Story time: My Bed Bugs Nightmare in Thailand

Only two weeks into our one-year trip around the world, I managed to get bed bugs in Thailand.

On the way from Bangkok to Koh Tao, I became the feast for some of the World’s most annoying bloodsucking insects. And in this blog post, I’m going to tell you all about it.

Apart from telling my story from Thailand, I’ll also share some information about the early signs of bed bugs and how to get rid of bed bugs fast in just 4 steps.

So if you’re unlucky to find yourself in my situation, then make sure to follow my bed bugs advice and just hang in there my friend. You can beat these bloodsuckers!

Please beware of some very unflattering pictures of my bed bug bites will appear along the way. Normally, I would never share pictures of myself like this. But I felt the need to share them since you may not know what the bites look like, and they could help you identify insect bites of your own. Now let’s begin!

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My story of getting bed bugs in Thailand

My bed bugs nightmare was due to happen the minute I decided to book the cheapest transportation from Bangkok to Koh Tao in Thailand.

How I got bed bugs: Bangkok to Koh Tao

Glenn and I had just begun our one-year-trip around the world, and it was time to find an exotic island and go enjoy the sun. So we decided to head towards Koh Tao.

We went online to 12go.asia and looked for transportation options. We decided on the overnight bus that would leave Bangkok at 7 PM. Everything went smooth until we were dropped off at a pier at 3 AM and had to wait for the boat to Koh Tao for 4 hours in the night.

It’s safe to say that taking the night bus from Bangkok was a stupid decision. Not only did we not get any sleep that night. It was also somewhere on this trip that I got bed bugs. So please do yourself a favour. Take the day bus!

After waiting all night, we then proceeded to take the ferry to Koh Tao. There are two ferry companies that can take you to Koh Tao, Songserm and Lomprayah, we took the Songserm ferry.

At this point of our trip, so I was more than happy to have 3 seats to myself in the ferry. I laid down and closed my eyes. Although I couldn’t sleep, It was nice to close my eyes and get a bit of rest.

This is when I got bed bugs in Thailand.

Early signs of bed bugs: Waking up with a rash

We arrived early in Koh Tao, and we were so happy to finally be here!

I obviously wasn’t aware that I had got bed bugs at this time. So, Glenn and I just put on our backpacks and walked to our lovely hotel which was only about a 10-minute walk away from the harbor, we got some breakfast, and then took a looong nap.

We woke up after the nap and decided to go explore Koh Tao. This is when I looked at myself in the mirror and saw some kind of rash on my back.

I immediately started to freak out.

Did I have an allergic reaction to something?

Maybe the sheets from the bed?

Never once did it cross my mind that it could be bed bugs.

So I didn’t think further about it, and we went out to explore Koh Tao. We went to the beach and had a few drinks.

Time to go home from the beach.

I looked at myself in the mirror and the rash was still there, it also started to itch a lot. So I took an antihistamine, tried not to think further about it, and went to sleep.

I’m very prone to allergic reactions from small things, so that’s why I didn’t react at first.

Discovering the bed bugs: Going to the pharmacy

The next morning, the rash was still there and it had gotten a lot worse.

So I do what I always do when I have no clue about what’s happening, “Let’s ask the Google Gods”.

I spent some time googling what kind of rash it could be, and I realized that it could be so many things. So I gave up and told Glenn that maybe we should just go to the pharmacy.

So we went to the pharmacy, I lifted up my shirt and the pharmacy lady immediately said, “oooh bed bugs!”

…Excuse me?

That just couldn’t be right! No way! I didn’t want to accept that answer. But apparently her answer wasn’t negotiable. I had to face the facts that I had gotten bed bugs in Thailand.

My world changed in a second. I had become a permanent member of the dirty backpacker club, and I could never go back to being a decent backpacker again. I lost a part of myself that day.

Whoops. This got a bit dramatic. Sorry.

I went back to our hotel on Koh Tao and talked with the staff – because at first, I naturally assumed that I got the bed bugs from the place we stayed at in Thailand.

They said it wasn’t possible because they have bed bugs proof mattresses (our something like that), and then they asked me about our form of transportation from Bangkok to Koh Tao.

When I mentioned the Songserm ferry, she said, “No! Don’t use Songserm, many people get bed bugs from that company.”

I immediately went back to the Google Gods and found a few stories about bed bugs in the Songserm ferries of Thailand. The lady from our hotel was right. It all made sense! Especially because Glenn didn’t have any bed bugs bites, and he was sitting outside on the ferry during the whole trip.

F*#@ me for booking the cheapest and worst option from Bangkok to Koh Tao, I thought!

I went back to my room and carefully looked at the bites. Then I noticed how all my bites were in groups of 3. This is very common for bed bug bites. They bite 3 times in a line in the same place and then they move on. So be wary if you see these groups of bites on your body.

How I got rid of my Thailand bed bugs in 4 steps

So sh*t happens.

Now all I could do was focus on how to get rid of the bed bugs, so I could enjoy my time in Thailand. So here is my advice on how to get rid of bed bugs while you’re traveling.

1. Look for clues

The first thing I did was going through all my stuff.

I live out of a carry-on backpack, so it’s not like I had that much clothes to go through.

I carefully looked for bed bugs, bed bugs eggs, and bed bugs excrement.

Bed bugs are very small nasty insects, their eggs are small, white and often laying next to each other, and their excrement has the same color as rust on a bike.

I was wearing a white loose shirt on our trip from Bangkok to Koh Tao, and while looking at the inside I saw traces of blood and bed bugs excrement. Yikes! Filthy.

Then I found a cotton bag that I normally use to put dirty clothes in. It was full of bed bugs excrement too. This was a bad sign. They must be all over my clothes, I thought.

2. Do Laundry right away

Glenn and I gathered all our clothes, except for the ones we were wearing, and gave it to the nice man across the street who does laundry.

I shamefully told the nice Thai man that we had bed bugs, and he just understood what he had to do right away. He told us that he would wash it at a high temperature, and then put it in the hot sun for a couple of hours afterwards. Perfect!

Then we went to a shop and each bought one pair of clothes. We then took off our last set of clothes, put it in an enclosed plastic bags, took a hot shower and put on our new clothes. Now we were bed bugs free.

3. Put backpacks in the sun

The only problem now was our backpacks.

Luckily we had a balcony in our hotel. So I gave our backpacks a quick wash, and then I just placed them out in the hot sun for 2 days. The heat would kill anything alive. Perfect!

4. Check the bed

Now the hotel said that the bed bugs couldn’t be from their beds, however, I still needed to check that there wasn’t any creeps under my mattress. I mean, they are still called bed bugs.

We lifted the mattress, thoroughly checked it and concluded that there was no trace of bed bugs here.

We could finally declare ourselves completely bed bugs free! Yay! I found that this was the best way to get rid of bed bugs naturally and fast, because you don’t use any sprays which might not be very healthy to breathe in and it only took us one day of work.

How long before my bed bug bites disappeared

The worst part about getting bed bugs is the itch! I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to all insects (my mosquito bites always swell up 10 times their size), so it was really hard for me to sleep for 2 full weeks!

It also sucked getting bed bugs in Thailand because I think the sun and the salty ocean made it much worse. But how could I not go to the beach now that I was finally on Koh Tao?

I did buy a salve from the lady at the pharmacy, which took away the top of the itch. So, if you ever get bed bugs in Thailand, just head to the pharmacy and they can help you find something to soothe the itch.

Antihistamine also helps a bit on the itch. So get some of that as well.

And if you’re in the same situation as me right now, then good luck! You can beat these bloodsuckers. I believe in you.

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That’s it. That was my story about getting bed bugs in Thailand on my way from Bangkok to Koh Tao. I hope someone will find this blog post helpful, so I can give purpose to my bed bug misery.

Did you ever experience bed bugs in Thailand or anywhere else during your travels? Please share your story in the comments.

Thanks for reading and happy travels!

Check out my other blog posts from Thailand:

• 3 best beaches in Koh Tao
• Golden Mount Temple in Bangkok
• Erawan Waterfall from Kanchanaburi
• Walk the Monkey Trail in Krabi