Thai Critters

Dear D,

Thailand offers a wide variety of animal life for my enjoyment and sometimes horror. In my bungalow alone there are so many types of bugs including tiny ants and then teeny tiny ants that I can distinguish from the floor only because of the way the light reflects off of their legs. They all bite, especially when they’re crawling in your shorts and then you put your shorts on. The saying didn’t come from nowhere. There are also cute little geckos that will bite if you try to touch them, AND their jaws lock once they bite. Besides leaving little gecko turds on my pillow, they eat bugs and mosquitoes, so we’re ok. Then there’s the big lizard that prowls the bungalows and turns up to scare the crap out of you at night.



I’ve been told that the big lizard eats geckos.

I’ve also been finding these tiny frogs conferencing on my front steps for a couple nights now.




One turned up in my shower and I mistook it for a clump of mold until I started spraying it with water and it began to scrabble madly against the tiled wall.

There are all sorts of hermit crabs and crabs scuttering around the beach as well.


And plenty of adorable dogs…many are street dogs of varying degrees of mangy-ness.
Here’s one gnawing at something itchy.


And a fluff ball puppy named “ocean water with low visibility” (in Thai).


Plenty of kitties too, like this one at the bike repair shop. Note the oil-tipped nose.



(She was inspecting my camera.)

Love,
L