Living Jungle Life

 

It is HOT: consider how you feel after a spinning or aerobic lesson when it comes to being red in the face, sweaty and urge for a shower before you meet anyone you know and have to talk to... That is how I feel from 7 am to 11 pm every day. And the shower is of no use. When I was jogging/walking this morning it actually dripped from my face. I do not think I have experienced that before. It is HOT, and we do not exactly have air condition here.

Thailand got lots of jungle and a large areas of it is protected in national parks. Here you have a good chance to experience real jungle life. And experience close up meetings with the animal kingdom, especially crawling bugs in various sizes. Now, this can probably be very interesting and fascinating if you go out there and look for them. But, as a matter of fact, have I not gone out there actively seeking to meet all these bugs; I live in a residential area, for Gods sake. And I think that my choice should be respected! Some pictures to show you our neighborhood:

In my months here in tropical areas I have had a lot of joy from photographing different insects, bugs, frogs and lizards, and I do appreciate their willingness to be photo models. I am not a ungrateful person (most of the time). I even put my pride in respecting them as fellow citizens of the planet Earth.

Just a little break; I am going for lunch. Wonder what is being served today? Oh, surprise; a pile of rice! (Deep) fried eggs especially made for me and some fried cabbage and a yellow soup. No pink-water-soup-made-from-leaves-from-trees or fried plants with spikes today. Yesterday we had fried fish, rice and raw baby eggplant. It was really good. I like everything (almost) they make with fish, chicken and meat, I like the rice, and I like some of the green plants too. For example the one we areserved with stem, leaves, root and flower, and the one that looks like tulips and the salads. But I am not that fond of the soups with gourd or the yellow porridge with some kind of grain/grits/beans/something. Everyone who has been in Thailand tells me to enjoy all the food here. Well, we do not eat Thai food, but Burmese/Karen food. I think it is nutritious enough, but maybe not gourmet. Actually am I eating rice from refugee rations. Hmm, I hope I can raise some funds through the website so I can make amends for eating UN rice. Our cook just came in with a bowl of sticky-rice balls and sago porridge. Sweet, taste good, but half the bowl is enough.

Back to the crawling bugs in various sizes. Where was I? Ah, yes, respecting the bugs we inhabit this earth together with. As you might have sensed by now there is something that has rocked with my faith in peaceful coexistence. Let me begin with a story from this morning, just to set the mood. Faint-harted people should maybe skip the rest of this paragraph... There was a 15 cm long millipede in the garden. It was just minding its own business when somebody by accident managed to cut of its “end”. Not very happy about this the millipede first twisted and turned around itself before it headed for a hiding place. It was obviously not planning to die there and then. But on the way it ran into a little problem. The “end” was not cut completely of and it got stuck between some plants. The millipede continued its rush towards its spotted hiding place but with some more difficulty as its internal organs was being drawn out of its body and left on the ground stuck to the truncated part of its body. Finally it reached its hiding spot. I wonder where it is now? (For the record, the hiding place was under our sofa; there is no wall between the garden and the sofa in the office) Is it dead or is it alive planning a conspiracy with its bigger and poisonous cousins to come back and get revenge on the humans who made it suffer like this?

I was not directly a participant of these events, just an ambivalent audience. The next stories are involving me in a larger degree. First it was the spider in my teacup. That can happen to anyone, but I discovered this one when I was taking the final sip of tea, making sure that I was not leaving any tea in my cup. Well, it was a small one an it was still alive when I let it out on the grass where it ran away.

Then there was the toad in my jogging shoe. Here I had good luck; I was coincidentally emptying my shoe for sand this particular morning when something like a big lump fell out on my hand and jumped away. I do not dare to think how the story would go if I had not tried to get the sand out of my shoe before putting my feet into it. Now I keep my shoes on the first floor, not ground floor.

Next up is the ants! They are just everywhere. For example did they find crumbs of peanuts in my jacket pocket. My jacket was hanging on a hanger on a free standing coat stand. How did they figure out that it was something eatable there?! But no hurt feelings; feel free to take my peanut crumbs, dear ants. But do stay away from my computer!! Ants likes electronics. And I have a ant path crossing my desk. It was doomed to only be a question about time before they would try to conquer my notebook! As I was sitting typing one day I saw them come crawling out of the keyboard. After a battle that claimed the lives of several ants and a tactical relocation of my desk away from the wall I claimed my self the victory of the battle. But safety in numbers; the ants are still living in the stationary computers in the office and the toaster.

I only have one more story for this time. Dad, I understand now why there was a lid on the bucket with water in the bathroom in Ninio. I was taking a bucket shower the other day when I discovered something swimming in the water. I was filling my hands with water to wash my face when I saw them. They were small, but there was many of them; mosquito larvas! THAT is a declaration of war!

Breeding ground for Dengue mosquitos!