I always thought that in places where you can't drink the tap water and should avoid fruit that can't be peeled (which I believe is the case in Thailand, right?) that you also shouldn't eat salads. But I often see mention of people eating salads in restaurants. So is that ok? Don't they wash the lettuce and other salad items in water?
Karen

Don't eat salads anyplace where you can't drink the water. I eat it at the Oriental and about 3 other places but that's about it. But I should also add that I am more careful than most because I see no reason to take a chance of wrecking a trip.

karen as far as green salads are concerned we rately eat any and boy do we miss them....we do, as gloria says, sometimes eat them at a place like the oriental or at le delat, where it says on the menu that all greens are grown in their gardens and washed with filtered water....

even then we rarely eat them....its always a gamble...

there are many dishes which thais call salads....they are mostly meats, like larb salad....it is primarily ground up chicken with some green veggies and maybe a little lettuce...the hot peppers in and on it should kill anything do should not eat...it may even kill you...haha

there is plenty to eat in thailand without salads for a couple of weeks...it makes them taste so much better after you get home!!!

this sort of all ties in with how we feel about buffets as well...why risk it?? excluding breakfast of course...although we do not generally eat the eggs from the hot table, only freshly cooked one and shy away from some of the meat dishes on the steam table....call us crazy but in 9 trips we have not gotten ill at all save one bought from hors d'oeuvres on an airplane....

by the way you have to observe these rules on the airplane on the way home as well...

are you packed yet??

Bob - LOL! No, I'm not packed yet... but obviously I AM thinking about it! And agonizing over every detail. But it's such FUN. This is the biggest, most exciting trip I've ever planned and I still can hardly believe we're actually doing it - and all by ourselves! I love it that I have you all on this board to talk to. I'd drive my friends totally crazy with this much detail.
Ok, we'll avoid green salads. Definitely agree, Gloria and Bob, that it's not worth the risk. I must have gotten confused when people mentioned salads and assumed they meant lettuce-type salads when they actually meant what Bob was referring to.
As for buffets, I don't really care for them anyway - so will stick to just breakfast buffets.
Thanks for the responses!

i warn you about the buffets becasue they look so wonderful and fresh and delicious, which i am sure that they are but i am concerned about what may be lurking that you can not stop until it is too late...and they are every place and very reasonable....

GET TO THAT PACKING!!!!!

how about sharring some of your logistics with your friends....we don't need it all....we don't need to hog it....haha

YOU BETTER WRITE A DAMN GOOD REPORT WHEN YOU ARE BACK WITH TONS OF DETAILS!!!!