I want to avoid getting sick!!

[thecat169]

Hello all,
Going to Thailand (BKK) next week and want to avoid getting sick.
While visiting India/Nepal, I got very sick more than once with vomiting, the runs, etc....is this common in Thailand for visitors? If so, how does one avoid it? thanks

[Curt]

It is common for anyone traveling to get stomach distress, diarrhea, and/or other problems. The change in diet, alone, can be a cause.

I would suggest bringing a supply of chewable Pepto Bismol tablets. If any symptoms persist, stop into a hospital and get some antibiotics. Healthcare is quite cheap in Thailand.

[Marie]

You have a very valid concern. I, too, am very careful not to get sick when traveling as that's too inconvenient and a total waste of time! So far, I have not been sick in Thailand, though, even when I ingest street food. But you may have a more sensitive stomach.

I have gathered a few tips which you may find useful:

* avoid ice in drinks
* avoid brushing your teeth with water which you think is unsafe
* bottled cold drinks if sealed and unbroken and hot beverages are usually safe
* avoid street food
* pick a restaurant that looks clean and is busy (which means it may a good one)
* make sure that hot food is above the right temperature.
* make sure that cold food is cold, and is kept in a fridge or freezer
* avoid uncooked foods, except for fruits and vegetables that can be peeled or washed in purified water
* avoid any fruit with damaged skin, and melons as they can harbour nasty germs
* meat loaf, rolled or stuffed meats and whole poultry should be cooked thoroughly
* put leftovers into the fridge immediately for later use, don't allow them to cool at room temperature
* when reheating food make sure it is steaming hot all the way through
* remember that foods of animal origin are the main source of many food poisoning, bacteria, viruses and parasites; high risk foods include poultry, eggs, red meat, dairy products and shellfish.

[Curt]

Contamination is more likely to be a problem.

Wash your hands. Much of the contamination is your own doing.

As far as "bad" food is concerned, rice is one of the biggest culprits. Given Thailand's heat and humidity, rice can act as a petri dish!

BTW, the last classic food poisoning I had, about a month ago, was courtesy of a very popular Bangkok Japanese chain eatery. I have never been so violently ill in all my life. Pretty sure the rice had gone bad.

[Betti]

get your hepatitis A and typhoid shots updated, they are not widespread but better to be safe
the two occasions m stomach problems needed hospitalisation: an expensive pizza in a proper restaurant, and something innocent looking from my own fridge.
watermelon has a bad reputation - bacteria can multiply very effectively once they get access.
I haven't been to India but my colleague who was hospitalised there says you cannot even begin to compare the two, Thailand is nowhere near as filthy and rotten as India.

[Curt]

Yes, Thai bugs panic and run from Indians!

[thecat169]

Lol!!

[guava]

I have gathered a few tips which you may find useful:

* avoid ice in drinks
* bottled cold drinks if sealed and unbroken and hot beverages are usually safe
* avoid street food

* The ice to watch out for is the shaved or chipped ice type which comes from a huge block that sometimes (often) gets dragged along the floor before being cut into smaller blocks; some roadside stalls and cheaper eateries will offer this as it is cheaper for them to purchase. Most restaurants and bars (and 7-11) will serve the cylindrical ice with a hole through the centre, this is usually perfectly safe.

* Bottled drinks - you will often be offered a straw with your drink. If you wonder why most Thai people drink through a straw, just take a walk past a "seven" when they are having a delivery and see the passing soi dogs taking a particular interest in the crates of coke and leaving their calling card!

* Street food - just take the normal precautions of eating at a busy place, etc. and you should have no problems eating street food. Indeed to miss out on eating this way in Thailand is to miss an opportunity to eat some fantastic food at very reasonable cost. Richard is presently undertaking a 30 day street food challenge where he is eating 3 meals a day exclusively from food stalls. See his thread here
.
.

[frostfire]

Hello all,
Going to Thailand (BKK) next week and want to avoid getting sick.
While visiting India/Nepal, I got very sick more than once with vomiting, the runs, etc....is this common in Thailand for visitors? If so, how does one avoid it? thanks

Some people can eat a lot of crap and not get sick and others end up puking. You already know you have a nervous stomach maybe you ought to limit some of the things other travelers eat.

Myself, I have never got sick brushing my teeth with tap water in Bangkok and Pattaya. If the water looked brown of course I wouldn't use it. From time to time when I ran out of bottled water I have used tap water to make coffee with. I always figure the boiling would kill any bacteria. No one is going to convince me that Thai restaurants use bottled water for all of their cooking.

I have heard the same thing about ice, if it is shaved don't use it, the little ice cylinders - no problem! I always use ice, even in beer, and have no problems in over a dozen years.

I love my cheap buffets but I never eat warm salads, cold cuts that have been out in the open for a while, never eat egg salads, tuna or chicken salads that are not refrigerated. In general I eat hot foods, pastry, breads, juice, coffee and tea. Some pork slices on buffet lines are not always cooked as thorough as I like and I skip it. I like my eggs, if I eat them, cooked well - nothing runny or sunny side up! Some fruits I don't like anyway but I do have some pineapple, bananas or orange slices from time to time. I don't eat the home made fruit salad in restaurants, too many ingredients to all be clean.

I love fried rice and can live on it almost every day. So far, never been sick with it. But I don't let it cool down too much, after I get my take-away, I eat it pretty quick! When possible I will microwave the stuff a little bit. I like some of the boiled pork shoulders you see on the streets and at food courts. But the pork has to be boiling hot and the rice hot too (I leave off the pork skin that so many Thais seem to love!) I have noodle soup from vendors every now and then, same thing, broth has to be boiling hot and I choose the chunks to go in, no chicken asses, no heads, no feet no things I can't identify - just meat chunks. I select the noodles I want and tell the cook to leave it in until everything is well done. I don't use the wooden chop sticks that hundreds of other people have had in their mouths. I take the soup home and use my own utensils.

Beer in bottles, sodas, even ice cream I have never (so far) had any problems with. I have noticed some soda bottles with rusted bottle tops and refuse those bottles. I think when they sink those bottles in icy water a possibility of dirty water could contaminate the soda. In the Philippines many bottles of beer come with a napkin wrapped around the opened bottle tops.

I got sick bad once on roast pork, mashed potatoes and vegetables I ordered and ate in a restaurant. I did eat the salad and suspected that the salad had been chopped up with a knife that must have cut raw meat. Or the cream gravy became contaminated.

Stick to the hot foods and you should be okay. If you are big into cold cuts, chunks of cold meat or mixed salads all made up with mayonnaise think about how long that stuff is out on buffet lines without any refrigeration in a hot climate.

You can always bring peanut butter with you and buy your bread in a supermarket in Thailand and eat that. Many supermarkets have food you can buy if you are leery of eating off the street. There is always places like McDonalds, KFC, Burger Kings and other well known franchises that you would recognize and eat at if you want.

P.S. I think Thailand is much cleaner than India and Nepal anyway.

Good luck.