Bed bugs (from a hostel in Malaysia)

A completely nontoxic and 100% effective way to kill bed bugs is with heat. If you treat the sheets and other affected clothing to temperatures of 120 F for 90 minutes, it will kill all of the bugs and their eggs. The high-heat setting on many dryers is good enough to accomplish this.

From University of Minnesota:

Laundering Items to Kill Bed Bugs

Washing clothes and bedding is a simple and cheap method of killing all bed bugs. It is a very important part of both do-it-yourself bed bug control, and when you have professional pest control company apply insecticides. Washing will kill some of the bed bugs, but it is the heat of drying that will kill any remaining bed bugs. With a few common-sense practices, you can easily disinfest clothes and ensure these items do not become bed bug hiding places as you remove bed bugs from the rest of your home.

https://www.bedbugs.umn.edu/bed-bug-con … laundering

Make a superlight sleeping bag for hostel stays. You'll find instruction on my advice thread in the Indonesia section

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 06#4309133

How many Vietnamese homes have a clothes drier?  I have seen only two.  They were purchased by US relatives and seldom used.

THIGV wrote:

How many Vietnamese homes have a clothes drier?  I have seen only two.  They were purchased by US relatives and seldom used.

Clothes dryers are rare in Vietnamese households - you are correct. Commercial laundries are not rare. Ways to expose clothes to temperatures over 120 F is easy. Putting the clothes in a black plastic bag in the sun can generate temperatures over 150 F easily. A cardboard box in an oven on "keep warm" works well also (test that one first - your "keep warm setting may go way over 150 F). A car with the windows rolled up in the summer can hit 170 F easily.

The dryer is not magic, the elevated temperature is.

Fred wrote:

Make a superlight sleeping bag for hostel stays. You'll find instruction on my advice thread in the Indonesia section

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 06#4309133

I like your lightweight bag. You might consider treating it with a pyrethrin spray. It is toxic to ants, mosquitos, bed bugs, and many other pesky insects and has no odor and is low toxicity to humans.

I also wholeheartedly agree with your napkin, towel, and cloth recommendations. I collect the wet napkins at the Viet restaurants (khăn ướt) and use them again and again. They are a synthetic cloth and wash easily. They are very absorbent. My stays in the south would be very much more uncomfortable without those.

That's a great thread you've got there.

THIGV wrote:

How many Vietnamese homes have a clothes drier?  I have seen only two.  They were purchased by US relatives and seldom used.

The toploader washing machines without heating that are usually used here will not be very helpful either.

I had one time in a rented apartment a frontloader washing machine with heating.

The difference in the cleanliness of the laundry is striking.