Our consumptive rule, especially in third world countries, was don't drink it if it doesn't go "fzzzt" when you open it....
I only got sick a couple of times when traveling to the far corners. Once, while doing a month long stint in Cairo, we were leaving the next day and the guys we worked with in the shop at the Egyptian Railway wanted to bring us lunch. We didn't want to offend, so when they showed up the next day during the morning tea break with some local bread and hard cheese we partook without concern. We had been eating all sorts of stuff from street vendors without negative results while we were there so we figured anything they would bring couldn't be any worse.... The next morning I was on a KLM flight to Amsterdam, looking forward to an "open jaw" on the return which would give us three days in Amsterdam at the airline's expense. As was the custom, we had bulkhead seats in business class, in this case being the row at one of the door exits, providing plenty of legroom in front of us. Fortunately for me, on the other side of the bulkhead was the head. It started slowly but by mid flight I had worn a path in the carpet to the bathroom. Luckily, I was pretty well cleaned out by the time we landed, but boy oh boy, was that unpleasant. Made up for the losses during travel the following three days in Amsterdam. The second and worst time was when I was working in the Dominican Republic. You definitely don't want to eat anything suspect there, for the obvious reasons. We had a business meeting at our customer's house one afternoon a day before we left. His brother owned the local Anejo distillery, so there was rum being served all over the place. I do my best to avoid drinking while conducting business, so I asked for a Diet Coke. Three days later when I was back in the States and I developed what I would consider "explosive", uh, well, you get the idea, I went over and had some tests run in the company infirmary. I had dysentery. Got it from the ice cubes in the Diet Coke. Lost almost 20 pounds in two weeks. <head slap> Lesson learned. Dan > On Oct 30, 2014, at 6:55 PM, Curly McLain via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > In Uganda, I was told "don't drink the water" and don't drink the milk > whatever you do" > > Going to work, we passed the modern sanitary dairy twice a day. It looked > better than most in the USA. The milk was bagged in 1 or 2 L bags, Euro > style. > > I got up enough nerve to try the butter with no ill effects. After a week or > 10 days I started drinking the milk. THe effects of the anti-malaria pills > were terrible, so I stopped taking them. I figured malaria could not be much > worse. drinking 70ºF water got very old, so I had a bottle of coca cola or > other form of pop each evening. It was quite enjoyable in the evening > outside the hotel on the patio. > > The entire trip was a great experience, and I got neither dysentery nor > malaria, not any other gastric disorder. I did get very sick of curry > powder, as every evening meal was cooked with curry powder. I was so sick of > curry that one night i ordered pizza. You can imagine how sickening the > pizza was when it arrived, covered with curry powder. To this day, I have > only once managed to eat something with curry powder since then that did not > turn my stomach. It was a Filipino dish and was very tasty. > > The curry was ok at first, but after weeks of everything curry, I was sick of > it. > > >> A couple years ago Angie and I went on a cruise. One of the stops was >> Cozumel in Mexico. I noticed at that stop that unlike all the other places >> we had been the ship didn't take on water. We went to a dolphinarium and >> swam with the dolphins and had lunch there. At lunch I noticed that the >> water we were given was bottled. >> >> Later, walking on the street my wife noticed a shaved ice vendor and decided >> she wanted a shaved ice. I foolishly said "no, don't get shaved ice". Angie >> about pitched a fit. To her credit we were 5 days into a 7 day trip and it >> was late in the day, she was tired and we were both getting kind of punchy. >> >> Trying not to be insulting to the vendor I quietly informed my wife that if >> she had a shaved ice and it "upset her stomach" I was going to kick her out >> and she could sleep in the public bathroom. She got the picture. >> >> I don't know if the water was going to make her sick but I certainly didn't >> want to take a chance. >> >> -Curt >> >> >> ________________________________ >> From: WILTON via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> >> To: mercedes list <mercedes@okiebenz.com>; WILTON <wilt...@nc.rr.com> >> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2014 6:02 PM >> Subject: [MBZ] OT - another non-political B-52 tale - DON'T DRINK THE WATER >> >> >> DON'T DRINK THE WATER >> By Wilton Strickland >> >> During the entire three to four months, while flying bombing missions >> from Thailand to Vietnam in Sep - Dec, 1972, we had been told many times, >> "Don't drink the local water," because of the danger of possibly getting >> dysentery or some other digestive system malady. >> Two of our Thai maids had been saying for quite some time, "We want to >> take you to a Thai movie. Pease let us; when may we take you?" >> Finally, on the afternoon of Dec 28th, when the women learned that the >> other two members of my Kincheloe crew and I would not be flying that night, >> they insisted they take us to a movie. We agreed and traveled early that >> evening via a Thai bus to a large city, Rayong, about 12 miles from base. >> Before entering the theater, the women stocked up on snacks - candy >> bars, cokes, peanuts, fried banana chips, etc. - quite a feast, I thought. >> We thought they were getting all of that stuff for themselves, but >> evidently, they were trying to make sure we three men were well fed, also. >> The women passed snacks to us continuously during the entire double feature >> movie - even shelled peanuts for us. >> The theater was like any movie theater in Anytown, USA - clean, >> comfortable, and cool. I don't remember what the movies were about - >> American, I think, speaking Thai, with English subtitles. >> After the movie and while walking back to the bus stop, we came upon a >> "cart café" - the owner transports the entire restaurant - food, stove, ice, >> water, soft drinks, table, chairs - everything - on a small cart and sets it >> up on the sidewalk. >> Surprisingly, the women said they were hungry and asked, "May we get >> something to eat?" >> I exclaimed, jokingly, "Gosh! We've been eating steadily for the last two & >> a half hours, but yes, of course, you may get something to eat, if you >> want." >> We all sat down at the small tables on the sidewalk; the café owner >> placed beautiful glasses of shaved ice and water before each of us and asked >> what we would like to eat. The women ordered noodles and some other stuff, >> but the other two men and I ordered nothing. While waiting, I toyed with >> the cold glass of shaved ice and water in front of me. Ambient temperature >> was about 85F and had been above 95F during the day; I was very thirsty. I >> thought about the many SAMs we had dodged during the last few days and >> somehow thought, foolishly, of course, "If all those SAMs can't get me, >> surely a glass of ice water is OK." >> I also had another fleeting thought, and said jokingly, "If it makes me >> sick, maybe I won't have to go to Hanoi again tomorrow night." >> I turned the glass up to my lips and drank away. The instant I put the >> glass down, the café owner re-filled it with shaved ice and water; I quickly >> downed it again - 'don't know when I've ever had better glasses of water. >> The other two guys, seeing me be so brave (or foolish), followed suit. None >> of us ever felt a thing! We went to Hanoi again the following night, >> anyway. >> BTW, for those who are wondering - there was nothing else "going on" >> between us and the women. They knew we'd be leaving soon and simply wanted >> to show their appreciation for our treating them with great respect and to >> demonstrate some Thai hospitality. >> >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those >> individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has >> no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those >> individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has >> no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those > individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has > no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
