McTag wrote:How is it whan I ask a question no bugger answers?
Excepting for Smorgie sometimes, at the second or third time of asking. BTW there was a reference to The Sixth Sense in The Guardian (80p that's sixteen shillings) TV page today, so I must be really out of touch having never heard of it. But I don't like Bruce Willis.
I refer of course to questions on mosquitos in Indo-China (Mathos) and the books of Anthony Burgess (Spendy)
Mr Cellophane
Sorry Mac, I was going to get back to you on the mossi question but Spendi distracted me.
Depends basically where you are, on the Burmese/Cambodian and Laotian border there are areas rife with malaria. It's a good idea therefore to take the anti-malaria pills. This does not stop the buggers biting you though. It's amazing how many people think if they swallow the pills that they won't get bitten. You have to start taking the pills daily for a couple of weeks prior to going to an area with malaria , each day you are there and for a couple of weeks after leaving. There is no need to take them for places like Bangkok or any of the popular tourist spots in these countries, the malaria is no longer a threat there. Just the bites!
With regards to the bites, it's strange, sometimes you notice three or four people in one spot and one will get covered in bites, and I mean covered, hundreds of them. The others can walk away scot free. Its essential not to wear any products like after shave or deodorants. Apparently the scents are an attraction to them. Bites can be a bloody nuisance. Avoid scratching them, I normally wipe any bites down with whisky. ( Don't forget whisky is dirt cheap out there a bottle of G.F. or Bells for between £5 and £6. even less in Cambodia, Burma and Laos ) It stops the itching and also keeps the mosquito away. They are always worse in the rainy or monsoon season, and malaria and dengue fever are more prevalent at that time of year. There are various roll on and sprays you can buy, but you end up smelling like a walking DDT pole and I do wonder if all that junk being absorbed into the body can be any good for you?. Garlic is a good deterrent, but there is no real magic answer. Whisky does work, but not for long, it evaporates quickly.
It's obviously a bad time to travel in the monsoon season, I have done it a couple of times, but prefer to avoid it. It's also very dangerous, muddy and rivers at times are impassable. Plus leeches, leeches which look like short thin worms can get into your clothing and onto your body, down your socks and onto your feet. They grow to be like big fat ugly slugs off your blood as well. I normally take a small plastic bottle of thick bleach myself, for various reasons, dab a cotton wool bud in the bleach and place it on the leech and the bugger will soon let go. If your lighter and matches are water sodden which they get, you cannot burn them off. Salt is also good to remove them, or you can scrape them off with a sharp blade.
Back to the mosquito, I have seen people go down with malaria and dengue fever, both are bad, but dengue fever is horrendous, it's unlikely one would survive without first class medication.
