I’ve been adding up the times I’ve been bitten or stung in Thailand. The list is fairly impressive.

Hornets, scorpions, spiders, bed bugs, bees, horse flies, and mosquitoes. Red ants, black ants and fire ants. Four of the five dog bites I’ve ever received have been in Thailand. No snake bites, I’m happy to report, but a few close encounters.

Oh! and no fewer than three monkeys have had a go at me, teeth first. Once a monkey in the Chiang Mai zoo managed to grab me by the wrist and started pulling my hand towards it’s mouth. Another time a monkey at the Lopburi monkey festival jumped out of nowhere onto my back. I still remember it’s hot breath on my ear. And then there was the time when a coconut collecting monkey amused himself by throwing coconuts at my head, and to add insult to injury, charged me when he came down from the tree.

And, sure, I’ve been bitten, both literally and figuratively, by women here. More times than I care to admit.

Usually my reaction is to get upset whenever I get bitten.

But today I was thinking that being bitten might have an upside. Makes you more alert. More aware of your environment. And, in turn, this makes you feel more alive. So maybe getting bitten is nature’s way of keeping us on our toes.

I’m not planning on taking a midnight stroll through my neighbor’s sugar cane fields tonight, but I’m thinking that maybe going forward, I’m not going to worry so much about getting bitten. Just take it as it comes. Is this what they call ‘surrendering to the tropics?’

Has Thailand bitten you, and how have you reacted?

I trust your tetanus, rabies and hepatitis a&b shots are up to date. If so enjoy !!!

OP, maby don't introduce yourself as gecko.

The first year the wife and I were in our new house I was bitten so much I was ready to move back to the city. I have scars from some of the bites on my legs. I had coils burning every where sprayed,put on repellents,did everything to try and get it under control. Now mosquito bites mean nothing to me,but ants and spider bites still make me want to scratch.Now i take bites as part and parcel of life in rural Thailand.Ants seem to always find me.

If there's a hundred people in a room, a lone mosquito would bite me. Despite every precaution: screens; electric zapper; spraying obvious breeding spots, I average 3 bites a day. We had the garden sprayed on Saturday & have had 2 bite free days.

If there's a hundred people in a room, a lone mosquito would bite me. Despite every precaution: screens; electric zapper; spraying obvious breeding spots, I average 3 bites a day. We had the garden sprayed on Saturday & have had 2 bite free days.

Eat more garlic - seriously.