Bug-attack!
In the tropics, there’ll be bugs. Im afraid of bugs above a certain size—very afraid—but not so much that it will keep me from travelling. Here I am surrounded by people who know no fear, including the backpackers in my dorm who will leave the door open with the light on all day and night.
When I entered the room just before dusk, I heard a burst of staccato static behind me which made the hair rise on my neck. I turned around and looked directly at a huge dragonfly. Not one of the saphire-like damselflies which had darted above the calm waters of the Dayang Bunting lake: a properly-sized specimen which could be right out of the Carboniferous with four distinct wings which made the staccato noise when rubbed together in flight. Think of a very loud crackling fire.
I grabbed what I needed, snuck past the menace and run from the room, crying: “Bugs!”
That was the start of the evening. A rain-front was moving in, resulting in major insect activity. There were bullet-sized beetles in the showers. There were (probably) Blattus cockroaches and moths fluttering around the light bulb under the sunroof outside. There weren’t many by tropical standards, it will be so much worse in the jungles of Central Malaysia where it is the rainy season, but I was beside myself when something large and unseen buzzed straight past my ear, tickling my hair.
The guys around the table observed this with bemusement, then one of them said:
“Come to my house and I’ll give you twenty bugs!”
When the laughter died down he looked around all serious: “No, after 20 bugs, you get used to it. Hundreds of bugs, no problem!”
If only it were true!
One thing I don’t understand is why the bugs always seem to go for me; they did not whizz that close past anyone else. But in all honesty, it wasn’t too bad. I’m still acclimatising and not completely settled into travelling-mode yet. Staying in a dorm doesn’t help. A few days in KL actually sound like a good idea, and perhaps I should stinge a little less on accommodation
Tags: SE Asia, Tag Index
Denni