Have been reading restaurant reviews that mention so many delicious salads in Thailand, such as pomelo salad and others. GPanda particularly mentioned the pomelo salad at Jim Thompson House. At the same time some warn against eating raw vegetables & fruit. Also, I love ice tea. Is it ok to eat salads & fruit and have ice in drinks at upscale restaurants such a Baan Kanitha, Salthip at the Pen & other hotels & upscale restaurants. Don't want to ruin our vacation with diarrhea, but also don't want to miss out on some of the special eating experiences in Thailand. Looking for advice.

Old saying: if you can peel it, or boil it, or fry it, OK; otherwise, forget it. Upscale, scmupscale -- why ruin your vacation?

I asked this question before and you probably read the advice. We are off to Hong Kong and Thailand in October.

What we've done as a precaution - we've went to health travel clinic wit ha doctor specializing on travel medicine. He gave us all information re: health needed for our itinerary, mostly Thailand. He also prescribed 2 shots, hepatatis B and thyphoid (hepatatis is on tow shots, we are due next in September). Also, he presrcibed cipro - antibiotics , in case we will have problems. However, it only kills bacterial infection, not virus. He also suggested to take immodium and use it in case of diarrhea . So I think we are armed and I will try some salads in upscale establishments. We are also booked on 2 nights cruise to Authyaya (sp?) and there although food advertised is royal upscale thai, but because we will be captive on the boat, so I hope we will be OK there.

Also, besides food precautions, the doctor prescribed medication malarone for us which we will take as a precaution from malaria. We will be traveling to Chiang Mai, but who knows who far mosquitoes fly!
I will report who we will make out
sophia

Be cautious, but don't be paranoid. I do eat salads in 5 star hotels that I know and trust. Ice in much of Bangkok is made centrally in ice machines using purified water. If you have any doubt, don't eat it. In an unfamiliar place always use caution.

I've traveled to varous destination in SE Asia probably 30 trips. I've never gotten sick. On the other hand, I have a friend who gets a few days of gastro-intestinal problems even on trips to Hawaii. So know yourself - how does your own system respond to new foods?

Some of the most important precautions are to wash your hands frequently and don't drink - or even brush your teeth with tap water. All hotels will furnish you with purified water for drinking and for brushing your teeth.

Of course you should consult with a travel medicine specialist to consider vaccines and any medications to take along. Generally, the usual travelers vaccines includes updates on any routine vaccinations you need (such as diptheria/tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella), typhoid, Hep A. Other vaccines such as Hep B or Japanese Enchelphelitis or even pre-exposure rabies vaccines may be needed under some circumstances. Anti-malarials are recommended for some areas of SE Asia, eapecially Cambodia, Laos, Burma, parts of VN, and some border areas of Thailand. Most parts of Thialand visited by toursist are not malarial risk areas.

Kathie, I know this will sound dumb, but how will we know which places have used purified water for their ice? Should I assume that the Marriott Riverside resort & spa, where we are staying, and other 5* hotels all use purified water for ice? What about restaurants?

You can always ask. I would assume that the Marriott uses commercially produced purified ice. Outside of 5 star hotels, if you don't feel confident, ask for no ice. Some people say that you can tell because the commercial ice has a hole in the center. I don't know that I'd take that as absolute truth.

sophia---as you know i love the marriott...let me tell you our experiences over 9 years of travelling there...at first there was always two bottles of water in the room each day...then on a subsequent trip there was none....then on the next trip they were back again....what does that tell you??

at first we never drank the water put in the table glasses with ice at the marriott...on the last two trips we have begun to drink it....we still do not take ice in anything else...we just leave it on the table...

here is a recent observation...while we were at the shangri-la last june, i walked behing the hotel to the laundry....there was a huge open loading dock where food preperation was also done....this had no a/c and the huge garage door to the outside was open....on the work table were maybe 30 or 40 whole raw chickens....fully exposed to the elements (95 degrees F and pollution)...they were there when i went to the laundry and they were there 10 minutes later when i returned....NOW THIS IS A 5* HOTEL.....wouldn't you trust them???

as kathie says you do not want to fear everything, but you need to be cautious if you do not wish to have a problem and yes some are more suseptable than others....

i say no green salads, no mayonaise, no ice, very limited thai salads (often they are meats and diced veggies)but have hot peppers and vinegar in them which certainly helps....

this is how we eat in asia...it has kept us well...we did eat some hors d'oeuvres on a thai air flight on this last trip and they made us slightly sick....how stupid was that!!! we knew better....

you also have to make jusgements on the place you are at....i certainly would eat chicken at the shangri-la with no thoughts.... i would eat anything at a jim thompson place because they have high standards and the same applies to most quality places in bkk and thailand...in this case i think you can judge a book by its cover....

on our way home in june my wife assisted with a sick person on the plane....he had eaten raw shellfish in bangkok at a 5* hotel...now what's wrong with that...IT WAS A 5* HOTEL????

My advice would be to disregard the star system and apply the same standards of caution no matter where you eat.

I once drank some milky cinnamon tea in Kashmir (Yes, I'm pretty old, those were in the good old days when Kashmir was still a friendly place for travellers). In those old days there was no such thing as little plastic bottles of drinkable water, so we had to quench our thirst somehow. Well, the tea was boiling hot and little black things were floating around in it. I drank the tea and crunched down on the animal/mineral/vegetable thingies.

A week later, I went out to one of the top restaurants in New Delhi with some Indian friends of mine - and got horribly sick after that meal.

So, the lesson of this story is: you can eat at a roadside stand and not get sick or you could eat at the "best" restaurant in town AND get sick. You never know, so, as the other posters have said, why take chances? One of the most important things to have on a trip is good health. Safeguard it like the crown jewels and you'll be fine.

Oh, take some DEET with you. The stuff is smelly and sticky, but it can ward off the mosquitoes. I like REI's "Jungle Juice". Sporting goods stores also sell a spray which you can spray on your clothes. This spray will ward off mosquitoes even after several washes. Nice not to have to smear that Jungle Juice all over your body.

BTW, viruses are like old soldiers: they don't die, they just fade away.

Have a fine trip!

I agree with the above advice. Be careful, but not paranoid. Back to the original post-Pomelo is a grapefruit like fruit. It is peeled before it goes into the salad. No problem. I do note that a great deal of Thai cooking uses basil, an external leaf. I've never heard of anyone getting sick from eating a basil dish. The good restaurants don't want to lose the farang trade.

emtravel - Re your statement:

>>He also prescribed 2 shots, hepatatis B and thyphoid<<

are you sure it wasn't Hep-A, which is for food born problems, rather than Hep-B which is for blood deseases?

i always take friendly bacteria like acidophillus and bifidus before i go on vacation. Yogurt w 'active' culture is good but i was told it is not as complete as the pills. You can get that stuff in places that sell vitamins. I prefer the one that has to be refigerated.
I won't do raw vegetable salads. Instead i'll have some saute greens. They are safe, delicious and good for you. i have had green papaya salad and fruit salads but in restaurants mostly cater to tourists. I would only do ice in hotels if i must.
In some hotels in HK like the Regent, you get distill water and it says 'distill' on the bottle. You can confirm again with the captain to make sure the ice is distill also.

sandy,
I need to look at my papers but I beleive it was hep A and B - both.
The doctor said that people need it anyway and we did not have it with my previous physicals so we got them together.

He also talked about Japanese Encepalitis but said it is very rare when people can contact this decease in Thailand and it cost I beleive $400? So he said it was not neccesaary.

Bob - I guess we will be just careful like we said. We always drink bottled water even here. In Mexico and some Caribbean Islands like Dom. Republic, brush teeth with bottled water.

sophia

by the way both karen and i have had both hep A & B and that is what our travel doctor suggests....i think B is a series of shots so don't wait to investigate it... our health coverage paid for it in total...

we took malerone for cambodia, but have never taken it for thailand, although we did consider it for north of chiang rai this year but decided to risk it and we were fine....just be careful and carry some deek with you....karen uses it frequently, me only occasionally...

be careful at the pool at sundown...they come out then and early AM...we do not walk in the woods so are pretty safe there as well...

Of course, Bob wears long pants at the pool and no tank tops. This eliminates both mosquitoes and riff-raff. Also reduces the possibility of skin cancer.

As Kathie said, Be cautious, but don't be paranoid !
I have had as many upsets when traveling around Europe and other places, I think what applies to Thailand pretty much applies to many (though not all ) places. One of the biggest reasons for getting an upset stomach is because of not 'thinking' about your poor old stomach....you have a long flight, rushing around, different climate, strange food, it naturally can really upset your system. My advice is stay away from heavy cooked breakfasts, nothing worse than masses of cooked oily food in your stomach first thing, rushing from a/c into heat you might not be used to, stick with simple things.
Certainly enjoy all the great Thai and other food but don't overdo it, take it 'easy' and let your stomach become adjusted slowly. Have a drink sure, but keep it moderate.

emtravel - there are just some things that jump off the page - so your clarification that it was the combined Hep-A/B makes sense. The Hep-B alone as a tourist, which is of less concern, just didn't make sense.

We are travelling to BKK, Phuket and Hong Kong in December/January and were advised to get the HepA/HepB vaccine as well - this comes in a combo vial and can be given as one shot at a time - the debate is one on whether you really need the 3rd shot at 6 months, but you do need the initial and follow up at 1 or 2 months. The other vaccine recommended was the 'flu' vaccine - try and get this at least one month prior to your travel so that your body can get accustomed to it and you won't suffer any side effects on your trip. The jury is out on the malaria meds if just in BKK and also am was not told about the typhoid shot. Any more info on the necessity of the typhoid shot?

How far in advance of traveling do you need to get the HEP A & B shots?

Typhoid is a food and water borne illness, so you have little control over your exposure to it. Immunization is highly recommended for those traveling to tropical climes. Note that there are also antibiotic-resistant strains of typhoid in SE Asia, which makes it even more important to get vaccinated.

For either Hep A or the A-B combination, you need to start at least one month and preferably two months before travel. The third shot for the Hep B is wise to have. Some people have an adequate response to the A-B in two doses, but since you have to have a titre drawn to tell, most peple get a third shot anyway.

I was told by many on a recent trip to Morrocco to take Bepto Bismo (about two tbsp a day) for two weeks before and for the duration of your trip. Supposedly it lines your stomach so tht the germs cannot attack. I followed this advice and did not get sick as did none of those who took the bismo. Others did get sick so don't know if the bismo was the reason or not, but it iws worth qa try.