scents. The rain also signifies other scents at a place. For instance, the smell of sun-baked structures and houses made up of terracotta in Mombasa, Kenya intensify during rains and are also noticed otherwise.

In terms of manufactured goods; in a place like Fez in Morocco, one would distinguish the smell of leather due to its mass production, while in Grasse, France, one can distinguish thousands of scents of perfumes. Grasse is the capital of perfumes in the world! Due to Procter and Gamble soap factory located in outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio, there is odor of soap observed at that place. Chicago has with it North America’s largest cocoa processor, Blommer Chocolate Company to contribute to the intense cocoa smell present.

A places’ terrain varies from deserts to forests to coastal areas. A desert would contribute the smell of its sand like the Sahara Desert. Along with its wood and plants, forests of a place have herbs, fruits and vegetables and the water with their own special scents. These are widely found in hilly regions.

Talking about Bangkok, for instance, it has a unique, intoxicating smell that might drive you back to this place again, intense due to various factors: burning charcoal, fish sauce, exhaust fumes, diesel incense, canal water, pungent fire smell, cologne, dried squid, fruits like mango and durian, dozens of spices, its air and humid weather. Without its smell, Bangkok would have definitely been incomplete.

These scents of places tend to create a unique relationship with its visitors!