Buggin' out.

As you may or may not know, I absolutely despise bugs. I've never had much patience for them. In India, I was abused by some very aggressive mosquitoes, but nothing else. Laos, on the other hand, is like a bug theme park.

Lao mosquitos are hardcore. The first night, I was so enjoying sipping scotch on the Mekong that I didn't notice the feasting that was going on around my body. Not only did they decimate my ankles, one particular nasty one went to town on my elbow. The next day, according to Chris and John, it looked like I had a big red nipple on it. You can imagine how pleased I was with that.

Mosquitos aren't the only problem. Much scarier was the GIANT spider I saw chilling on the spirit house near our table that night. I actually didn't see all of him but I did catch a glimpse of legs the size of my fingers coming over the edge of roof. Also annoying while eating was a bee at breakfast and the weirdest giant mosquito/random bug that kept rubbing it's feelers together, seemingly in anticipation of jumping on my croissant. And let's not even mention the giant flies (which were also rather impertinent in India). Ooh! Less annoying, but still quite startling was the giant millipede that Chris actually thought was a snake during our walk to dinner the other night.

Yesterday, I had my scariest moment yet. Chris and I decided to take a nap (we went a little too hard the night before) in the early evening. I was lying on my bed in our lovely hotel sort of staring at the ceiling. My glasses were off. Suddenly, I noticed a very large dark spot dart across half the wall. I stared at the fuzzy black spot for a second thinking maybe I had just hallucinated, then it took off SO FAST around the corner of the wall and began moving towards me on the right wall. Bravery being one of my virtues, I let out a strangled yelp and threw myself out of my bed and vaulted over Chris in the next bed. Further investigation revealed a gecko (which I do not fear). Feeling a bit sheepish, I went to sleep.

But I should have known that the bugs were going to get me good (even better than the nipple elbow) before I left town. Last night, at dinner, I felt a bump on my face, roughly on the lower part of my right eyesocket. I thought it might be a zit, but it felt different. This morning, I woke up with my eye nearly swollen shut. Luckily, Benadryl made quick work of it, but it irks me that a bug can leave me in the same condition as a punch to the face.