View of water, land and sky from Sham Chung
One of the weirder looking bugs my hiking friend and I
spotted on the way to Sham Chung this afternoon!
And here's a colorful as well as unusual bug that,
at first glance, I mistook for a flower! ;b
While waiting at the bus stop at Pui O after taking part in a beach cleanup last month, I got attacked by midges. The rashes caused by the midge bites lasted for over two weeks, itching terribly and failing to respond to the hydrocortisone cream I slathered on them daily. And it wasn't until I got stronger medication from my doctor that my arms and legs started looking far less spotty and way more normal.
Determined not to get bitten by midges again while hiking this afternoon, I immediately sprayed insect repellent on my arms, legs and even the back of the neck after getting off the green minibus that had taken a friend and I to today's trail head. And after my friend proceeded to do the same, I remarked that with all the bug spray on us, we might not be able to make as many critter spottings as usual in this area and at the time of the year.
Pretty much every time that I've hiked to or from Pak Sha O, I've caught sight of some pretty interesting -- as well as plain pretty -- bugs. On an excursion some time back that saw us trekking between this well-maintained Hakka village and Lai Chi Chong, we had come across a whole slew of eye-catching critters. And another hike buddy and I had a similar experience when we hiked over to Sham Chung from Pak Sha O.
Although I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been otherwise, this afternoon's excursion also turned out be full of cool critter spottings! At the same time, I don't think I got any midge bites today. So it seems that the bug spray I use (a natural insect repellent called Mosi-guard) is able to keep annoying bugs (like mosquitoes as well as midges) away from me even while not repelling those critters that I totally welcome getting near when I'm out in the countryside and wishing to enjoy being in nature as well as getting in some enjoyable exercise along the way! :)
2 comments:
Not much around here at this time for bug bites. One thing last year we had a major issue with raspberries. The yellow jacket just took them over and couldn't get a one to eat.
Coffee is on
Hi peppylady --
The problem here this time in Hong Kong is that the past few months have been way wetter and more humid than usual, making it so that there are more places around for midges and mosquitoes to breed. This was actually only the third time in nine years that I got bit so badly by midges/sandflies -- and definitely the first time that it happened when I was just waiting for a bus!
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