100 Days in Thailand :: Day 10 - Don't let the BED BUGS bite!

For the past 7 days or so, I've been noticing little red dots popping up all over my body. Most of them are on my arms and hands, with a couple more on my face, leg and stomach.

I first noticed them around day 3 or 4.... at that time there were maybe 5 of them on my hands.

By the next day there were 11.

The next day there were 18.

I stopped counting when they went past 39.... but I'd say by now I probably have 50 or so on my body!!!

They did NOT look like mosquito bites (and I have been wearing lotion that keep mosquitoes away since we arrived) so I could NOT figure out what they were for the life of me! That is, until this morning....

Today I finally did a little google search to see if, by any chance, these could be BED BUG bites. Now let me preface that by saying that I have been TERRIFIED of bed bugs since we started planning this trip, because of a really scary story I read about an infestation in a hostel in Thailand. These things can bite you HUNDREDS of times in one night without you knowing about it, and can actually cause anemia because they drink your blood! The bites can also get infected and cause terrible scarring!

I was so concerned about this possibility, that my Mom and I went shopping before our trip and bought a mattress cover AND pillow covers that would keep bed bugs IN the mattress (if it was infested) so they couldn't get to us.

Of course, we didn't put that mattress cover on the bed at the YWAM base, because we were only staying 2 nights AND b/c that bed was a kingsize (and the mattress cover was a full).

And OF COURSE, that is where I was attacked by BED BUGS!!! With my BED BUG PROOF mattress cover packed away in my suitcase. *sigh.

Anyone else find that ironic?

Yup, my google searched put an end to the mystery... the description and photos of bed bug bites matched my little red bumps PERFECTLY. (I will spare you the photos, but you can do your own search to see!) The article also explained that though they might bite you all in one night, you could continue to have bites appear/become more noticeable for up to 9 days (which is why I kept finding new ones after we left!)

Though I'm creeped out, I'm also really thankful that most of my bites were on my arms (only a couple on my face/neck) and only two of them (on my arm) scarred. Still, I think I'm done with sleeping on coconut hull mattresses for a while....

Sleep tight, DON'T LET THE BED BUGS BITE definitely has new meaning for me!!!