Insects and wing ‘ed’ things – Asia

Mandy: 7th October 2014 – 18th February 2015

Glen spotted this unusual little creature which we thought was a tiny piece of twig until it suddenly started to move. We were sat on our balcony amongst the trees in Kep, Cambodia over Christmas watching and photographing it. We were not sure whether it was some sort of insect which fixes pieces of bark to itself for cover like a hermit crab uses a shell or if it was part of its body. Either way it was amazing to watch as it moved along. It would clamp down tightly on to the wooden handrail if we tried to gently move it, a bit like a limpet.

We saw this huge, recently deceased beetle in a Temple in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma)

Pai, Northern Thailand

Siem Reap, Camboida

A huge insect being eaten by tiny insects.

Tip of the Iceberg

This was a short section of a very long centipede type creature climbing up over the balcony in The Tara Lodge in Kep, Cambodia. I think we spent most of the Christmas period looking at insects and wing ‘ed’ things (as I call them) now I look back at our photos.

Some sort of Hornets nest in the roof of a little Temple in Inwa, Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma)

The reason I have included a blurred photo of this spider is because it was important to me at the time! We had just landed in Myanmar (Burma) and got into a rough old minivan to be taken to our hotel in Mandalay. I spotted this spider on the back of the seat in front of me and thought, in my negative anxious way, that if it were to bite me and I became ill later Glen could show the photo of the spider to the Doctor so they knew how to treat me. I know! what am I like!? The truth is that the spider was soon forgotten when we looked out of the window at the wonderful views across the fields and hills where there were Stupas after gold Stupas in every direction. (Smile) Arriving in Myanmar was wonderful, it was different and we loved it there.

I never did pass out or become ill so I guess the spider didn’t bite me. (wink) However I was bitten on my hand in Cambodia whilst sat at the top of a waterfall and it was very painful. Annoyingly I did not see the creature that did the damage.

Hard Winged Rhinoceros Beetles of the Scarabaeidae family, commonly known as the Fighting Beetle. We saw men holding Beetle fights in the streets of Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.

This spider was the biggest spider we have ever seen. We saw it everyday for the ten or so days we spent in Pai, Northern Thailand. The web was amazing, about twenty feet across between two electric poles.

Pai, Northern Thailand

We took perfect close up photos of similar red Dragonfly’s in Sanur, Bali on our previous trip but even though we saw hundreds of these in Pai we couldn’t get a good close up shot. This photo will help us remember them though.

Pai, Northern Thailand – Street food

This huge Cricket type insect had seemingly escaped onto this waffle stall from the fried insect stall near by.

Kampot, Cambodia

We spent an hour one evening sat on the balcony in The Tara Lodge in Kep, Cambodia, watching this little hummingbird type moth feeding.

Koh Lanta, Southern Thailand

We have never failed to be excited by the sight of a Praying Mantis. I think we first saw one in Corfu when sat in a restaurant drinking some sort of free orange coloured liquor when the girls were little. I can’t remember something I mislaid yesterday but I remember things like that from seventeen years ago. What’s that about!?

I thought this one looked like the face of Jesus of Nazareth, Koh Phi Phi’s ‘Turin shroud’ (Wink)

Not a particularly good photo but we had to document the Butterflies we have seen in South East Asia. These happen to be in Koh Phi Phi but they were everywhere, South East Asia, as I have mentioned before is like a Butterfly farm.

Another giant spider in Koh Phi Phi

Giant Ants in Luang Prabang, Laos

We were sat lazily by the Mekong River watching these giant Ants working

Kep, Cambodia

We saw a whole area in the woods covered with these large funnel webs during a walk. We didn’t see any spiders though.

In the vegan town of Pushkar, India we saw these meaty Ingredients in my Coconut Lassi drink

Udaipur, India

A Bees nest on the outside of The Palace Walls

This little homemade Butterfly broach made from recycled plastic and an old rusty safety pin was pinned on me by a lady selling mementos next to a Temple in Bagan, Myanmar (Burma). She said it was for luck but I think it was a way of bagsying us as we went in to the Temple to ensure that other stall owners did not try to sell things to us on the way out before we got to her stall. I think she had marked us as “I saw them first” (chuckle) we didn’t buy anything so in the end she just asked us if we had any lipstick or perfume to give her! I said I wished I had such things but couldn’t carry her mementos and hadn’t brought such items as perfume and lipstick in my backpack. She then lowered her expectations and asked for sweets so she was basically a stall holder and a beggar (chuckle)