juliet: My rat Ash, at 6 wks old, climbing up the baby-rat-tank and peering over the edge (ash exploring)
juliet ([personal profile] juliet) wrote2008-10-16 08:40 pm

In less thoughtful news...

...Hanoi has mosquitos, and I have bites, and they ITCH LIKE MAD. I have now broken the skin on 3 of them, which reduces the itching but increases the likelihood of them getting infected (I know, I know, but I have no self-control[0]). I will start applying Deet more reliably, but it is sticky and unpleasant.

Whinge moan complain. Hanoi still quite nice though; off to Saigon tomorrow evening. Today it was HOT & actually sunny. At least long linen skirt is a) surprisingly cool & b) reduces skin area available to biting things.

[0] Actually: is it normal for mosquito bites to come up in enormous lumps and continue itching like crazy for 3-4 days OR until you actually break the skin & squeeze the clear liquid stuff out? (This does work but I am aware, as above, that it is naughty.) In other words: am I just being a wuss with no self-control or am I reacting more than average?

[identity profile] bluedevi.livejournal.com 2008-10-16 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup, I get that big time. Huge bobbly agony. If I'd known they'd stop itching like mad once I broke the skin I would have scratched even more ferociously than I did...

In Peru I eventually got into a routine of nasty DEET stickiness topped up regularly and not having any exposed skin whatsoever at night-time or around trees or water. (This was trickier than you'd think, what with the whole having-lost-my-baggage thing. There are literally no light long-sleeved women's tops in the Amazon Basin. I eventually found a bunch of long-sleeve skater tops for boys and bought several of them.) On my last night in Peru someone told me about the antihistamines trick. Sigh.