One night in
Thailand I awoke to find that several mosquitos had made virtual
buffet tables out of my limbs. My scratching was actually what woke me up and, although the scratching
felt good, the itching would start again before I could fall back to sleep.
"You're not getting any sleep this night" I grumpily thought to myself.
It was then that I remembered the wee jar of
Tiger Balm buried somewhere in my backpack. I rubbed a small dab of the salve onto each mosquito bite and within only a few seconds I was back on my way to the land of nod.
Tiger Balm is kind of like Icy Hot or Ben Gay in that after applying it your skin starts to feel nice and warm. Unless you blow on your skin, then it feels cold. Strange, that.
I don't know if the Tiger Balm actually counteracts the itchiness—I think not—I believe it just makes the affected area so warm that you don't feel the bite anymore. Much like Gilligan stomping on Skipper's foot to make him forget he just hit his thumb with a hammer—but this works.
Tiger Balm comes in two strengths: white and red (the latter supposedly being stronger). It comes in a variety of sizes, the most popular being the Carmex-sized jars or teeny nickel-sized tins. You can find Tiger Balm at most health food stores, or every five feet in the Thamel section of Kathmandu, Nepal.