We are under attack!!!

I received an email from my brother today. He is currently traveling in the Far East and emailed me from Thailand. He had just come back from a day chillin on the beach in Phuket. His email reminded me of our holiday in Thailand earlier this year and the strange final evening in Phuket.
After spending two weeks relaxing in Phuket we were getting ready to fly to Bangkok for three days of sightseeing. It was around 8 in the evening and we had just finished eating a lovely Thai curry from the local restaurant. Our bags were semi-packed and we were watching some TV. All of a sudden it sounded like the heavens had opened and a massive storm had hit. What we thought was rain was hammering on the windows. This seemed strange as it had rained hard earlier in the day and only did this every few days. We went over to the balcony and opened the curtains that covered the patio doors. It had just gone dark outside and it wasn’t raining. What we thought were rain drops hitting the windows were actually flying ants, millions of them!!
They must have been attracted to the balcony lights and now wanted to get into the apartment to watch a bit of TV. We stood for a moment mesmerized. I have never seen such a massive swarm of insects. From behind our glass windows it was quite a sight. I certainly wouldn’t want to step outside. We suddenly realised, if they were trying to get in here they might be trying other open windows. My brother ran into his bedroom and promptly ran out again. His room was full of them. We quickly ran around the apartment and discovered we were heavily out numbered. At this point it started to get a bit scary. I realised I was hundreds of times larger than these little flying ants but there were loads of them. They were buzzing around the lights casting massive shadows on the walls and marching across the floor. It seems once they land they shed their wings and start walking. Time for war!!
The ants had many ground troops but we had a can of insect repellent and two electrified tennis rackets. If you haven’t seen these tennis rackets before I recommend you get one just for the fun of it. It’s basically a plastic tennis racket that holds a battery. On the grip there is a red button and this charges the metal racket strings. Once charged you can take a swing at the offending insect and you hear a nasty electrical crack as you strike it. Quite a humane death? We went to work, swatting away at the flying ants. Some swings yielded 10 or so electrical cracks. We must have looked a bit mental to anyone outside looking in. Two guys letting fly with plastic tennis rackets. After about five minutes we realised we were loosing the battle. New tactics were required. There is something creepy about large numbers of small insects. They seemed to get everywhere. Every time you touched something it seemed to be covered. Light switches, door handles etc.
Plan B.
We switched off all the lights apart from the one in the kitchen. We were hoping to get them all in one place for a final assault. This of course plunged most of the apartment into total darkness. The ants would buzz right past your face and ears perhaps landing in your hair which was very freaky. At this point we didn’t know if these guys could bite or not. They must have been pissed off and seeing many of there fellow ants slaughtered. Perhaps they wanted revenge.
Now there were hundreds of them in the kitchen. Most had lots their wings and were walking about. We had another tactical discussion and came up with a final plan. In one swift movement we ran into the kitchen, killed the kitchen lights, opened the back door and switched on the outside light. The plan was to get them to walk out of the apartment of their own free will, heading towards the new light source. A bit like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. This plan wasn’t without risk. Opening the back door could have allowed reinforcements in. Fortunately it worked well and the war was over. After half an hour or so most had left. We finally relaxed and suddenly realised we had been combating the ants for over two long hours!!!
The next day we woke and saw the battle field in day light. Most of the lounge and kitchen area was littered with wings and dead bodies. It wasn’t a pretty sight. When we swept everything up it made quite an impressive pile.
We recounted the story to the taxi driver who took us to the airport. It seems this type of attack happens two or three times a year after a heavy rain fall. Two or three times a year!! Just our luck for it to happen on our last day when all we wanted to do was chill out on our last night!!