As the above picture suggests, staying on the Mekong in Nakhon Phanom was absolutely beautiful and very relaxing. The first few days of my stay in April were sunny but not real hot with a great breeze flowing off the Mekong to the balcony. Then it got humid and the bugs invaded.
One night about day four into the stay we came home from the family farm and I saw a small writhing white mass on the balcony. Upon closer inspection it was a tangle of insects with big white wings. As time moved on their numbers grew until the entire balcony floor was covered with them. And where there be bugs there be frogs…thousands of them. Singing happy songs all night long while they feasted on their own version of a Thai BBQ.
As you can see the next morning there were piles of dead bugs to brush aside on the balcony. When I went into town later that morning I was astonished to see huge piles of bugs being swept up everywhere by a rather large workforce of Thai’s that work for the city. They were filling 55 gallon drums and big trucks with the carcasses of the little critters.
As soon as they appeared they disappeared after a day. I thought it was odd that they only lasted that long but I was happy to have the balcony back at night. After a few days of being lulled into a false sense of relaxation they returned with a vengeance for 2 days and then promptly disappeared again for the rest of my stay.
Staying right on the Mekong is definitely the way to go in Nakhon Phanom but there are certain tradeoffs to consider. Insects at night, especially during April, will definitely be a nusiance and some of the mossquitos are very large. The white winged critters didn’t bother anyone they just like to congregate around light, screw and die. I never did find out what they are but I finally found an insect the Thai’s don’t like and won’t eat!
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Talen I get the same here in Prachuap. Often after rain. All that is left the next morning is a huge pile of wings.
I hope someone can identify them as I would love to know what they are.
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Don’t think I’ve come across these before, certainly not in those numbers. Wow. Surprised they haven’t been scooped up and fried….
What you have is a termite swarm. They were common when I lived on Borneo, but I don’t believe I’ve come across them in Bangkok.
It would happen after a rain, supposedly when the colony goes looking for a new place to live.
If you don’t close every window, then drive you crazy flapping around in the house late at night. I’d have to turn off all the lights as there would always be one or two getting in.
Then they drop all their wings and wiggle away. Into your wood.
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Hmmm could be Catherine…but if they are termites I would imagine that the houses in Nakhon Phanom wouldn’t last long with the sheer numbers of them.
But, I do only recall seeing wings as the remnants no bodies.
Talen,
After they swarm, they drop their wings (which is what you are left with in the morning.
http://www.terminix.com/Services/Termite/Termite-or-Ant/default.aspx
Catherines last blog post..Quick & Dirty Thai Language Learning with Myke Hawke
And here’s one for Thailand (a much more exciting read
http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2302
‘Some Thais find the swarms positively nourishing: the second most eaten insect in the world, termites can be fried without oil over low heat and with a dash of salt. Prepared thus, they have a greasy, peanutty taste; 36% protein; and a caloric content of about 600 per 100 grams.’
We didn’t eat them in Brunei though!
Catherines last blog post..Quick & Dirty Thai Language Learning with Myke Hawke
Very interesting…they don’t look like any termite I have ever seen so I guess thats why I didn’t think about it.
I can tell you this much….the Thai’s in Nakhom Phanom don’t eat them either. I mad several jokes about the family eating them and my girl let me know real fast nobody will eat those things.
Talen I have had the same problem in Wilai’s village in the past. We have to on occasion stuff cotton wool in the door gaps and keep the lights dimmed as low as possible to keep the buggers out. Apparently they are fed to chickens, so that’s one use in the village. Paradise does at times have it’s faults.
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Martyn, then that’s why the chickens look so malnourished
Those little bastards do get in easily too…
They wouldn’t last long in Chiang Mai, with the current levels of pollution they would drop dead from asphyxiation before they got over the city walls!
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‘with the current levels of pollution they would drop dead from asphyxiation before they got over the city walls!’
Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen them in Bangkok?
Catherines last blog post..Quick & Dirty Thai Language Learning with Myke Hawke
Catherine, in Chiang Mai if there are too many bugs about for your liking, just hire a tuk-tuk to drive up and down outside for a while, no need for expensive insecticides
Watch it though in Bangkok, I hear the pollution’s so great there they’re mutating into giant critters with a special taste for farang blood :-O
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Oh great, giant critters with a taste of blood! Time to get out my handy bug racket? I know it’s around here somewhere…
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looks like a species of Mayfly, an insect with an aquatic larval stage and a one-day adult lifespan. Hence they all emerged from their larvae in the river at once, mated and died (they all hatch at once as a survival strategy – they overwhelm their predators with food, leaving the survivors to mate in peace much like the cicadas of North America. You were just lucky enough to be there the one night of the year they all hatched!
Oh, and they have no mouthparts so blood-sucking is not an issue!
I believe you may be closest to the mark Dr. Mark. They did come out to play more than once though so they may have a staggered birth. They came out this night then again about one week later.