Like sands through the hour glass, these are the spiders of my life

In my travels to the tropics I have had many-a-8-legged friends...oh the large and over-sized spider, how you have made sleeping and living arrangements more interesting.

Surprisingly, in my bamboo home in Indonesia, I did not encounter many scary spiders, save for one large and scary brown one that crawled up out of the bathroom drain...ew. It would seem there are some advantages of having your bathroom NOT attached to your bedroom.

Unfortunately, leaving the comforts of my bamboo hut and on to my travels across Indonesia and onward to Cambodia, I have met many scary spiders. I suppose this should not be surprising, but it still gives me the heebie jeebies!

I'd like to take a moment here to remember those unwelcome encounters. (I was going to do a compilation of tropical fruits, but somehow this felt like more fun)

The one on my back - That was on my back and crawled up until my neck before i managed to swat it off.
The ones in the sky - There were many of these spiders weaving big old webs across Indo. Sometimes it was horrifying to look up and see just how many there were hanging out in the trees and on electrical wires.
The one in my bed - Big wolf-like spider that was at the edge of my bed...it was expertly captured and removed.
The one on the sign - Fingers for reference.
The one from Rabbit island - in the bathroom, eyes gleaming, a smaller brother was on the other wall. He was gone in the morning....creepy.
The one in our house that changed the game - And then, the large rodent like beast that appeared in the upstairs bathroom of our house in Cambodia. Ashley screamed as she almost stepped on it. I came up and screamed...we stared it down for a while, strategized about what to do. We could disable it with Raid...but its so big, it might just piss it off! It also might only give it cancer in a few years, but definitely not kill it right away. What would we even kill it with? Could it be killed? It must be like 5 years old...it would be a shame to kill it! Perhaps we can capture it.

Ashley was brave and humane enough to attempt to capture it in a large rubber container, we had the Raid ready for back-up. Unfortunately, it was too quick, and evaded capture. With its new location, behind the toilet, we were forced to call in extra help. Bailey, not knowing what she was getting herself into, bravely entered the bathroom and attacked it with Raid. This pissed the spider off, as we expected. It did some James Bond maneuvers, ran up the walls, and almost got Bailey...finally Andrew, a seasoned spider killer, arrived on the scene. Calmly, he swept it in the open and whacked it a couple times with a flip-flop...A FLIP FLOP! It was buried in the backyard.

Is that a spider on my plate?

Yes.
Revenge was sought for all previous and future attacks by ritualistically eating a fried tarantula with a nice lemon pepper sauce. No it was not good, but the sauce was nice.

Those were a few of the most memorable spider stories, I expect there will be many more. Perhaps one day we can learn to live together in peace. Spiders, I appreciate that you eat other annoying bugs, I just wish you would keep your distance, or at least keep hidden, and stop biting me. Thanks.

:)