'Tiger Balm'(red, in lttle round pocket-sized metal containers sometimes- a proprietary TCM remedy) worked a treat when i was in India(long time ago,93).I hear the locals swear by it.It's known more as a muscle relaxant but it can be used like i do as a insect repellant; i would use this everytime over other alternative applications which i probably don't trust that much.You know what they say in the HYP-no bugs and all that, and give your sadhana space a good sweep .
I hear the Mosquitoes are now in Northern Europe, and probably have been for some time.
P.S You can get them on ebay in the convenient 3g tin format i mentioned.I tried the smoke ring thingie indoor in nepal- i don't think it really worked, not really that effective and probably a waste of time. When in doubt do as the locals do.Although in India i noticed alot of the locals seemed largely immune to the mosquito bites.They may have liked th white caucasian skin better.But some locals may have evolved soome kind of immune or biological response perhaps as i noticed they were left untouched whereas my wrists,ankles,face,neck etc all exposed places got it.They can give a nasty bite too , worse than midgies,especially if there is a dozen or so bites.They come up in a big lump ,red,swollen etc and itchy as if you feel the need to scratch them.I don't trust the old anti-malarial prophylactics they used to prescribe ( i'm not sure if they're precribed any more). They made me a bit ill and can really tax the liver especially if you forget to take them, the chloroquine etc, quinone or whatever it's called. I remember the CIA researched this as they wer elooking for something to give the troops as the evidence as to the efficacy of those drugs is still in dispute. But they sent agents into China as the Chinese troops used this TCM plant with amazing success so they wanted it for their own.. Eventually they discovered it actually grew outside the Whitehouse on their doorstep as a common-ish native also plant.This is what i rtead somewhere a number of years ago. Now perhaps they give their troops it or have done.It's like a TCM medicine and believe it actually works where as the western prophalactic stuff maybe doesn't. Pilot-studies have questioned how effective those A-M prophylactics are-like they made little difference.If i went to India again I (probably) would'nt bother with that stuff. I heard foreigners also that had lived there for some times over six months saying they did'nt bother and had heard similar stuff- like doing more harmt han good. Ideally for malaria if you get hold of this plant.I remember forgetiing to take the daily dose med for about a week and the weekly dose med alsoX4 or something silly(as they gave you two different types) ,so i kind of topped extra then, then i ate a pizza and a beer or two perhaps(or was that afterwards;i can't quite remember) and then barfed all over this picnic table at some inn somewhere around the nepalese border.I'm pretty sure it probably rots the liver though.I've actually got an old photoe of me sitting in that inn dressed in white and looking a bit dusty and with the red dot on the forehead i think but i'd need to put it on flickr or something in order to link to it.
