Tap water in China (Safety issues)

[Derbyshire]

People keep telling me that I shouldn't drink tap water whilst in China and that I have to only drink bottled water to avoid sickness. Surely tap water can't be that dangerous, I mean what do the Chinese drink? If anyone has been kung fu training in China and knows whether water is likely to be safe, please let me know. By the way, If you're reading this, thanks Doc (for the third time I think) for the help on arranging my stay at Dechengs school. I feel much more prepared now.

[Firbolg]

Surely tap water can't be that dangerous

Famous last words..

When in doubt, filter it and boil for 15+ mins.. then go buy some bottled water instead. Seriously, its cheap enough to buy it so why take any chances? You dont want your trip ruined by dodgy water. Watch out for ice cubes in drinks also.

[master splinter]

"famous last words" lol,

I say boil the bottled water too...just kidding


not too long ago i heard on the news that some filtered water distributers are just re-bottling tap water and selling it...

GENIUSES!!!jk

[doc]

Well, I wrote about this somewhere in the Survival rules section, in the main part of the web site (Journals?). It will be much easier to find once I get the new site up and running, which will be in two weeks. I'm in the Philippines on my annual "take care of the poor villagers and catch some weird disease" medical mission. Can't do much work on the new site yet, but, it's almost up and ready.

As for the water, well, it was many years ago, in 1995. I watched some little chinese kids take used plastic bottles from the trash, go down to the river that runs through Shaolin, and refill them. They find caps too, and twist them back on. They used to sell them at little roadside stands.

Some rules. And it's an absolute bozo no no to break these:

-Buy drinking water by the case from local small supermarkets. Drink ONLY that. By the CASE. Getting it from small resellers does not guarantee the safety of the supply.
-Check each bottle before use to make sure that the seal is intact.
-Brushing your teeth with tap is ok, but really minimize the amount of water that you use. I"ve gotten away with that, but, you're really better off using bottled water for anything that goes into your mouth.
-Wipe off all dishes in restaurants. Wipe off your chopsticks, or, better yet, bring your own. You have no idea how much H. Pylori infections get spread by chopsticks (I'll write about this later).
-Do not use glasses in restaurants. Be gauche, drink out of the bottle.
-If you're not allergic to aspirin, take one or two tablets of Pepto Bismal a day. The bismuth cuts down on the incidence of gastric infections.
-Only eat cooked foods. Remember, the watermelon that you eat on the street is covered with shit; eating pieces that are cut by the man on the street, with his dirty knife, will infect you. I used to bring my own knife, and buy a complete watermelon. Sometimes, in restaurants, this is hard to avoid though.
-Some antibiotics that are useful: Flagyl 400 mg three times a day, Clarithromycin 500 mg twice a day, Cipro 500 mg twice a day, once you're really infected. Just one of those would work. Also, the Chinese "pharmacies" that are there locally have some sort of shit that works well too. Don't know what it is, but it works.
-Don't eat chicken that's been cooked in the street (night market). They don't refrigerate their food, and some of this chicken has been sitting for days. Salmonella is a distinct possibility, and I think one year, I actually got it.
-Don't eat the ice cream. Anywhere. Except Haagen Daaz in Beijing. McDonalds / KFC is ok too.

Remember something. The Chinese are some of the filthiest people on the planet. Their understanding of sanitation, health, and food safety is minimal at best. Their concern for the above is even lower. If you look in some of the latrines, you'll notice that just about all of these people are chronically infected with something.

So. Do NOT SHARE food (chopsticks wise) with others. This is a commonplace phenomenon; everyone wants to put food on your plate. This is the surest way to get infected with something, usually Helicobacter Pylori, which will give you a nasty stomach infection. The way to get around this is just to tell people "no thank you". Don't "share" chopsticks.

Moving this to the Hospital section.

[onesp1ng]

hotel rooms, dorms, and furnished apartments typically come equipped with a fbottled or filtered water tank appliance (type thing), which gives you both hot and cold water. i used them for over 3 and a half years without a problem.

note: tap water is used in cooking and also to wash your fruits and vegis. you really can't avoid it entirely, and so you'll probably need to make friends with the bathroom, at some point, if you stay long enough. for some people the urge "strikes" them immediately.

wasn't it jeffpeg that once wrote that story about his newly discovered flatulence issue?

really funny "stuff"...lol...

[baiwanxi]

and YES, the Chinese also drink only bottled water or boiled water. Unless they're morons which is sometimes the case.

[doc]

hotel rooms, dorms, and furnished apartments typically come equipped with a fbottled or filtered water tank appliance (type thing),

Not in Dengfeng. Not at this time. Beijing, yes. Dengfeng, well, they have a long way to go

You get filtered water everywhere in Thailand (tourist areas). They are far more advanced sanitation wise (and otherwise).

Use the cased bottled water. Follow the rules.

[Derbyshire]

Thanks guys

Thanks guys, you may have just saved my life. Slightly unrelated issue, I have just found out that my travel insurance does not cover me for martial arts, does anyone know of any websites that I could visit for insurance companies which will cover me, i.e. airlift me out of China and back to Jolly old England if I were to injure myself.

[doc]

Who said you got injured from "martial arts"?

You're in China. You could have just as easily fractured your ankle stepping off of a stair, falling off a hooker, or kicking a sand bag....

Understand?

[onesp1ng]

falling off a hooker, it happens all the time.... hahahhaa