Wierd question: What do other countries smell like? Or what does your city smell like - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Mr.Kenny · #1 02-04-2010, 10:57 AM

Okay here is the deal; I enjoy watching travel shows, but I don't travel out of the U.S.. In these shows the host travelers wander around describe everything, describe the people, the flavors, the festivals, everything except the smells. Yet I see local people in these shows walking down the street with a cloth over their nose & mouth. I see market places with outdoor meat markets, spices, smoke, flies, fried everything....there has to be a permeating smell of regions. I see filthy looking gutters, and standing pools of fetid looking water and smoking Trabants or 2cycle powered trikes. Here in the U.S. certain cities and area reek or have different odors.
Near the Kraft food plant here it can smell the cheesiest; near the 3M plant the adhesive can smell like pineapple...but not in a good way...
What do other places smell like?.... I heard that Asians think Americans and Brits smell like beef.

¿ǝʞıl llǝɯs ɐılɐɹʇsnɐ sǝop ʇɐɥʍ

meltedpanda · #2 02-04-2010, 11:09 AM

best smelling place I know of is Apsen in the cold of winter......

KarTek · #3 02-04-2010, 11:11 AM

This is interesting to me because I'm an observer of stuff like that. I actually think it's harder to determine the smell of one's own city since you live there and get used to it.

I do know that this area used to smell like curing tobacco every once in a while when the factories were cranking out cigs. Curiously, I really enjoy that smell even though I don't smoke.

The bigger cities I've been in like NYC have a strange mix of exhaust, rubber, oil and whatever ethnic food you happen to be near. It's an odd combination but never really offensive.

ramonajim · #4 02-04-2010, 11:19 AM

Shunde China, in the summertime: there is a specific chemical smell to the air through much of the city - strong enough you can taste it without opening your mouth. Without question, the most polluted city I've ever been in.

Tijuana, Mexico: Exhaust from cars burning Pemex gas. Not sure what is different, but there is a unique odor to it. Back during the first big oil crisis (early 70's) I lived in San Diego. You could tell which cars had crossed over into Tijuana for gas by their smell.

MTI · #5 02-04-2010, 11:59 AM

Different parts of towns have their one unique aroma. In old travel articles before jets, it was a consistent statement that when arriving in Honolulu, the scent of flowering trees and warm breezes would greet you . . . now it's mostly Jet-A fumes as you walk the open concourse to baggage claims.

There are still many "floral" scented areas despite industrialization. Madame Pele shares her sulfur laced perfume when the tradewinds are replaced by southern breezes and the volcanic smoke, called vog, blankets the state.

Mistress · #6 02-04-2010, 01:02 PM

On Tuesdays it smells like garbage.

Skid Row Joe · #7 02-04-2010, 02:01 PM

Grew up in Omaha, NE. The stockyards were about 10 miles away in South Omaha. They're not there anymore. Kellogg's cereal plant just over 2 miles away.

stimpy451 · #8 02-04-2010, 02:49 PM

Bay City, MI

Home of Madonna. The powers-that-be tried to put a positive spin on the local sugar beet processing facility's odiferous offal by stating that "it smells like baking molasses cookies! Yum!"

The reality of it is that the town mostly smells like rotting compost and a bad case of athlete's foot.

The Clk Man · #9 02-04-2010, 02:55 PM

Being that I live in the middle of Kentucky, my County smells like Cow $hit.

MTI · #10 02-04-2010, 02:57 PM

What does the factory that makes Febreze smell like?

Jorn · #11 02-04-2010, 03:18 PM

Amsterdam used to smell like dog **** during the summer when I still lived there. This was during the nineties. I loved the smell of Los Angeles when arriving at LAX in the summer at a late afternoon: this mixture of rubber, gasoline fumes, smog...don't smell it anymore.

JollyRoger · #12 02-04-2010, 03:19 PM

My city smells a lot like your yard does when you spray the crap out of it with insecticide. Ah Houston, the smell of Diazanon in morning....... smells like victory! And the methane makes such interesting sunsets.

4x4_Welder · #13 02-04-2010, 03:53 PM

Well, Phoenix smells like an odd mix of armpits and ass, Flagstaff smells like burning dog food and pine, Augusta Maine smells like pine and cow crap, southern CA smells like Phoenix with a dash of salt air, and eastern Idaho smells mostly like pine and fresh clean air, but does smell quite fragrant when the fields are in bloom.

okyoureabeast · #14 02-04-2010, 04:19 PM

Well, Ithaca NY smells like .... hmmm

something burning, but I can't quite place it

raymr · #15 02-04-2010, 04:20 PM

When we used to visit relatives in Germany, and on my wife's first trip, she commented on the 'neat foreign smell' in some of the houses and apartments. Little did she realize it was the faint smell of sewage coming from the crude bathroom plumbing fixtures. She's still embarassed about that.