4 Nights In Bangkok: The Lead Up

My body is covered head to toe in sweat. My back keeps sticking to the plastic mattress tied to my shity-folding cot. The pungent odder of 30+ other sweaty guys hangs heavy in the air, the humidity its constant companion. It’s hot, damn hot, and past midnight.

Our barracks consists of a bunch of white painted cinder blocks and screens, no running water or bathrooms. This means when I get up in 4 hours I’ll leave my PT shorts on (the really cool short ones), pull on my jungle boots, find a dry brown T-shirt, and don the jungle boonie just before I stager outside to wait for a turn to use some of the cleanest pissers this side of the Mekong River. (The water for the shiters comes from an engorged balloon that sits just outside)

4 and half hours later I walk into the shiter, thinking about how cool I look, and when sitting down notice the giant gecko (?) hanging on the backside of the door. This thing is probably one and a half times the size of my boot and I’m trying to figure out how to catch it. When I’m finished, I decide to give the bottom of the door some test taps to check the gecko’s reaction. Nothing. I slide my boot a little closer. CRAK! It sounds as if someone had dropped an MRE bomb as its jaws snap together. While I stand there, slightly befuddled, it moves faster then I can react to watch. It escaped up and over the wall I assume form the shout in the next stall.

I walk away thinking next time if I just stomp on its tail… and hold its head or body down with my E-tool…