when bedbugs attack

It took me three days of traveling to get bedbugs.  Three.  3.  Tiga. !!! A Balinese man told me I have “sweet blood” and that’s why they like me.  yeah. right.  A Balinese man will tell you anything... but I shall leave that for another post.

So, first two nights in Bali and we stay in this dive of a hotel... like, we didn’t even ease into this... just straight to the $12 hotel, no toilet paper, towels, or bedding... clearly it has never been cleaned.  I couldn’t imagine how one could possibly get clean in a bathroom so dirty... but... it had a shower (well, a shower head in the middle of the bathroom that soaked the toilet when it was turned on) it was in a good location, and the beds were very comfy!   I woke up the first morning with tiny little fast moving unidentified bugs.  No big deal.  I’m in Indonesia, or course there are bugs.

After the second night we would have stayed longer, except that two Australian girls moved in next door and we couldn’t imagine trying to get through another night of them drunkenly coming back and trying to get into our room, banging around, and having loud sex (don’t let me get started about the Aussys around here... not to over generalize... but ... wow).  So we decided to move up.

After shopping around a bit we found this beautiful hotel: two pools, ac, fridge, tv, beautiful bathroom, nice sitting area, breakfast provided, even a picture on the wall!  It was $30 which is just at the top of our price range, but still doable.  (we could have paid $20 for a non ac room, but the ac one had a fridge and that’s sooo worth it!)

We paid for two nights and excitedly moved into our new home.  We naively put our belongings in the shelves and drawers, laid our sarongs and bedsheets on the beds, and patted ourselves on the back for finding such a nice place.

I slept well that night knowing that I was in a higher quality accommodation, and feeling as though this was a life I could live.

In the morning I woke up slowly.  I opened my eyes and stared at the wall for a while (as I like to do) and watched little bugs crawl around.  Little blackish circular bugs.  I saw a few, crawling up the wall, and over the sheets.   I saw some that were big and some that were small, and even some tiny little red ones.  I thought... “hmmm these look like bedbugs” (when I worked at streetlink I had the opportunity to become very familiar with them) but then I thought... “no no.  It’s daylight.  Bedbugs wouldn’t be out at this time.  But, if there was a particularly bad infestation....” (and I recalled the man bringing me a dead bedbug that was running across the hallway in the evening, the shelter was so infested that they could be seen in daylight...)  but no, no.  They can’t be bedbugs.  I must be mistaken, it has been a year since I have seen one.

We paid for two more nights.

I brought my netbook to breakfast to do a little research.  After looking at pictures and reading about them, I became more fearful of the little harmless friends that I awoke to.   Caitrin logically stated that we have no bites, so they probably aren’t bedbugs.  Surly bedbugs would have bitten us.  We pushed aside our anxiety and went about our day.

That evening we arrived home late (fyi everywhere I stay is home, since I am technically homeless now).  I sat on the bed and we thought about the bedbug possibility again.  We went over all of the information and observations we had... little circular brownish bugs crawling around (the same shape, size and color as a bedbug), shells of bugs in the bed (as they mature bedbugs shed their skin), tiny red bugs (similar to baby bedbugs), brownish blackish smears on the sheets (feces of a bedbug)  ... there was one crawling up the wall... there was one crawling over my pillow!!  Caitrin wanted to look for more evidence.... I, however, had decided that ignorance was bliss and I would not deal with it.  (silly Heather)

Caitrin (oh, what would I do without her!!) ignored my childish plan to ignore the problem and caught the two that where on the wall.  We had decided that there was too much evidence towards bedbugs, and were certain that’s what it was.  And since they were so blatantly walking about the room with the lights on... it was bad.  Very bad.  We (really just she) brought the captives to the front desk to complain.  We told them that these bugs were all over our beds and in our pillows, and what we thought they were.

The clerk did not react in a manner that would suggest he was surprised.  He immediately offered to switch us rooms, and told us to leave our contaminated belongings in the old room for the night and they could be washed in the morning.  He suggested that we take good showers and wash our hair as well.  He was apologetic and stammered about how it is a big problem in France, and some French people had stayed in that room recently.  I assured him that there are bedbugs in Canada as well, and we know that it is a risk of staying in any hotel, but we just wanted a room that was bug free.

The next morning the bites became visible. (it can take up to a week)

First my elbow.  Then my lower arm.  Then the back of my bicep.  My shoulder...both shoulders!  As the day went on, more bites appeared.  My legs, my feet, my stomach, my neck and chest, the back of my neck... I try not to visualize the hundreds of bugs that were ravishing my body throughout the night.

I chose to come here.  I knew the risks.

Oh, how happy I was that I had Caitrin!!! If it wasn’t for her I would have been a human buffet for a second night (yah, her bed was fine... only I was marred) If they did that much damage in one night... imagine if I had slept there for two!

We did all we could... I sent every piece of clothing I had to be washed and dried (oh how I hope that they used hot water, but who really knows?) and the hotel paid the charges (they tried to charge, and I politely informed them that most of what I was getting done was clean, why on earth would I pay them to debug my clean clothes?)  I went through every stitch of my purse (washing would ruin it) and shook out everything that was in it.  I am holding my breath about my backpack and other non clothing possessions...  If it didn’t touch the bed, then I’m not going to worry.  If Caitrins bed wasn’t infested, then it is reasonable to deduce that the infestation was only in my bed (shudder.... all over my bed...all over my body.  Don’t think about it)

I would still recommend the hotel... just don’t say in room 40.  We saw the mattresses outside and the bedframes on their side in the rooms... so it seems that they were giving it a good spay.... it wont kill them all though.  That mattress needs to be thrown away, and they need professional grade extermination.  I cannot wrong the hotel for this though, seriously, it can happen in any hotel in Canada too.

We are smarter now.  Nothing but the sleepsheets touch the bed.  And pj’s are kept separately.  Bags and all possessions stay away from walls and furniture.  Clothes stay in the bag.  And Caitrin performs bedbug checks throughout the first night. (I suppose I will take on that responsibility as well)

Only time will tell if I am carrying them now.  I suppose I will deal with it as it arises.  I will cross that bridge when I get there (as my parents urge me to remember).  For now I am that chick walking around Kuta with a body of bites and a blotchy sunburn.