Healthy Building in Thailand

My trip to Thailand to help build a yoga and meditation space for women supported by the International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice was a great success. With so many women from all over the world contributing their skills the building went up amazingly quickly. 
I’d taken my needles and moxa with me together with home made potions and lotions to keep the mosquitoes and insects away. 
The first acupuncture success was my self treatment to deal with jet lag on the flight out. I managed to get through a 30 hour journey (with only 2 hours sleep) and the 7 hour time change without any tiredness at all. I needled myself in specific points every 2 hours during the trip and felt totally normal by the time I arrived. Pretty miraculous really after such a long journey.
Once there my home made insect repellent did keep the flying critters from biting but did nothing to keep away the crawling red ants. Most of us got quite a few bites from these persistent creatures which not only caused itchy inflamed bites but also bruising. 
I found that a moxa cigar aimed at the bites not only reduced the immediate affect of the bites and reduced the irritation but also made then heal much more quickly. If treated with moxa the bites didn’t become infected nor did the bruising spread. 
Of course it would have been much better not to have been bitten in the first place but for that I think I would have had to be vacuum packed for my whole trip. Despite the ants I wouldn’t have missed this wonderful building experience. Acupuncture, moxa treatments and home made mosquito repellent definitely helped keep me and my fellow builders happy and healthy. 
Many of us have agreed to return to Thailand to build again and if you’d like to know more about the work the IWP do or more about sustainable living you can look at the following sites
https://womenforpeaceandjustice.org/
https://www.mekongtourism.org/mekong-responsible-tourism/pun-pun-centre-self-reliance-chiang-mai-thailand