Insect LIfe
Thailand is full of bugs. From flying cockroaches to centipedes, I've encountered plenty of them.
There was the night in Ton Sai when the porch was suddenly swarmed with flying ants (termites?) attracted to the light. I thought, "Hey! Maybe if I turn off the light they'll disperse." When I tried it, they descended on me-- all over my body, in my hair, down (and up!) my dress. Fail.
Then there was the centipede in my bed. Now, Thailand has both centipedes and millipedes. They're both creepy looking, but centipedes are the brightly colored ones with a hundred long legs poking out the sides, and they sting like scorpions. One night I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, went back to bed, and just as I was drifting off I felt something move against my leg. Throwing back the covers I saw a GIANT (about 6 inches long!) yellow and black centipede disappear into the covers over my feet. As I leaped out of bed he barely managed to sting my baby toe. I then spent 10 frantic minutes shaking out my bed clothes before finding and crushing him into a million pieces with the first thing that came to hand: my first aid kit. I was finding centipede legs for days after.
There was a long-legged brown spider wider than the shoe I used to squash him. He attempted to attack me when he saw me. Seriously ran headlong at me so fast I barely had time to grab that fateful shoe.
I've encountered scorpions in the street, cockroaches on top of light switches, swarms of beetles on my porch, giant black bumble bees with purple blue wings in the garden, a centipede in my underwear drawer (or at least he fell out of it when I opened it), and swarms of mosquitoes in my book bag.
I tell you all this because today is the day of the dead cockroach. Today I woke up, stretched, scratched, yawned, went down stairs, and discovered a dead cockroach, legs in the air, in the middle of the floor. It was the first of many. Dead cockroaches in the kitchen, atrium, bathroom...6 in all. All in their death throws, legs in the air. You'd think I'd be disturbed by this. But no. I've been here too long to let a little thing like dead cockroaches upset me. I was just thankful they were already dead (or dying at least), swept them out side, dubbed this dead cockroach day and made myself some breakfast.
There was the night in Ton Sai when the porch was suddenly swarmed with flying ants (termites?) attracted to the light. I thought, "Hey! Maybe if I turn off the light they'll disperse." When I tried it, they descended on me-- all over my body, in my hair, down (and up!) my dress. Fail.
Then there was the centipede in my bed. Now, Thailand has both centipedes and millipedes. They're both creepy looking, but centipedes are the brightly colored ones with a hundred long legs poking out the sides, and they sting like scorpions. One night I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, went back to bed, and just as I was drifting off I felt something move against my leg. Throwing back the covers I saw a GIANT (about 6 inches long!) yellow and black centipede disappear into the covers over my feet. As I leaped out of bed he barely managed to sting my baby toe. I then spent 10 frantic minutes shaking out my bed clothes before finding and crushing him into a million pieces with the first thing that came to hand: my first aid kit. I was finding centipede legs for days after.
There was a long-legged brown spider wider than the shoe I used to squash him. He attempted to attack me when he saw me. Seriously ran headlong at me so fast I barely had time to grab that fateful shoe.
I've encountered scorpions in the street, cockroaches on top of light switches, swarms of beetles on my porch, giant black bumble bees with purple blue wings in the garden, a centipede in my underwear drawer (or at least he fell out of it when I opened it), and swarms of mosquitoes in my book bag.
I tell you all this because today is the day of the dead cockroach. Today I woke up, stretched, scratched, yawned, went down stairs, and discovered a dead cockroach, legs in the air, in the middle of the floor. It was the first of many. Dead cockroaches in the kitchen, atrium, bathroom...6 in all. All in their death throws, legs in the air. You'd think I'd be disturbed by this. But no. I've been here too long to let a little thing like dead cockroaches upset me. I was just thankful they were already dead (or dying at least), swept them out side, dubbed this dead cockroach day and made myself some breakfast.
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