Iced coffee....
 

I've gathered drinking drinks with ice in Vietnam and across SE Asia is a bad idea. Does that mean i won't be able to enjoy a delicious refreshing ca phe sua da (iced coffee)?
Darn. Shame.

That depsnds on exactly where you are taveling your level of comfort with taking some risk.

In Bangkok, for instance, the machine made commercial ice is made with purified water. That ice is instantly recognizable by it's cylindrical shape. Never allow anyone to put crushed ice into a drink, unless you watched them crush the ice from commerically made cubes.

Well, i'll be taking my chances with eating the herbs, reducing my risk with the 2 pills of pepto 4 times a day regimen, but i guess i may stick to hot coffee/milk.
I'll be in the major cities, hanoi, Hue, HCMC.

If you're in the major cities, try Highland Coffee or Trung Nguyen. You shouldn't have any problems with them. I drink ca phe sua da quite often in VN and have yet to have a problem (and not always from the above places).

Bisbee, is the situation with commercial ice made from purified water similar in VN to what it is in Thailand?

Kathie, I can't say for sure. But given how much ice I've had here in 2.5 years, I think it is.

I agree with Kathie's advice. Just got back from a trip to Saigon with 3 Vietnam novices. We were on a foodie trip themed 'Eat Like the Vietnamese.' In iced coffees, limeades, smoothies and multicolored che Thai, we had ice at Ben Thanh market, a farmer's house in a village south of Can Tho, a hole-in-the-wall noodle shop, ice cream parlors, and pretty much every restaurant we ate at, none of which was frequented by foreigners.

We had ice of both cylindrical and crushed varieties. One of us had a funny stomach one afternoon, and on the last day I came down with a raging stomach. On both those days we ate and drank what everybody else ate and drank.

As a postscript, we left Saigon for a week in Bangkok and environs, where there were lots of Starbucks, too-sweet Thai iced coffee and too much instant coffee. I really, really missed ca phe sua da!

8 pills a day of Pepto...I hope you are bringing prunes!

haha Elainee! I guess we'll have to bring some pills to counteract those effects.
Having read the medical writeups about the prophylactic properties of pepto pills (reduce TD by 65%), i think it may be worth the minor suffering and black tongue:)

When I landed in Bangkok two years ago I jumped on the back of a motorbike taxi and went straight to a night street market I read about in LP. I ate and drank everything - including thai iced tea and those chopped ice deserts at the end of my meal. It was one of the best meals I ever had. I continued to eat and drink like this for the two weeks I was there and not once did I suffer any ailment.

Then when I got back to NYC the stress headaches started right back up:)

I'm hoping I can eat and explore like this again in Vietnam when I go there this fall. Otherwise, how do you really enjoy the real local foods/drinks? But I would like to try taking Pepto everyday. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how many to take a day so it's effective for TD? Is it really 8 a day?

Eight pepto a day??? Really??? That's a massive amount. Seriously, you could have some blockage problems with a quarter of that.

Where did you read about that therapy? I'd really like to see that study.

BTW, you can get rid of the black tongue by just brushing it with your toothbrush and rinsing your mouth after chewing the tablets.

I just got back from my first trip to Thailand (2 weeks in Bangkok and Chaing Mai) and was constantly drinking ice coffee, also with no ill effects. I was amazed at the number of places that even had ice lattes. It was so hot that I simply could not refuse these iced drinks and they were so good.

In Hanoi most cafes use ice made from filtered water or out of ice machines (with filtered water). The only place you have to be a little concerned (or make a conscious choice) is if you get it on the street or off the back of a bicycle where the person making it is chipping the ice off a big block.

Thanks Beijingkitchen. We're leaving this friday, so i caught this bit of info just in time:)

Jasonmolinari,
please post a trip report on your return AND please let us know how the daily Pepto regime worked!!
have a great trip and safe travels.
thanks.
alison

Alison, i will try my best to. If the pepto regimen works hopefully i won't have much to report on it:)

Really excited now. Only 48 hours and i'll be on a plane to Seoul then to Hanoi!