It’s been a while since I shared a good story. Inspired by Brenna’s post, Around the World: Bugs (Part One), I reflected on some of my own insect encounters. I’ve dealt with swarms of mosquitoes just about every summer of my life. I braved the spiders in Australia- even became an expert on catching them in cups and releasing them!
While most insect stories induce creepy-crawly-ew-gross-no feelings, there is one in particular that causes a wide smile to spread across my face.
So, without further ado: Here is the story of the Wrong Way to Deal with Bugs in Nepal.
SCENE: My host home in Budhanilkantha, Nepal. My roommate, J, and I were showered and ready to go to bed. We were both laying in our perspective beds when we decided it was time to put the lights out.
J flicked the switch on the lamp, leaving us in darkness. I’d taken melatonin to help with falling asleep, and was beginning to feel its effect wash over me. It was quiet for about 10 minutes before I heard “OH MY GOD!”
I remained quiet as the lamp flicked back on. I heard J shuffling around. I figured perhaps she’d forgotten to do something before bed.
“Brianna!?” she said in a hushed tone. It was late at night and she didn’t want to wake our host parents. I rolled over, annoyed to have my almost-sleep disturbed.
“That thing just jumped on my face!” she said, voice trembling with shock and fear. She pointed to the window curtain that rested just above her pillow. A dark, menacing bug clung onto the curtain. It was probably 5 inches long and I knew immediately it was a praying mantis- or something of the praying mantis variety.
Sorry for the bad photo. It was dark…
J continued to quietly freak out as I got out of bed and tried to look for something we could use to catch it. I wasn’t about to just catch it with my hands. I’m not a crazy person.
Nothing could be found in our bedroom, so I quietly opened our door in to the main room and looked around to find something. Nothing was big enough to get around its massive, evil body.
I went back to our room, racking my brain for a plan B. J suggested just killing it. I’m not a super tree-hugger: I’ll kill a bug with zero remorse.
I searched through my bag. “What about this?” I asked, holding up a travel-sized can of Lysol spray. Side note for international readers: Lysol is a disinfectant spray, filled with lots of chemicals and stuff
By this point, the mantis had slowly begun its crawl up the curtain. I imagine it was trying to get to a higher vantage point from which to launch its attack.
The home in which the assault took place
J took the Lysol from me and sprayed the mantis. One good long squirt, to douse it in chemicals.
We backed away, afraid it was either going to explode or get really angry. From the safety of the far corner of our room, we watched as the mantis tried desperately to crawl up the curtain. It was shaking. Its legs stretched outward and twitched and we knew its time had come.
We stared until the mantis stopped moving, relieved to have come out of this battle unscathed. We gave it a couple minutes to make sure he was good ‘n dead. With a sigh of relief, we began walking back to our beds.
Budhanilkantha is so pretty when you’re not being attacked in your sleep
THAT’S WHEN IT MOVED AGAIN.
Yes. The flippin’ zombie-mantis came back to life and began making its way across the top of the curtain to MY side of the room.
It knew.
It knew the Lysol was mine. It smelled my fear. It was coming for me.
This is obviously the point where J and I let out girlish shrieks. How could anything just be okay after being completely doused in household cleaning chemicals?
We began nervously discussing what our next plan of action would be when we heard a soft knock at our door.
This is probably where zombie-mantis lives during the day
“Sisters?” our sweet host mother said as she peeked into our room. Defeated, we pointed at the mantis. With a knowing nod of her head, she left the room and returned with a hand-made broom.
That’s when this tiny, quiet, sweet little Hindu woman proceeded to beat the living crap out of the mantis- smooshing it against the wall again and again with the broom.
J and I stood there in shocked silence- both sad that we had awoken our host yet impressed by her violent outburst.
“Goodnight” she said and gave us a smile as she left our room. J and I exchanged glances, unsure of how to put the experience into words. Instead, we just settled back into our beds and turned off the light.
***
Have any good bug stories from your travels? Tell me in the comments below!
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29 Comments
Hahaha, incredible.
HA! Love this story! That mantis looks menacing, like its plotting something 😉
I’m not usually afraid of bugs anymore after backpacking through Southeast Asia and staying mostly in huts but I do have one cringe worthy story! I had just finished getting dressed in our hostel room in El Nido when I felt an itch on my back. I scratched only to feel something crawl up my back. I jumped around the room screetching and tore off my shirt in front of the whole dorm to find giant cockroach had made my tank top his new home.
Bleeeeeh!!! I would have FREAKED!! Then probably showered for hours.
Haha this did make me laugh! I have more problems with the little bugs that bite you and then run away!
Ugh. Those sneaky little buggars…
I enjoyed reading your post! reminds me of a story that my friend told me when we were living in Namibia. One day she walked into her room to find a snake had made its way partially under her bed. She screamed and ran to find her host mother, who walked in and, without hesitation, began hacking it to death with a machete.
Pahaha! I did not see the machete part coming!!
Hahaha I’m with the sweet little Hindu woman! No remorse when killing bugs. If you don’t squish them, they WILL come back to haunt you! haha 🙂
Right? They’ll sense your weakness and take advantage…
I never freak out when I see bugs and I don’t kill them unless is absolutely necessary. Actually, I once took a praying mantis with my bare hands and started playing with it… and scaring the people around me *evil laugh*.
Elena | http://www.inspiredtoexplore.com
Yeah no, as soon as they make contact with my skin, they’ve sentenced themselves to death…
Cute story. We just came from a Bug Museum in Bremerton, Washington. The subject of my post for July 7!
Bugs are alright to see when they’re contained in glass!
I also freak out in any kind of bugs. I once had in Mentawai in Indonesia where I stayed for four nights. It came when I was having a shower but my shout was useless as the speaker for the muslim’s prayer (yes, it’s in ramadan) was anyway conquering the whole village. I did not do anything though, it just went away. haha
Haha that made me laugh… poor Mantis though!
aw i love that you wrote this in story form! what a cute idea
Sher
http://www.shershegoes.com
Thanks Sher!
I’m no tree-hugger either! I say if the bug came in my house it wanted to die! Terrified of bugs! Once I spot one, I can’t rest until I know it’s gone.
I like to make verbal contracts with spiders. If they stay where they are, they can live. As soon as they move, they’ve asked for death.
You are a very good story-teller but praying mantis aren’t harmful at all. you could have just got a stick and made it climb on then thrown it outside. They are pretty chill like that.
Crystal recently posted… Trash the Dress: Medieval Edition
Thanks, Crystal! I know they’re not harmful but when you’re in a foreign country you can never really be too sure…
Oh girl, I feel your pain! I am the same way about bugs but even more scared of geckos. Moving to Florida has certainly provided me with hilarious stories to tell at parties or with friends about the horrors of them getting in my house and how I call my neighbors 6 year old to come help out so I don’t have to pack my clothes and leave. Fun post!
Haha! Thats hilarious. I’m pretty afriad of ostriches, but luckily they don’t tend to run amuck much in Michigan 😉
Very entertaining read. Surely something you will remember…:)
I would have just picked him up and thrown him out of the window, but then I’m a little crazy. I did the same with a spider in Australia, completely forgetting that alot of them are poisonous haha. My girlfriend at the time was not best pleased!
As a kid I used to love playing with bugs. Snails and spiders (until one bit me and my finger grew huge, red and white). But I cannot stand mosquitoes. They seem to find me super tasty. No qualms in killing them. If I can catch them
Ugh. I’m always the one to get a million mosquito bites, while my friends will get like three.
Good job. I enjoy reading your blog.
Great story! The bugs around the world can be quite large and a little scary, in my opinion. I was less intimidated by them until I was bitten by a bullet ant in the rainforest in Panama!