I’ve been dreading the return of the cockroaches after their winter hibernation – it’s the real sign that summer has arrived in Shanghai. Still, the sight of the first one in the bathroom still freaked me out. The second one I nearly sat on – freaked me out A LOT more. It was hiding under the cushion on the sofa.
At least they are easy to kill with a quick squirt of Raid – they keel over, legs in the air and I have to scoop them up with a piece of paper (hands shaking) and chuck them out of the window to the rats scuttling around the community.
On hearing my plight, my friend Zhen brought me four delightful brocade bags filled with a strange (neither pleasant nor unpleasant) smell. She assured me that they would keep away mosquitoes and other nasties. I really don’t have much faith in their ability to keep away cockroaches (which I hate much more than mosquitoes) but she insists that the it is a Chinese traditional medicine solution to the problem.
I must admit I haven’t seen any more cockroaches yet but it has only been a week or so and I need to have a longer test period. The house smell of these sacks as soon as you open the door.
I invested in a mosquito bat about a month ago but have never had the opportunity to sue it. Every time I saw an insect I would rush for the bat and find it was out of power and needed to recharge. And now I have the smelly sacks I haven’t seen a mosquito.
I must admit to actually looking forward to batting the mozzies and hearing them fry as they get electrocuted on the wires, the sound of their blood filled bodies frazzling.
That’s where traditional Chinese medicine wins out – they have worked out a way to keep the things away rather than a way to end their lives!