A Little Explanation...

To those who wonder where the title Smell the Adventure came from, we, the editors would like to introduce you to the world of travel from the nose's perspective.

Yes, safari pictures are lovely. We all enjoy seeing baby lions hiding in the brush, or infant baboons riding on their mothers' backs. But life is not all about the visual. Just imagine the cornucopea of smells one encounters walking through a spice plantation on Zanzibar, or through frankincense clouded markets in Muscat.

It's not all pleasant mind you. Imagine being floored, as we were, by the stench of the rotting elephant corpse (seen in our earlier posting) from 50 meters away.

These, and other smells, make up some of the most vivid memories of our adventures. Below are some highlights. We hope you enjoy.


-- Top on our list is still the spice plantations on Zanzibar. We took a morning trip out of Stone Town to visit groves of clove and cinnamon trees, tasted fresh nutmeg and ginger, and gazed in awe at plump arromatic vanilla beans still clinging to their vines.




-- Omanis are known the world over for their frankincense, the thick smell of which wafts through the halls of the main Souk (market) in Muscat. While that was our first encounter with this scent, we continued to enjoy it throughout our travels in India where it is used as a natural insect repellent.
-- After spending a few days sightseeing in the thick smog of Dheli, our first breath of fresh air came when we arrived in the mountain hamlet of Shimla. The immaculately kept gardens at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities (the former Viceregal palace and site of partition hearings in the 1940s) provided an ideal setting for our noses to adjust to the crisp, clean Himilayan air.











-- Usually people don't get excited about seeing rain while traveling. But after six weeks of arid East African highlands, Mid-East desert and dry autumn in the Himilayas, the two of us soaked up the smell of morning rain in Karala. The humidity brought with it a thick green overgrowth giving us the impression that everything was alive.






-- One of the most enduring memories we carry from our tour of the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu is the smell of burning coconut oil. Tiny oil candles surrounding statues of revered gods, each carrying a prayer from a devoted pilgrim, help carry the sent throughout the cavern-like Sree Meenakshi Temple in Madurai. Standing amidst the intricately carved columns, its easy to forget what century we're in.