Bites, bites and more bites.

Here we are in South East Asia. I have a new obsession. Bites. Apparently I am very tasty and Tim is not. In Singapore they had their starter course. In Kuala Lumpar they had their main. I think they may be too full for dessert at the moment. Maybe they are waiting for their main course to settle. As they do, I am getting increasingly paranoid at any small movement I see out of the corner of my eye which resembles a bug.

We had only been to Singapore and Kuala Lumpar and I suffered many many bites. I have a strong immune reaction to them too which causes them to swell up, resulting in a massive red blotch. I spent most of the time in Singapore scouring the many shops for effective insect repellent. You would think that they would have this being as we are in tropical climate, but no. All I could find was natural (containing citronella) repellant. This did not work. I also scoured the shops for a mosquito net. The rough guide said they are widely available throughout the cities in SE Asia. We spent many hours in department stores where they supposedly can be found to no avail.It was very frustrating.

In Kuala Lumpar things got worse. My bites were awful and they began to look a bit infected. I also developed a strange rash all over my arms. This did not help my head. My rash went down, so I decided it was heat, stress or the Malaria tablets. I went to a chemist who looked quite concerned and perplexed. She asked me whether I had had Chicken pox before! I stated that I had and told her that these were definitely bites. She gave me some anti biotic cream and anti histamines. Touch wood they seem to be helping. I also found some Mossie spray with deet in.That night I covered myself in spray. The places I did not put the spray I got bitten.(The soles of my feet and round my eyes). I woke up and was quite upset. Maybe I am over reacting, but it is stressful when you have giant itchy welts all over you and nothing you do seems to help.

These evil things are challenging my nature loving ways. Kill them all I say. Tim has been really good. I know I have been horrible and bites,mosquitoes and bite defeating solutions have been the main topic of conversation! I have even taken to looking at other people to see if they have bites (I havenet seen many) . See, I told you I am obsessed!

As I say though Tim has been very patient. It has got so bad we have even considered skipping the rest of SE Asia as we figured if it is going to be like that then it is not worth it. We don't want to do that though. I do not want to be defeated by insects!

However, we decided to get out of the city and see how it goes. At the moment we are in the Cameron Highlands. It is not so hot here as we are at an altitude, but it is still tropical, with jungle etc. Touch wood I have not been bitten yet. We went for a walk through a jungle area to see a waterfall and I did not get bitten. I think what was frustrating me was that I expect to get bitten in a jungle or on a beach and it would almost be worth it, but to get eaten alive in the city to me is pointless.

I think most of our budget is going to go on insect repellant items, but I am determined to conquer them! I have begun to relax now and am actually starting to think about other things and looking forward to the rest of our time in SE Asia. Hopefully it was just teething problems.