Two weeks ago my husband and I went to this lovely yoga retreat resort at the southwest of Bangkok. The resort sits on a remote island and consists of a number of exotic wooden houses. Each house spells individualism and no two are the same. The houses are eco-friendly and there are enough space between each house to allow total privacy and peace of mind despite the family-of-four-with-two-screaming-kids neighbours.
As we were casually stretching to some yoga asanas by the verandah while admiring the sun setting against the Andaman Sea, there were this tiny little unidentifiable flying objects (UFO) as our audience. I wasn’t too concerned since I had previously sprayed my skin with mosquitoes repellant (courtesy of my caring father-in-law). However, as I was non-chalantly working into a Baddha Konasana, I heard the unmistakeably hand clapping sound from my husband. Just when I was about to lecture him on Ahimsa and Pratyahara, I found myself being attacked by these UFOs. Thinking to set an exemplary of non-violent, I gracefully waved. BUT, to my dismay and horror, the UFOs BIT! Each attack was more severe than before and it’s somewhat annoying than a mosquitoe bite because they came in swamp!
After some futile attempts to ward off the UFOs, we abjured and satisfied our ego through gastronomy. The night was save under the mercy of mosquitoes tent. We left the next day bidding farewell to the hostile UFOs.
The following morning, my husband woke up complaing of itchiness. Soon, we found ourselves covered with red spots that itch to the very bone. The red spots began to mushroom around my arms, legs and trunk over the next few days. It has been two weeks now and I’m still fighting. I tried calamine lotion, and some anti-histamines prescribed by a doctor but they didn’t work. Since everyone advised me not to scratch, I resorted to poking the spots with my fingernails….and soon bruises formed….
I started to think: the bite was like our sins. It doesn’t leave any immediate marks but to develop when we least expected it. And when we try to remedy our sins (lotion, medicines), it doesn’t always work the way we wish it would be. Worse is when we try to cover it (by scratching or poking hoping to stop the itchiness), it balloons up. I guess the best way would have been to prevent it from happening from the very beginning. Yoga teaches us about Yamas and Niyamas. Hopefully by restraining ourselves from the 5 Don’t’s and observing the 5 Do’s of Yoga, we can be spared of the sins.
As for the UFOs….well, I found out that they are not uncommon. They belong to the family of Sandflies (originated from New Zealand), which is widey known as black flies in other parts of the world. Ironically, they are called CANTSEEUM in Panama. Anyway, I’m yet to find a cure to rid of the red spots, which according to many, would take at least a month or two to subside. As for the itchiness, I’m giving one last try to this other anti-histamine called Zyrtec, which is STRONGLY recommended by a dear friend (whom has all sort of allergies in her life). You can be sure that I’ll rub myself thoroughly of the best insect repellant I can find the next time I go to an island or beach.
3 responses so far ↓
1 tulay // Dec 3, 2007 at 6:42 pm
hi shane,
i usually get bitten badly as well. i used zyrtec and all the rest. the best thing that works for me is tea tree oil! it creates wonders, has no side effects and smells wonderful.
2 tulay // Dec 3, 2007 at 6:55 pm
you can get good quality tea tree oil in the body shop.
3 Ponya // Dec 4, 2007 at 6:53 pm
hey!tulay,
I took your advise and bought a bottle of the shower gel and a vial of tea tree oil.I like the mild astringent effect it has on my skin.the only drawback is i have to dab the oil on each of the hundreds of red itchy spots on me! it’s at time like this that i amaze myself how meticulous i can be:)
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