“NYAMUK!” I heard this cry of disgust and anger already so many times during my stay in Indonesia. Frequently it is followed by a loud clapping sound or two, three or even more. The clapping sound is not to call the nyamuk the clapper is referring to, closer (as you would do in Indonesia to attract the attention of someone), but it is a desperate attempt to kill the little flying insect. Sometimes this works, and the clapper will than be even more disgusted because often his or her hand will be covered, not only with dead insect, but also with blood it took from one or more of the nyamuk’s latest visited volunteering victims.
Anyway, a nyamuk is something to be careful of in these parts of the world, because they spread some nasty diseases like malaria and dengue fever, hereby confirming your guess: I am talking about mosquitoes!
The malaria in Jakarta is rather harmless and can be easily cured, but the dengue fever can be quiet dangerous, especially when you already had a different variant before (there are 4 variants). To prevent the spread of dengue, a lot of places in Jakarta get ‘fogged’ frequently. However, this measure does not clear the danger for dengue, because it does not kill the mosquitoes, it only drives them away.
In the time I have been here, I developed a theory about cars and nyamuks. It dawned to me a few months ago, and since than I only get a confirmation of my theory in almost every experiment I do. The experiment is easy: just get into a car (any car, including taxis), start driving and wait for the first nyamuk to appear. This will not take long; within a few minutes, a nyamuk will appear and try to get a taste of your blood (this is the event that triggers the cry and the clapping I was referring to earlier). The conclusion of my experiments: EVERY CAR IN JAKARTA HAS ONE OR MORE NYAMUK INSIDE… Only in a very few cases, I could not confirm, but if you don’t see a nyamuk, it does not mean that there is none – some of the more clever buggers will attack from behind, without ever showing their faces.
Clapping is one of the less effective measures you can take and it does not eliminate the chance that you will be bitten. More effective is the electrical tennis racket that also can be used to scare of importunate sellers or kupu-kupu malam (although I never tried it, I can imagine it would), but still… you can be bitten by the ones you missed (I mean nyamuk, not the kupu-kupu malam, … I think). Most effective, however, is the use of the canned anti-nyamuk sprays from a well known brand (it sounds like bye, gone). Using it, it will kill all nyamuk that come in touch with the spray. Actually, it will kill every insect that comes in contact with the spray: mosquitoes, flies, ants, cockroaches, etc… Probably even people will be “Bye, Gone” after inhaling too much of the stuff…