Will be traveling around Myanmar and Thailand. Should I be weary about having a drink with ice in nice restaurants and hotel bars? Or to be safe stick to beer?

well I had ice in my drinks when I was there but then i like to live dangerously!! i had no issues.....

In a nice restaurants and hotel bars, you should be fine with ice. In small street front places, especially in Myanmar, I'd avoid ice. They don't even have consistent electricity.

I can't imagine a trip to either place without a lovely G&T to cool down after a long day of trekking around.

Agree with the others. On the first trip I worried about it, but now that I've been all around SE Asia, I don't even think about it anymore--although maybe I should. Needless to say, I've never had any issues because of something I drank.

Generally speaking I find it's better to stay away from crushed ice...that's more suspect than the safer, factory made ice (the kind with the hole drilled in the middle of the cube).

You're much more likely to get Burma Belly from what you touch. Make sure you use medicated hand sanitizer very regularly.

Before you eat or drink anywhere, have a wander into into the toilet. It's usually a good indicator about hygiene in the kitchen.

If ice in a drink is the regular cube shape then that should be fine. If it's an irregular Shaped chunk then I'd give it a miss.

The brewer's v.good.

Oops! Substitute 'brewer' with 'beer'.

And if you get to Ngapali Beach look out for the signs at the beach bars "Barman's Ice here"
Also the cocktails at all decent hotels use "Barman's ice" and to date I have never suffered from having it in my G&T.
SS

Hey SS i think we are neighbours!!!

Not many Fodorers (sic) this side of the pond

SS

Thank you all! Hard to believe two more weeks and I'm off. Still couldn't decide on my five days in Yangon. Looks like I will use the time to relax and not run around, cause I will be doing that the next four weeks. Maybe the delta. Will see.!

A good place to relax is in the Captain's Bar at the Savoy Hotel. Beautiful colonial buildings too. Opposite are a couple of good places to eat and drink.

Get double booze in drink. If ice cubes contaminated the alcohol will kill the bacteria.

"If ice cubes contaminated the alcohol will kill the bacteria." I assume even you don't believe this, jobin.