Trashy animals, smelly smells, loudy sounds

We've been on the road for a really long time; 14 countries all over the map, economically speaking as well. Japan and Singapore are kind of excluded from this entry but stand out in their own unique ways. Every country is so different than the others but there have been some glaring similarities no matter what side of whomever's border you happen to be. Here are some of the dominating similarities that we have found in most of these places.

Sounds

One of the shocks of traveling is a constant noise that you may not be too familiar with unless you live next to a freeway. From the beginning of the day you begin to hear lots of roosters. In a capital city you say?  Doesn't matter there WILL be roosters next door and they possibly WILL be getting attacked by wild city dogs. Now along with that will be the dulcet tones of constant construction. Power saws powering through wood, metal, and concrete. Jackhammers tearing up sidewalks and massive machinery blocking the road. It's kind of cool to see how much construction is constantly being done everywhere, and it's even cooler to think about how little planning or approval needs to go into the projects you see.

Ok let's go outside and walk around town. Ho ho ho what's this? The moment you step outside your hostel you are attacked with sales pitches for tuk-tuks and motorbike rides. "You wan motobike?" "Tuk-tuk! Where you go?" "Mista, Lady you wan buy (insert local fare)? I give you goo pry." Careful crossing the street those horns are all probably aimed at you. Walking down the sidewalk and not even crossing the street you bet those horns are still aimed at you. Motorbikes coming down the sidewalk directly at you so yeah they will honk. "Excuse me madam", "Sir you want buy book?" Honk honk. Uh Oh, intersection upcoming you'd better brace yourself. Dogs barking, goats goating, and horns being honked because look, there's a foreigner! Honk honk! Ice cream man on every corner with the same 10 note song playing over and over, and you over there selling those sunglasses, you had better get an air horn or a loud bell otherwise I will never hear your sales pitch over the shrieking babies and feral children! Baby crying, BABY crying, BABY CRYING!!!

Street too busy. I'll just use this wide open lane here.

Animals

Whether taking a ride through a town or walking down the road you will see different animals everywhere you go.

• Dogs. Dogs of course and none of them fixed. So many stray dogs rule the streets here and all the females seem to have just had a fresh litter. Long sagging doggy teats drag the dirt roads as they scavenge from trash heap to trash heap. Sometimes you will see a huge cage lashed to the back of a scooter full of puppies. The cutest little animals and we can only hope they aren't for dinner. Dogs aren't the only thing; there are a special breed of cats here too.
• Cats/Rats. We call them trash cats. That's where they seem to live, that's what they seem to eat. Most cats in Indonesia don't have tails. I dunno if that's a breed thing or an accident thing (probably a local delicacy thing). Skinny cats are everywhere too and dart around from place to place with surprising speed. Enough speed to avoid being run over but obviously not enough speed to get a hold of these rats. Or perchance it's a size problem. The rats are enormous. Bigger than some pocket dogs from back home. If you're lucky you won't see them during the day. Usually they are noticed performing some high wire act on the scaffolding of the restaurant you were just enjoying your meal in.
• Fowl. Chickens come next. They can be found in every yard. Roosters become a road hazard because they just can't seem to figure out how, let alone why to cross any road. And chickens always come with a line of three to fifteen chicks in tow. As far as other birds go, turkeys are common, ducks are everywhere usually in a penned in pond area next to a hovel and numbering in the hundreds. You also get caged birds in front of most shops and restaurants. They seem to be for good luck or at least to stave off bad spirits. 
• Goats. Next would be the goats. They are less common in the big cities but you can always find some roadside, cruising around trash heaps and high weeds. They will be delicious. 
• Bovine. Water buffaloes and cows can be found around any corner too. Some will be working, some will be on a short tether but you'd better believe that they can still and will wander in to the street. 
• Porks. Pigs are a pretty common animal found just walking the streets. They will eat all your trash and give nary a thought to manners. They cross streets when they want and they will root around in anything and most often see them in baskets attached to motorbikes or in a huge truck with 300 of their kind on their way to heaven.
• Monkeys. Often during the day whether walking around town, driving through the countryside, or mayhap exploring a temple, you can rest assured you will see some macaques. These little monkey are kind of a pain in the ass because their sneak-thievery. The moment you turn your back they will sneak up to grab whatever may be in your hand whether edible or not. Kelly and I saw one reach out of a tree it was hiding in to grab a water bottle out of the hand of a bewildered passerby as she walked beneath the tree. A small child in a temple was surprised when one particularly large macaque with a harelip stole her bottle of milk and spent the next 20 minutes biting a hole in it and lapping up the drippings. We have video. Another guy had trained his baboon to fetch ripe coconuts out of the grove across the street from his outdoor shop. Every morning he sent the monkey "Tao" up the trees and then by day the baboon was put on a running leash to attract tourists to stop and buy some coconuts. Great business plan. This all being said, I still get excited any time I see a monkey.
• Geckos. These little cuties are the best. I love geckos, always have and always will. They are a constant. Especially at night they will flock to light because that is where the bugs will be. They eat and eat and eat. All the mosquitoes please. They are really fast and look so delicate that they are hard to snare but every once in a while you can catch one. Little sticky toes never let go. I like geckos. I like several of them climbing the walls in my room at night, which is good, cause they will be there.
• One uncommon animal is any properly wild animal. Especially noticeable in Vietnam. There are so many people here, over 90 million people in an area smaller than California. They will eat anything, and therefore have. I think this is why you never see wild animals.

Smells

The singularly most interesting thing on a moment to moment basis that will grab your attention and never cease to amaze you or allow you to forget you aren't really anywhere near home are the smells. Smell smelly smells. Take a stroll down the street to grab water, a beer, some snack and you will at any moment be overwhelmed by some godawful stink. Open sewage drains are normal, as is human effluence on the streets. In Vietnam, there are no baby diapers. There are baby dumps though, and a lot of them are taken while mom or dad hold you sans pantaloon suspended over the sidewalk out front of the shop or restaurant.

The food in most places is served on the street or in open fronted restaurants so the smells waft easily to the sidewalk or street which is the true sidewalk because the sidewalks are where you park motorbikes. Delicious and exotic spicy smells can entice you from doorway to doorway, and moment to moment. Enjoy those frying samosas or fresh cut fruit. Oh but the fresh fruit, so enticing, such a Dionysian array of exotics. For the markets are bound to the streets, and the streets are the amusement park of the traveler. You see mounds of dragon fruit like pink petaled grenades, magosteens looking like brown bulbs of garlic hiding their sweet secret in an unassuming package, rambutan appear like a splash of electric green on a canvas of  overlarge red grapes. With all of these plus many more familiar and unfamiliar faces comes ripeness. Flies buzzing, bees making rounds, and the ground a fresh humus re-layered daily with the leavings of the day's sales. Fruit past its prime, pits, seeds, and stems all end up squashed beneath the sandals of passersby. Co-mingling with cardboard and the plastic used to wrap the whole bundle up, the ground beneath the street market is an ecosystem all its own. No description of produce would be complete without the king of them all getting a mention, durian. The durian for most travelers is more of  a wager than a food. This massive spiked planet would better fit the end of a medieval morning star than the kitchen table. To have tasted of its flesh is to gain a badge of honor. One cannot successfully experience adventure abroad without taking in the local fare. The durian is the stuff of legend. Green spiked outer, the size of a basketball, the insides reveal bile yellow capsules the size of a Twinkie. The capsules are made of a buttery "flesh" around a large seed. If this weren't bizarre enough already, then you are hit with the smell. The way we've been able to describe it can only be a mixture of onions and garlic plus burned hair. The smell is so pungent that you will often see signs in hotels and guesthouses mandating no durian within these walls. The Singapore subway system will fine you for bringing one on board. We have tried it. Once is all you need.

Durian

Rambutan

The distance between the smells is as far as you can fathom. The promised delights of fresh mango mingling with newly cut cedar furnishings can put a smile on your face, but beware for around the corner is the wet market where they sell all parts of every animal and the wet cement in that alley is offal, cat piss, and trash water. Trash water can be bad, but a more common evil is the smoke of burning trash. ALWAYS at some point in time this day you will walk through this cloud. It's like someone has crop dusted you with all of the garbage they have made all week. This is another sneaky smell too, because one may think that only in areas with open space will you be accosted by the putrid pungence. But lo, the streets are well lit with trash fires at all hours and this allows you to blanket yourself with this day's dose of melting plastics, food waste, and mysteries of every household and business. It is a unique odor that will stay with you once categorized.

Watering holes.

There is another odor that permeates all throughout the day and it is that of incense. Often lit on the street in no apparent strategic position at all. Incense of all flavors and all sizes can be found and smelled almost everywhere. Roadside shrine? Incense. Steps leading into a store? Incense. It is a nice addition to any place and anywhere. I don't really know what percentage is for spiritual purposes and what percentage is to mask the ghastly smells that can creep up otherwise but we appreciate it regardless.

We have seen nearly dead dogs eating dead cats, roaches crawling out of sink drains, and snakes slithering over roof rafters. We have heard every kind of car horn you can imagine, every farm animal farmable, and the slaughtering of livestock. And last of all you can believe it, Brother we have smelled it all. You truly never know what to expect when you step outside. And that is the ultimate litmus test for when it is time to move on. Familiarity with the unfamiliar is nice to achieve but it also means it's time to hit the ol' dusty trail once again and encounter more bewildering sights, smells, sounds, and surprises.