Khao Sok

I don't really mind the little lizards crawling on the walls of my room, or the occasional frog resting on the mosquito net. Even the moths are quite elegant and the ugly grasshoppers amusing. But today, a long, black snake about a metre long squiggled past my path. It appeared so suddenly and moved so quickly the only reaction was to run away backwards. But that is the path to my hut, which I must use several more times.

Yesterday, exploring Khao Sok National Park, we discovered the place infested with leeches. I thought they only existed in water! But these ones crawl somewhere among the damp leaves covering the dirt path. Like an inchworm, they grabbed onto my shoe (while I was walking) and moved up towards my ankle. The first little bugger was noticed when I felt large ants biting me. The next 2 didn't get a chance because I was watching my feet more than the jungle surrounding me.

But these are the things I see, how much is out there that has not caught my eye's attention? I have fished out tiny ants in my soup and dirt in my jam and avoided the honey jar with a layer of ants inside. What am I really eating? How true are the "CleanFood Good Meals" signs? How many puddles I step in are infested with waterborn parasites? How many mosquitos that don't mind my repelant and bite me have malaria? What lives in the river I went tubing in? Is the fish okay that came from the sea where so many lives were taken? What caused me to be ill in all ways a couple days ago? I will never know! P