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Q: Does China have a particular smell?
As tempting as it may be, idiots need not answer this.
The couple of times I've come back to China, I've really been struck by the distinctive smell and feel the air has here. Almost immediately after exiting the airport, I know I'm back. There's a heaviness to the air here, mixed with the smell of Chinese pancakes and eggs, exhaust pipes, Chinese medicine and a host of other things...it's not a completely unpleasant smell, but very hard to describe.
Anyone found this to be true?
It was the first thing I noticed over 6 years ago too. Went back to Canada recently and really noticed the difference. I don't get a freshness in the air here. It is a little hard to explain though.
Every city in every country has a distinctive smell, a combination of good and bad. For example Belgium and Holland smell of cow the moment you get into the countryside. No sense of fresh air there, but certain parts of rural China have a very fresh fragrant smell. I've traveled to about 40 countries and sometimes wondered if I could pick the country or part of it, if I was blindfolded. My next project, perhaps.
Yeah, as soon as I get off the plane...."ass". And that's not a smart-ass answer....
China doesn't divert the sewer gas through a separate pipe here so the sewer gas comes right back into peoples' houses.
Not sure if there is any one particular smell but for the most part it reminds me of bad dreams of falling and drowning in a sewer at times
I find it is an overwhelming stench of pollution and it also hits me the moment I get off the plane. It usually takes me a day or 2 to adjust when I return here.
But stinky tofu is much much worse.
In general, it doesn't smell like anything in this city, unless you walk by someone cooking or a storm drain. That smell of sewage is just horrible, and it gets worse in the summer. Stinky tofu doesn't bother me that much anymore. I actually find the smell and taste of coriander to be worse.
I noticed both times I arrived that China smells like someone deep fried a piece of garbage, (Beijing). I was just in Thailand and every where I went smelled like a spice, but not sure which spice.
I notice the smell of non flushed toilet roll as you come of the plane and enter Bejing airport.
