The cause of the eucalypts’ adoption around the world is that, as Wikipedia confirms, they’re a fast-growing source of wood, and can be used to drain swamps to reduce the risk of malaria.

Arriving at the old Don Muang airport was an olfactory assault, after hours in the sterile aircon of the plane, then the terminal, you would step outside into the thick night air, thick from the humidity, the diesel fumes from the adjacent expressway mixed with the cooking smells from the hawkers at the railway station… somtam, kai yaang and who knows what else, overlaid with a whiff of aviation fuel.

The new airport is more sanitised, away from the smells of urban BKK, now I have to wait until I get out of my taxi before I receive a long awaited sensory assault. Even after 15 years of visiting Asia I look forward to the smells, sounds and sights of Thailand.

I ran into the the dissonance Nick mentions, in Greece, beautiful gum trees everywhere, (more big ones than tended to be around WA), until I didn’t know where in the world I was. That still happens, I catch a scent and bam! I’m dislocated, unsure where or when I am. thanks for triggering the memories

Author Ray Bradbury is best-known for the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, but I remember that his short story collection R is for Rocket included stories that were about a childhood nostalgia for the age of rockets — and they used descriptions of smells to evoke that nostalgia. The smell of burning rocket-fuel kerosene on a summer’s evening, and a son whose father was too modest to wear his rocket-pilot uniform in public convinced he could smell star-dust on the fabric when he sneaked a peek into the wardrobe…

Being the country lad, I was rather concerned.

Until I realised that Eucalypts are grown in India as firewood; and the New Delhi-ans (sic) use our native trees to cook and keep warm at night.

However, the dissonance of bushfire smell in India will never leave me.

We spent a day in Don Mueang, ’Pong’s old patch, which I’ll cover soon. However we were at the local government offices and generally wandering the streets, not visiting the airport.

The strong overpowering smell — it’s like durian on steroids. The continuous high heat means that the garbage festers 24 hours a day. All that said, I think the smell is far worse in HCMC due to the lack of sanitation services compared to in Thailand.

Now, I happen to like durian — but I guess there’s a reason it’s banned in hotels and on airplanes. Now overlay it with the pollution, the humidity, oh and did I mention the heat? Mmmm….

Also, I’m not sure if you’ve been to Bangkok before this trip, but the old airport Don Muang had a certain aroma to it as well.

Fond memories. How I do love SE Asia.