Andrea v. the Mosquito: attack and counter-attack

As much as I love being here, there is one small thing that bugs me.

All the bloody mozzies. Of course others like having me around. I am a sort of..michelin 5 star buffet for them, which means that they often go straight for my sweet blood rather than that of my...'mcdonald's' companions, as it were. I can really be sitting there bordering on looking as though I've broken out in a rare tropical skin disease from all the bites while whoever sits with me feels no pain - with or without the mozzie spray.

Now having been back in Bangkok a few days, where I suppose its survival of the fittest for mosquitos (or any living thing really) and also having been enclosed in a mozzie-free sealed enclave for 3 nights, I'd forgotten about the need for my mozzie spray.

And on the first night in Vientiane felt the brunt of that, full force. feet, legs, arms, even ears and face. FACE! and no warning at all, like that annoying sound in the ears. Thankfully due to my Thai tiger balm the face damage was minimal the next day, but these Laos mozzies are something else.

I saw it flying around the next night and tried to get it. Normally live and let live, but in this case its a matter of skin survival AND it DID attack first, so I went for it. Generally I can get them quite easily but this one has stealth, I'll give it that. I took it as a reminder to use the sketolene and managed some sleep for the time being.

This afternoon the bugger was taunting me once again. in the shower, buzzing around until finally landing on the mirror. Aha! I thought, going in for the kill with a plan to squish it on the mirror. Though forgetting that mirror was one of those adjustable ones, thereby letting mr. mozzie escape whilst flinging up enough to hit the shampoo on the shelf and set of a domino effect of creams and soap falling in the sink and on the floor in a catastrophic mess while it sailed high up into the ceilings, which are something akin to my old Vienna altbau flat (ie, very high and very challenging for the..vertically challenged).

So the mozzie lives another day. I will prevail in this though! hah!