does anyone have any tips or suggestions on what i should do about drinking the water in foreign countries?? i’m heading to china for a few weeks and am concerned about getting sick from the water. any info would be MUCH appreciated…..

It's very simple -- only used bottled water and that includes for brushing your teeth. Avoid drinks with ice. Avoid raw fruits and vegetables unless they have been peeled -- and this includes salads.

glorialf has put it all in one little package!

Bottled water is available almost everywhere in China.

Don't open your mouth in the shower!

Also avoid eating from street vendors.
Carry Immodium AD with you- just in case!

its all very easy really...eveyone does it the way described above and bottled water costs only pennies and is available everywhere and most hotels supply two bottles per day in your room...

NO ICE PERIOD...

The cdc website has an excellent write up on "water precautions." It sounds like you've never traveled to a country where water precautions were required. Do read the cdc website for that information and for information on traveler's vaccines recommended for the areas you are visiting.

www.cdc.gov/travel

Hey, I found this great thing. There’s this product call a steripen – a water purifier. i take it with me when I’m traveling on business, especially when I have to go overseas. It uses u-v light to zap the water and kill the germs. i have used mine for the last two years and haven't gotten sick once. check it out:
www.steripen.com
This may or may not work for you, but i thought i would let you know.

I would be cautious about the steripen. It does not take care of chemical contamination problems.

I second Kathie's caution. When traveling in asia I'd go for the old fashioned better safe than sorry route and just use bottled water. It costs virtually nothing and is readily available.

I also note that this is Tracy's one and only post, which makes me somewhat suspicious that this may be an ad rather than a post from a "fellow traveler."

We carry a small plastic ice cube tray and always fill it with bottled water and freeze it in the in-room refrigerator as soon as we check in. That gives us safe ice for in-room consumption.

I know this is an old post I'm responding to, but I did a search on "steripen" and it came up. I just returned from 3 weeks in Egypt and the Steripen was a wonderful backup to those times when I ran out of bottled water and needed some to drink or use for brushing my teeth. I would agree about the chemical concern. If a country over-chlorinates its water, for example, you'll be drinking that extra chlorine. But for removing bacteria, and as a backup, it is a tremendous help. It's easy to use; but it is rather costly (around $100). I figure I can use it at home when the water has occasional contamination, or even when traveling domestically and have questions about the safety of the water. Just wanted to give my 2 cents. I do not have any affiliation with the company and have posted plenty of posts so you can check if you doubt me!

Pam, when I talk about chemical contamination, I'm not referring to over-chlorination. Chlorine is easily off-gassed by allowing water to stand in an open container for an hour. The chemical contamination I'm referring to in third world countries is heavy metal and/or pesticide/herbicide contamination.

The steripen is effective at killing bacteria, but it is not as effective at killing viruses and parasites. It's better than nothing, but it's not something I would want to rely on.

PS, Pam, where you do live that you have periodic bacterial contamination of your water?

Bob,
Don't you even have ice at the Marriott? I do and at the Marriott Phuket I drink their Ice water they pour at the table. They have their own purification system and I never had any problems. We noted that the BKK Marriott did not offer poured water in their restaurants, only bottled (same as provided free in your room) which they charged a lot for The free bottled water in the rooms are nice, and we took those with us everywhere we went but I do think the big name hotels ice is safe. Do you agree?
Sue

sue---our experience was this at the marriott....when we first went there over 10 years ago they put water in your room....the next time we went there was no water and we were told we could drink the water....we did not....the next time we went they had resumed putting water in your room....there was a reason for this...i don't know why honestly....but we still do not drink their water....

this time we did start drinking it at breakfast however with no side effects...

remember we are over cautious...

can't remember about phuket....suspect we did bottled...

we remain leery of all ice...i know the arguments about the round ice cubes with the holes in the middle but we still stay clear of 99% of all ice in thailand...kathie often speaks about this type of ice being ok....

again better safe than sorry....and no one likes real cold drinks better than i do....

cold beers and bottled waters are my stand-bys.....

Kathie,
Thanks for clarifying about the chemicals in water. That's something I never thought about. I mostly travel in countries where I don't think that's a problem.
I live outside Chicago and periodically there is a "boil water" advisory when something goes wrong with our filtration system. I have also gotten very sick on water and needed to see a doctor in New Mexico, just because of the different bacteria present.

Someone made the following comment about the Steripen:

"The steripen is effective at killing bacteria, but it is not as effective at killing viruses and parasites. It's better than nothing, but it's not something I would want to rely on. "

Not true. This is precisely why I prefer the steripen. Unlike filters it will also neutralize viruses.

Parasites and bacteria can be handled by either the Steripen or a good filter.

Kathie, I think you are right that this is an ad. Barbra and Tracy are the same person.

mrwunrfl, I think you are right. This is a case of a person with two screen names using one to support the comments of the other.