Jangjang Bureh Camp, where the blister bug and I became uneasy bedfellows
I woke up this morning with a sore right knee and a burning sensation in my left ankle. I initially thought I'd got sunburn from the riverboat – the sun was certainly strong enough – but I'd worn long trousers and socks all day, so it couldn't be that. On closer inspection, I found a string of blisters in a neat line along my left shin, as if someone had stubbed out four small cigarettes just above my ankle. They felt like burns too, and I found an identical collection of blisters on either side of my right knee.
I don't know what this is, but I've had it before when travelling. It's got to be some kind of biting insect, because the blisters are in patterns that can only be made by bugs of some kind, but I have no idea what causes them. They go away after three or four days, just like normal blisters, and don't require anything other than antiseptic cream and regular washing to prevent infection, but somewhere out there in the bed linen of the world lives a bug that gives me blisters. What a bastard.
Just wait 'til I catch the bugger in the act. He'll rue the day...
