Laos forum

No dinosaurs I don't think. Snakes and leaches probably, but you get them everywhere...I've even seen snakes in the klongs around Bangkok. (All snakes can swim BTW).

Nice spiders in Laos too! ;-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8675349@N06/710093804/

We aren't going to get horribly off the beaten track, but I assume there will be a lot of time spent in the water around the waterfalls, in and out of caves, and floating around like jerk tourists in VV / Don Dhet.

No foreseeable problems with this?

"Never get out of the boat. Never get out of the boat!"

Posted from within Vietnam.

DEET repels leeches (sorry Bruce.) Worked a treat when we did some walking in the north. We saw one green snake - they worry me a bit I must say!!
Good luck!

Don't go in the water or swamps or the like - places leeches live - and you won't get one on you. I have lived here over two years and I am proud to say I have yet to get a single leech on me!!!

Despite what anyone here says, there will be dinasaurs. Another term for dinosaurs is western tourist.

As others have pointed out, waterways are the home of snakes and leeches.

However, most snakes only swim in water if they can't gain access to land. So, in general, snakes won't be a big problem.

As for leeches, these lovely little critters also prefer land over water. Ordinarily, you'll find leeches adjacent to, but not necessarily in, small waterways. Some will be evident alongside larger waterways.

So, leeches can be a problem when entering/departing a waterway, but usually not while in a waterway.

As also suggested here, in the wet season, all manner of critters are swept into the waterways. The environmental impact of this detritus can be worrying to the westerner (dinasoar). but those living in SE Asia don't choose to occupy the waterways

Cheers

Mine's not big enough to support 12.

Ash

You're probably going to laugh, but one of the best protections against leeches is to wear two pairs of pantyhose.

The knitted nylon of pantyhose can be breeched by a small leech, which then converts itself via your blood to a big leech. But, two pairs of pantyhose right up to your waist will keep you leech free in that area.

The downside is what you think of others' thoughts of your look, and wearing same is exceedingly hot.

40 years ago, when out in the scrub for a few weeks at a time, and exposed to all sorts of waterways, etc., this worked a treat: and they were issued by our superiors.

Also, from time to time check areas near waistbands, sock tops, etc.

Cheers

PS. Busylizzy, sorry forgot to answer... mental visions of Bruce leaping about in pantyhose in the outback wielding tweezers, bit distracting... yes I think I did already mention the slow boat sinking on the slowboat thread. Here are a couple of pictures of them trying (and failing)to plug the hole in the boat.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8675349@N06/3721554781/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8675349@N06/3721555023/

We had to spend the night on a sandspit in the middle of the Mekong....good job they had a crate or two of Beer Lao in the hold.

SBE

To explain...

I then lived on a large (in some places steep) property, and where I couldn't use a ride-on, I had to brushcut (whipper snipper to some).

Brushcutters with stringlines REQUIRE one not to be in the nude - if for no other reason than the pieces of sticks, etc. being flung at great speed can be painful on the bod. Interstingly, at the time, I did have DEET sprayed onto my heavy woollen (ex army) socks.

The little buggers are small and slow crawlers. They typically travel across ones body till they find a hairy area, and once there they start chewing their way under one's skin.

I learnt years ago that one does NOT extract a live tick from one's body else the site is injected with copious amounts of anti-coagulant and venom. In such cases, the site becomes inflamed and upon recovery is just so itchy for ages and ages.

Even if one kills the tick first, the recovery, while not as tragic as should they be extracted alive, still incurs a period of itchyness.

So, for me, the better outcome is to drown the little buggers with an alcohol type fluid. I didn't have any metho, only turps. As it happened, there were so many I just got a big cup filled it with turps and lay down on it for a few minutes. Then it was a painful tweezers experience. And, as noted, it was bloody itchy for far too long.

Even sex wasn't the same for a while : (

- - -

Yep, we did get 'fungalitis', but it was either that or be covered in leeches.

I learnt a great remedy for fungal infections - especially those under toenails, etc.

Hydrogen Peroxide. It is also the best remedy for mouth ulcers.

Cheap n cheerful.

Cheers

John

Did you do the 'buddy' thing and oblige?

Cheers

John

That's what I can never understand about US grunts, they never know when they'll owe their life to their buddy. But when the chips are down he isn't a worth that special extra effort.

Mmmmm!!!!

Well I wasn't going to mention this in case there were people of a sensitive nature reading this but I might as well now we've had all those gory details from Bruce and Madmac.

During the week or two I was on Pulau Weh (Indonesia) I saw two local people with ticks on their upper eyelids. Their eyes swelled up horribly and it was quite painful. They just had to wait till the ticks fell off. Soaking your eyelids in things like ether or turpentine isn't really a good idea and as Bruce says, if you squash them when try to pull them off it makes things a lot worse.

"They typically travel across ones body till they find a hairy area, and once there they start chewing their way under one's skin."

The ticks on Pulau Weh probably dropped from the trees (it was quite jungly where we stayed). They must have crawled through a quite lot of hair before reaching the eyelids...you sure about that theory Bruce?

I've made a mental note to dress up as a bank robber next time I go back there anyway! Ticks are also vectors for rather a lot of rather nasty diseases ... AFAIK leeches aren't.

Ticks like warm, moist parts of the body, so not surprisingly they are drawn to the groin. However, clothes usually restrict access, so they bore in on where they can.

And yes, hair gives them something to hold onto while boring...

"I would be far more concerned about water borne parasites"

Indeed - we're back to "never get out of the boat".