Niles H.

Has anyone come across or experienced systems, materials, or approaches for sleeping well in these climates?

Machka 

Where are you going?

fietsbob

Ian Hibbell used a hammock fording thru the Panamanian swamps of the Darian Gap..

imi

Hammock with bug net is good in the tropics. Keeps you off the ground where creepy crawly things are, cool all round, and even a slight breeze will keep mozzies away.

Like Machka asked, any particular region?

bwgride

If you get or make a hammock, make sure it is double-bottom type so mosquitoes cannot bite through the bottom. Here's an example:

https://www.warbonnetoutdoors.com/blackbird/

shelbyfv

Don't know yet if OP's destination has skeeters or any other varmints.

SmallFront

Silk liner is a must.

imi

Double bottom and silk liner: Yes, good points guys

Machka 

Or ocean breezes ...

Will Niles H. be in the middle of a jungle somewhere? Will Niles H. be on a beach?

Tropical and semi-tropical is quite a range.

Sharpshin

Why yes, three years in a West African village here, Peace Corps

Simple straw mat on the floor worked best. I still sleep on the floor by preference to this very day, not wishing to lose that essential skill.

The other thing is a large, cotton sheet, known simply in Ghana as a "sleeping cloth".

Breathable, not too warm, you wrap yourself in it. Doubled up in this application, and thrown over one's head, it will protect you from most mosquito bites (which may or may not be a problem, depending where you are). Use rolled-up clothing as a pillow.

Cotton ain't as warm as you'd think, which is why it gives folks hypothermia in cold places, but IME it is easily bearable in the Tropics, and if your sleeping cloth ever does get funky, its a simple thing to rinse it and hang it out to dry.

If I had the option today I'd include mosquito netting, and I'd find a place on my gear to tie a rolled-up straw mat. If nothing else it would be instantly familiar to the locals and make you seem a bit less alien. Might get you invites for a meal and a place to stay too.

JMHO,
Mike

axolotl

Most tropical countries are also developing countries, and therefore accommodations are inexpensive. Weather conditions and/or crowded land conditions are often not conducive to camping. I've toured in about 10 tropical countries and I happily paid for a room nearly every night. In many tropical places, e.g. SE Asia, I think it's downright foolish to even think of camping. I did bring a mosquito netting tent on one trip which fit on top of a bed. I only needed to use it a couple of times, but I was very glad I had it each of those nights. Mosquito netting is usually furnished in rooms when mosquito netting is needed, but there were a few exceptions.

Niles H.

Hi Mike,

Excellent, intelligent post. Thank you.

Machka 

The place Rowan and I stayed in Taiwan worked out to about $30/night ... not bad for a basic, but clean and comfortable room with air conditioning.


But we still don't know where Niles H is going. "The Tropics" covers quite a bit of territory and conditions. And is that rural tropics or urban tropics?

Rowan

There was an excellent journal on CGOAB some years ago about a couple in their 60s who rode from Singapore up through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and into China. If I remember rightly, they dispensed entirely with camping gear and stayed in the cheap accommodation that was available along their route.

Sharpshin

Serious question:

How does one manage NOT to bring bed bugs home in one's bags? Or has that not been a problem?


IME bed bugs can find you on the floor too of course, its just easier for them to find you on the bed is all.

Mike

Machka 

Rowan and I spent 8 months travelling around the world ... Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, various places in Europe, from one end of North America to another and back, Western Australia, and finally back to Victoria, Australia ... and not a bed bug in the trip.

We've both travelled quite a bit in North America, Europe and Australia on other trips as well ... and no bed bugs.

Not saying we won't ever encounter them when we travel ... it's always possible ...

But one thing we did do was to check the beds before we slept in them.

Have you encountered bed bugs? And if so, where? What countries/cities?

Niles H.

Bed bugs:

Good question, Mike.

Hot water (140-plus makes it fairly fast) or sustained (over 30 min) hot driers, or both, will eliminate bed bugs and their eggs completely. The hot water is very effective. Some hostels with bed bug problems make it a point to soak everything they can in large tubs of hot water, frequently.

Baths and swimming help get them off the human body. They usuallly hide elsewhere, but sometimes also on the body itself.

Many of them are now permethrin resistant, but diatomaceous earth still works.

I've slept in a tent (the inner only, and all-mesh) indoors where insects are a problem, and found it to be effective.

It also is usually (I've had some exceptions, but they aren't common) effective at keeping the rodents at bay as well.

The quality of the sleep seems to be enhanced when one is completely enveloped -- when there is a complete barrier of protection. It seems to enhance the soundness of the sleep.

There is a feeling of protection and no-worries that enhances the quality.

And it feels good to sleep well and deeply. It seems to enhance the quality of life during the day as well.

Niles H.

They hide in seams, crevices, folds, behind labels, etc. Thoroughly washing or soaking everything in hot water before getting home, along with a gook soak for floating them off one's body, before getting home, should avoid any additional problems at home.

axolotl

Taiwan is a developed country, not a developing country, and it would have been difficult or impossible for me to spend $30/night in most of the places in developing countries that I've toured in. On my first tour in Thailand, for example, I spent between $4 and $10 for a room (everywhere except Bangkok) and I always had a private bathroom with hot water. I stayed in villages in Laos where the best available room cost $3, but was pretty basic compared to Thai places. Nicer places in rural Laos, when available, generally cost a whopping $5.

It sounds like you carefully avoided visiting any developing countries when you flew around the world. You're missing a lot (not just much lower prices) by restricting yourself to developed countries.

Niles H.

Also, let's try to stay on topic and make positive and helpful contributions to that topic.

*Please return to the topic of the thread, everyone.*

Please return to the topic, and make good contributions to it. One and all.

That is why I posted this thread, and that is what interests me here. Please don't hijack it elsewhere.

Thank you.

Niles H.

True.

I've tried some hammocks, and there is a lot to like about them.

I was put off for a while after one of them dropped me into a rocky creekbed. But I think one can take some extra precautions to avoid that sort of thing. Unfortunately, though, it isn't that uncommon for them to split and drop people. Pitching low is one way to mitigate the problem.

Coating the tarp with a thin coat of flexible aluminized paint or McNett polyurethane might be a big help in blocking the sun's rays and heat.

Another way to help with the heat would be a cooling vest. Apparently these can work well. They, or something similar designed for sleep, might help with getting a better night's sleep in some conditions.

Sharpshin

(sorry)

Um, ya.... they were pretty common in West Africa, had 'em in my room in fact. I dunno why they didn't take over, might have been the ants kept 'em in check. Fast little buggers, you'd be reading a book and turn the page and disturb one in its slumber. They leave a raised red bump, intensely itchy like a chigger, but not as long lasting. But... since they don't vector any diseases I know of they are merely an annoyance.

Meanwhile here in the 'states my wife does home health. Trust me, they live here among us A colleague had to tent and treat their whole house after travelling to Asia, they think tey came back in their bags.

I forget the lethal temperatute that kills them, it ain't all that high. Down here in sunny San Antonio in summer a simple precaution is to leave your bags in the trunk for a few days upon return, it'll hit 140 in there no problem.

Mike

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fietsbob

You can buy aluminized lightweight fabrics, 2 oz sil-nylons, & of course there are tarps made of heavier stuff, Niles

axolotl

Bedbugs are not a specific issue for "tropical and semi-tropical" conditions. Indeed, most bedbug reports in recent years have come from the temperate-climate portions of the USA.