the smells of commuting

This is a short description about my commute and the smells i encounter.

As I leave our apartment building, I am always reminded how I am no longer in Canada as "the nast" smell (as Heather P. would say) of Seoul sets in. Its not a pretty smell, some days are better than others, but reality is that Seoul is not the cleanest city I have lived in. There is a dirty smell to it and as I am walking to the bus stop thinking I am used to it, I usually get a whiff of something else to remind me that I wont be able to get used to the dirty smell.

We enter the bus, and depending if the bus is full or not, we encounter different smells. If its full, well you guessed it, it smells like a hot bus full of people, something not necessarily unique to Seoul. If its empty, than its fine. As we get off the bus and enter the subway station, we encounter a nostalgic smell of an older lady selling walnuts, squid tentacles and corn that are roasting on some coals. The smell of coals reminds me of a campfire, good memories that are associated with fresh air. The memory is quickly forgotten as we pass the coals and smell Seoul's smell again. (On a side note about sounds, another older lady on the opposite side of the stairs sells random stuff including Q-tips, toys, umbrellas and alarm clocks. She seems to think that having the alarm clock beeping all day will help attract customers, I personally am more inclined to visit the other kiosks that do not remind me of that obnoxious sound that wakes me from happy sleep time).

Subways, are subways, and have their own unique smell. And because this is already getting long I will just say that the rest of our trip to and from work involves the smell of stink from Seoul and the smell of fishes and spices from restaurants. But one last smell which intrigues me every night as we walk to our apartment. We smell something sweet, something cake or cookie like each night. Its a beautiful smell and warms our noses as it masks the smell of 10 million people living in a small area. Much to our astonishment it comes from the fried chicken places along our street. We cant explain it, how can fried chicken smell so sweet? But its there, another mystery of the world that will never be answered.