Where to get food poisoning
Last week, it was the perfect meal. This week, the opposite.
It's a fact of the traveller's life that you're going to get sick while you're on the road. Take all the precautions you want, but it's almost impossible to send strange foreign foodstuffs down your oesophagus without the odd stomach rumble.
Those rumbles can range from the mildly discomforting to the agonising, confine-you-to-your-room, make-you-swear-you'll-never-visit-street-vendors-again pains that can eat up a good chunk of your trip, and become the only stories you wind up telling everyone when you get home.
It's also an annoying irony that these episodes usually occur in the places with the most frightening toilet facilities.
You can get sick from the food anywhere. And there's often nothing wrong with what you're eating in the places you do get sick - it's just your body reacting to something it's never encountered before (like vegetables).
However, some countries are more likely to do you damage than others. I'm not saying you shouldn't visit them. Just, you know, take imodium.
There's some great food in Peru - ceviche is like God's gift to tongues. But uncooked fish isn't always the best thing for travellers, and there's some other stuff there that can make you violently ill. And it's not what you'd expect. I ate a guinea pig and was fine. I ate a hamburger and spent four days lying in a hotel room sweating like Renton's cold turkey scene in Trainspotting.
The first sign is the butcher on the side of the road with his wares laid out in bamboo baskets. Refrigeration's not big here. Then there are all the weird and wonderful things that are just eaten as a matter of course. Washed down with home-brewed street beer. If that doesn't do it to you, you've got a stronger stomach than me.
It may not be typical, but the sickest I've ever been was in Uganda, and I assume it was something I ate, so that's what I associate the place with. For the record, the toilet blocks of a Kampala campsite aren't the best place in the world to spend your much-anticipated holiday.
I've never actually been to Nepal, but I'm yet to meet anyone who hasn't come back from there without a horror story. My friends Russ and Rox had an unfortunate case of dual food poisoning in Kathmandu, and found that nothing brings a couple closer together than having to stand outside the bathroom waiting for your partner to finish vomiting so you can go in and have your turn.
Not food poisoning, as such. I just ate so much I felt sick. Every night.
I love street food, and never had a bad experience in India, so when I visited Bangladesh, I was keen for some more of that action. That is, until the girl I was staying with put me off slightly. "See the open drains running next to them on the street," she said, pointing near the vendors' carts. "Where do you think they get their cooking water from? Don't. Eat. The street food." Plus, giardia is rife.
You can travel relatively safely in China. You can order food you recognise, or just spend your time solely at that bastion of communist ideals, KFC. Or, you can take a chance, and give everything a shot. Most of it will be delicious. But I defy anyone to plow through an entire Sichuan meal without it doing some atomic damage to their insides.
There's a problem with Thai food: it all tastes so good. Meaning, you want to try everything. Every bizarre morsel you find in street stalls and markets and restaurants looks like it has to be eaten. The end result will be a few hours riding the porcelain, but it's usually worth it.
Which country do you think you're most likely to get sick in?
I'll be launching my new book, 5 Ways to Carry a Goat, in Sydney on Thursday night. If you're in the city, drop by for a drink and say hello - it'd be great to see you there. More info here. Otherwise, the book's on shelves now!
Photo: Craig Abraham
While I can't exactly call myself a jet-setter, I do make it a point to visit a different country every year since I was able to earn an income... and ironically, the only time I've had food poisoning is right here at home... worst places?
- the cafeteria of a certain tertiary referral in Sydney
- and a cafe which-shall-remain-nameless on the back streets of Surry Hills, Sydney!
- Posted by: Angie on May 5, 2010 10:01 AM
I picked up a couple of tummy bugs around asia - one decided it liked me so much it's stayed...
On a group trip a few years ago in the Philippines every single person got food poisioning on the same night - but all at varying degrees.
Also the last thing you want is to spend a week trying to find appropriate medicine from a chemist that is run by someone who is NOT a pharmacist, and who doesn't speak english, and who only has stock with instructions in French (and i wasn't in France!). Those language lessons finally came in handy though :)
- Posted by: gebicat on May 5, 2010 10:11 AM
India would have to be the top of my list.
In most budget hotels I stayed at, the house boy would have kitchen duties after cleaning the floors and toilets.
I get the impressions these boys would eat meat once a year or less. Thus knowing how to safely store, prepare and cook meat is a challenge.
Safer to eat vegetarian off the street in India than meat in a budget to mid range hotel and get violently ill.
- Posted by: Kardy on May 5, 2010 10:16 AM
I've had my share of stomach bugs from a couple of years traveling around China.
It was nearly always caused by soup or tea - the water. Once I stopped having soup and tea and only ever drank bottled water, no problem.
I have also had food poisoning from two different inner city Sydney pubs ...
- Posted by: Chris on May 5, 2010 10:38 AM
Sometimes I don't know if it's the food itself or just too much of a good thing... all my travelling companions (except yours truly) got violently ill after consuming an entire (roasted) sheep somewhere in central asia...
then there's the scare with the bee that got stuck in someone's throat when it was inhaled along with a piece of fruit... i was afraid i might have to do a roadside pen trachoestomy (!)
- Posted by: Angie on May 5, 2010 10:41 AM
I've gotten sick twice from in the Phuket airport. Yes, super dumb, but the first time I got sick on the plane back and didn't connect that it was the airport food.
Makes me sound like a total rookie - not just the same bad food twice but going through Phuket, but it's a cheap way to get to Phi Phi, Krabi and the Similan islands.
Had an even worse bug in Laos the night before a 3 day whitewater rafting trip sleeping in the jungle each night. Very hard to paddle when you've been up all night shooting from both ends.
- Posted by: QED on May 5, 2010 11:02 AM
After 6 weeks travelling in Cuba, staying in B&B's and eating the most delicious home cooked meals, we decided to spend our last weekend at a 4star all-inclusive resort. Never again! The food was TERRIBLE and after the first awful meal we spent the rest of the weekend taking turns in the bathroom and stumbling out to the bar to get refills of our water bottles because the resort didn't offer room service.
- Posted by: oksana on May 5, 2010 11:03 AM
Has anyone travelled in Egypt (perhaps other than diving in the Red Sea) without getting food poisoning? We were OK visiting various sites on the Nile by following the usual rules. I then succumbed back in Cairo after my first meal at Mena House, which is often regarded as one of the top 3 hotels on the African continent. Still, if one has to be sick, better to not be roughing it at the time; I could look out at the Giza pyramids literally across the road and get pharmaceuticals on room service. We were there for a conference and it seemed that everyone who'd been on a Nile cruise before it got food poisoning on the boats.
- Posted by: Mim on May 5, 2010 11:27 AM
Hey, having been in China for 13 years or so - and grown steadfastly to love Sichuan food more than any other - I can honestly say not once have I ever, ever had food poisoning in the Middle Kingdom.
I've tried every food imaginable, eat from street vendors all the time, and never gotten it bad. I have maybe on two or three occassions had 'loose' bowels, but only for the day and never to 'food poisoning' levels.
Vietnam is another story. Spent a couple of years there and more often than not liquified waste as opposed to solids was the norm. (Excuse the details)
China and Vietnam are like chalk and cheese though in this respect in my opinion.
- Posted by: Filtered on May 5, 2010 11:28 AM
i got sick in vanuatu from this dodge restaurant overlooking the water. Food was good though and totally worth it.
Also when i was on my way back from LA, the plane food lasted about half an hour in my stomach before i spent the next hour in the bathroom throwing up. i won't ever order chicken on a plane again
- Posted by: RG on May 5, 2010 11:30 AM
Went to this place calld Siva oasis in the western desert of Egypt. One of those magical places of the world, with ancient springs, ruins, robed people etc.
Used to eat some great food during our stay at a local cafe, especially this local meat stew. Loved it so much that on our last day we went through to the kitchen to give compliments to the chef. There he was stirring the pot with his arm, with a big smile, a huge sore on the said arm, and a half attached sticking plaster dipping in the stew.
Which just goes to show in life, sometimes you really dont want to lift the bonnet and look at the engine- just sit in comfort and enjoy the ride.
- Posted by: Dingo on May 5, 2010 11:36 AM
Australia has probably the finest mixture of international cuisine and local wines.Regarding the comments about Peru and Cuba, I can not agree, Peru has the best seafood in this region with international chefs. Cuba is not a place for gourmets or for room service as fixed salary is 50 AU $ per month, so what do you expect ?.but for gourmet cigar smokers with a taste of humour and sense for Cuban music it is a nice place to visit, It all depends where you end up. Same thing in AUS where I have great memories.
- Posted by: Marcel Brons on May 5, 2010 11:46 AM
I spent 3.5 years living in China and very regularly had stomach upsets but nothing too serious. Likewise, I now live in Vietnam and also regularly have the same sort of issues - it's just something you have to learn to live with. But the worst food poisoning I've ever had was at the 5 star Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas...
- Posted by: Emma on May 5, 2010 11:50 AM
On my first ever overseas trip 18 years ago, I spent 10 days in Bali, Central Java, Jakarta and Bandung. I ate local food everywhere, except at the 4-star hotel in Jakarta on the 8th day where I felt like a hamburger. Uh oh. It wasn't food poisoning as such but it messed with my tummy for the next 3 days until I got home. My rule now is to stick to the food that the locals know how to cook!
- Posted by: Charlie on May 5, 2010 11:52 AM
How can you not mention Bolivia??
I don't think I met a single person who didn't get sick in Bolivia.
- Posted by: Nudge on May 5, 2010 11:53 AM
I'm surprised that a guy like you has apparently travelled so much failed to put Tajikistan in this list. Everyone knows that the capital Dushanbe has regular typhoid outbreaks in its drinking water supply
- Posted by: Ruhfus on May 5, 2010 11:54 AM
i've travelled to about 5 countries around asia had an awesome time in each experiencing the culture, activities and eating FOOD. I'm a foodie.
in terms of food poisoning, the only time was a from Pork Roll cart in Vietnam Saigon on the street with thousands of cars/mopeds zooming by, dust flying everywhere, no refrigeration, meat must have been a week old, cost me 15c.
had me going to the toilet 8 times a day, with fever, sweating, eye shut in bed 4 days straight.
that was my 2nd asian trip and a very good lesson when eating food.
a good word of advice, follow the golden rules below and you'll have no problems whatsoever:
1. GET ALL YOUR SHOTS/MEDICATIONS BEFORE TRAVELLING
2. MAKE SURE THE FOOD IS COOKED
3. DRINK BOTTLED WATER
- Posted by: sydney on May 5, 2010 12:07 PM
ah yes that bastion of communism that is KFC...which actually gave me food poisoning in China!!!
after weeks of eating local food (including everything sichuan), i had an urge to eat something western. worst.idea.ever.
i vomited about six times. mostly outside the Guilin train station. but most hilariously in a dentist's pot plant (we had to leave shortly after).
- Posted by: laneyt on May 5, 2010 12:13 PM
My hubby got a bug from eating fruit in Vanuatu recently that was still causing havoc weeks later. The Doc said that it's quite common for travellers to both Vanuatu and Thailand to return with this little hitchhiker... beware! Took two courses of antibiotics to get rid of it.
Also Mexico made us both ill, not sure if it was the excess of chilli and lime juice though..! (the food's awesome, it was totally worth it)
- Posted by: Ali on May 5, 2010 12:17 PM
When I was ten we went to Turkey and thence on the Orient Express (1976 -its last journey until it reopened a decade or so later) to Paris. I had no end of stomach problems then, I remember getting back to London and just having diarrhoea for weeks. But I think it set me up for good times ahead as it is only in my early forties that I have started being vulnerable to stomach bugs again. I was so healthy for most of my teens and twenties I didn't even realise non drunk adults COULD get sick to their stomachs! LOL
I know a lot of people think homeopathy is junk but I never go anywhere overseas with out arsenicum album preparation (30c or more). I have been to Bali and everyone got ill and I started to feel it too but I took some ars and was well and everyone else stayed ill. It is the 'traditional' food poisoning rememdy and while the evidence that it works is largely anecdotal, what's the harm.
Otherwise its immodium and maxolon. The worst thing I can imagine is getting ill on a plane. A nice, fully booked economy flight. yeah....no where to hide. Anyone in that situation has my sympathy.
- Posted by: woman on May 5, 2010 12:20 PM
Vietnam - no problems for two weeks. Last night, went to a western restaurant run by an Aussie in Hanoi and copped a beauty. It hit the worst next day at the airport. Toilets had no water.
India - always good for a run. Got another nasty on the way out a couple of years back and it was either the airport or SIAs caterers?
Nepal - another exit drama. 3 weeks no worries then bang! after coffee and a cake at the airport 'cafe'.
Worst ever was my first trip to the US. Ex Jakarta and got a bug from an expat bar that we went to regularly. Had it all that night en route Singapore and then crossing the Pacific the next day, plus 3 days after. Torture, not helped by sitting at the back with a spare seat in the smoking section (yes, this was not last week) so that all these losers from non-smoking came up and sat next to me while they got their fix. Then there was the attitude of the nonagenarian United Airlines 'flight attendants'. Murder.
But just back from 4 weeks in Gabon and Cameroon with no bother at all!
- Posted by: Grant on May 5, 2010 12:20 PM
Yes food poisoning is something we take very grave care about. In Napoli Beach Myanmar a seafaring beach area we try to eat only at the resorts. Not that the food is great but outside the resort areas the food cannot be certified as safe due to refrigeration and recycling issues. The Philippines is super bad for food poising issues also. Closer to home try some Vietnamese restaurants in Marrickville.
- Posted by: Topolcats on May 5, 2010 12:21 PM
Personally I don't think its so much what you eat, I've travelled heaps and have had some gastro bugs but I think its from your hands touching things. You are in a foreign country and the bugs are different (yes they can get into the food but you're focussed so much on the food/drink and not your hands) but when I was in Bali last time I realised how much a hot, humid country that is not Australia has different to it and you're picking up things, handling money etc etc etc, so the last few times I've travelled to SE Asian countries I've taken anti-bac wipes for my hands and every time I eat or even when I think of it just use those and have not had a problem. Eaten what I liked no problem. Travelan is also a good option but I really think its our little pinkies touching everything and washing its not always great to completely clean everything off! My 2c worth!
- Posted by: Lise on May 5, 2010 12:28 PM
i had it coming out both ends one Christmas Eve in Siam Reap. The cause - the beer at a well frequented drinking establishment in town. Nothing to do with how much was drank, i was feeling queezy while drinking there. A few days later i tried again, and while i kept it all in, the queezyness returned, and i moved across the street where the beer tasted good.
Thankfully in a few months in Asia i did not really experience much else.
- Posted by: Michaael on May 5, 2010 12:29 PM
I've had Kentucky Fried Chunder in Australia, Kuala Lumpur and the U.S.
I've successfully conquered the rankest food stalls in all the world but the colonel has shot me down on three different continents.
- Posted by: berihebi on May 5, 2010 12:33 PM
I knew not to eat a salad in Egypt but towards the end of the trip my body was screaming out for vegetable matter so I succumbed. Bad move, especially since I was in the Western Desert where the only place to ‘go’ was behind the nearest sand dune. And yes, getting sand on your toilet paper is the worst thing that can happen to you while travelling and suffering from food poisoning.
I wasn’t the only one in my travel party to suffer however. It came to be known as “getting a visit from Daryl”…. As in Daryl Somers who also seems to give people the sh*ts.
- Posted by: Tony on May 5, 2010 12:34 PM
I got incredibly sick in the Swiss Alps - it was a combination of creamy cheesy food, altitude, and a very windy bus ride from Grindelwald to Zurich. Unfortunately the driver wasn't able to pull over and I had nothing to be sick into - except my friends leather gloves (which he'd bought in NYC a few days prior).
Now that's friendship.
- Posted by: Belinda on May 5, 2010 12:35 PM
I managed one bout of food poisoning in Brasil, from green coconut juice of all things.
Most of the green coconut sellers whack the top off the nut and just stick a straw in it and hand it to you- not enough time to culture any bugs. But this one vendor in the Campo Grande in Salvador di Bahia had a little tricky cart. He impaled the nut on a hollow steel spike and filled a paper cup from a tap.
I'm guessing the tank didn't get cleaned often or well.
- Posted by: JudyK on May 5, 2010 12:35 PM
It's a great opportunity to be a vegeterian when travelling. The food overseas particularly Asia is delicious, and there is no need to eat meat. You feel better at the end of the day, you can eat more and at the same time reducing your risj of food poisoning. I have done a lot of travel, stayed in 5 star hotels, but always refuse to pay for food at the restaurant or go to the KFC's and Maccas. Eat where the lcoals eat, food stalls, street etc. but stick with veges.
- Posted by: George on May 5, 2010 12:42 PM
I've been traveeling around asia for a few years and love the street food. Never a problem. In Hanoi recently I had bacon and eggs in the hotel( not a budget one) and like you had the sweats etc etc for 24 hours. Gastro Stop is an essential travel companion. Eat plenty of chilli and drink local beer
- Posted by: Dash on May 5, 2010 12:44 PM
It's got to be Nepal, by far and away the worst case of food poisoning ever.
Mushroom soup that went straight through me and came out looking identical to when it went in 10 minutes earlier.
Also my travelling companion doing a two metre projectile vomit like something from the Exorcist when we thought we were better and treated ourselves to a fancy breakfast at the posh Katmandu Yak and Yeti Hotel. Yack was the word.
- Posted by: MrJ on May 5, 2010 12:44 PM
As a regular traveler to all parts of Southeast Asia I know how easy it is to get really really sick, but interestingly I've never gotten sick from Szechuan food in China, the spicier the better and don't forget the ma. I love "gong guo ji"
As for Vietnam, well that's another story, there is no food consumption optimization plan that will stave off the dreaded Bali-belly. Short trips and starvation is the only effective solution.
Taiwan is OK almost never get sick, except for the lunch boxes that lots of companies order in for meetings, these are deadly. It usually takes less than 2 hours and you're running from the conference room. "I often wonder if it is a local negotiation strategy"
South Korea is variable, restaurant food is always OK street food is variable, but never really bad. Bento boxes are great.
Malaysia and Indonesia are about on the same level, it is always best to get freshly cooked food but even this is no guarantee...
- Posted by: Robert on May 5, 2010 12:46 PM
@Kardy - actually vegetarian food is great way to get food poisoning. Rice, in particular, if not stored appropriaitely (i.e. cooled in an open container then refrigerated and thrown out if not used in a few days)harbours can harbour Bacillus cereus. Same goes for beans, o smug vegetarians.
Food preparation and storage is a big factor. There's a reason they tell you not to eat anything uncooked when travelling, and it's not just the nasties in the water supply.
- Posted by: SKB on May 5, 2010 12:47 PM
Lived there for 3 months and lived on powdered protein shakes (brought from home).
There's no way I was gonna eat the peppered goat or cane rats! Don't ask...you don't wanna know!
- Posted by: Tom on May 5, 2010 12:55 PM
vege burger in Thamel (Kathmandu) the day before I started the Annapurna Circuit. Day 1 was tough. Walk 5 minutes, lie in dirt for 5 minutes, run into bushes for 5 minutes - repeat.
some meaty thing - street vendor in Bangkok day before plane to London, where I literally crashed on a friend's floor for a week (will they ever forgive me?).
Otherwise no problems - India, Vietnam, China. Stick to vegetarian. Drink bottled water.
- Posted by: dave on May 5, 2010 12:56 PM
Too many to count. Croatian fish - just the thought - ugh!!! Beijing cheese - vomit!!!
Two weeks ago my GF got crook in Ireland - can happen anywhere.
Survived Nepal all the way to Base Camp Everest and back.
- Posted by: Bill on May 5, 2010 1:00 PM
Travelling in Bangkok and from the the South to the North of Vietnam - No issues which was amazing because of I didnt have my typhoid before leaving. My tummy felt very oddish and rumbled alot when I accidently drank seawater in Vietnam when snorking.
However I have had food poisioning in Sydney's 'top restaurants'
Sometimes its just the luck of the draw and how much you can stomach.
- Posted by: Cris on May 5, 2010 1:03 PM
Bali - loved the food but one too many prawn satays and I was hitting the squat toilets pretty much everytime I ate for the next 2 weeks - on the bright side I lost quite a few unwanted kilos. Spent a lot of time in Bangkok and Jakarta and never had an issue. Had a dodgy trout in Scotland at a swank guest house - that night was unpleasant especially as the fiancee thought it was too many ales - that took 4 days to mend. Most recent was Sao Paulo - drank the water in the hotel - that took 2 weeks, and I can attest rum did not kill the bug - the flight to Miami was pretty uncomfortable having to rush to the toilets pretty regularly and praying one was vacant as I did not have a change of clothes
- Posted by: Caribman on May 5, 2010 1:10 PM
I'm winding up a trip in India at the moment and yet to be sick sick, though I've been pretty selective about where and what I eat.
Mind you, Indian spices have put my stomach in a pretty constant state of discomfort, and a few times with the runs.
- Posted by: Darren on May 5, 2010 1:11 PM
Obviously I have a "different" stomach - Vietnam no problems, Egypt no problems however India - street food that smelt great but I was down for 3 days, Morroco - but Lamb's brain probably not the smartest thing to eat from a street vendor are my two worst. So agree with buffets in 4/5 star hotels - mine field
- Posted by: ???? on May 5, 2010 1:14 PM
Don't eat the chicken in Uzbekistan.
I was warned by somebody who had already gone through the drama; I didn't listen; one chicken soup later and then several days of misery..
- Posted by: jason on May 5, 2010 1:15 PM
Was in Morroco in 1975 for a month and had the worst dose luckily was staying in camp at beach and every hour had to go to water to wash out pants(I will spare the details)Since then have been to Bali 4 times all through europe and thailand and have never had a does since , so I think I am immune.
- Posted by: older on May 5, 2010 1:21 PM
I got the worst bug in Vietnam. I ate most of my meals from the street vendors and I was fine but it was actually at a proper restaurant that I got sick. Two people in my group who ate at the same restaurant ended up in hospital for most of the trip.
- Posted by: PL on May 5, 2010 1:23 PM
i would add langkawi and kuala lumpur both in malaysia.
not all of them are bad there but need to be choosy because they are bit clumsy
- Posted by: B on May 5, 2010 1:23 PM
Drink Coke with every meal.......it kills most bugs....then get on the beer later.
- Posted by: Cam on May 5, 2010 1:34 PM
I have being to Thailand and never had a problem eating on the streets. In Indonesia however being crook 5 times from getting a bad case of diarrhoea to vomiting for hours & losing 4 kilos. Still I am not careful, treat it as just the price you sometimes pay.
- Posted by: Richard Salter on May 5, 2010 1:41 PM
Egypt caused spectacular gut problems which continued when we got back to London. Timing the commute home after work was tricky for a week or so afterwards.
Also after eating in a smarter place in Merida, Mexico after lots of cheap backpacker cafes caused problems that took a good 12 months to fully resolve. As a result my insides somersault at the mere mention of going to India or Nepal!!
- Posted by: Sarah on May 5, 2010 1:43 PM
India India India
For all those fatty boombahs out there forget that surgery where half your stomach gets closed off. Just go to India and drink the water. Give it about 12 hrs and watch the pounds fall off.
- Posted by: ak on May 5, 2010 1:43 PM
Right on! Vietnam is definitely a food hazard. It was the soup that almost ate me. I cant look at another chicken without thinking 'chicken noodle soup' gushing from both ends. it didnt kill me, but it came close. China was fine. The only problem is drinking too much cheap beer to drown the Sichuan chillies.
- Posted by: peter on May 5, 2010 1:45 PM
My husband and I got the earthquake like rumbles last year in Seoul (S Korea)- we think from a Vietnamese restaurant - not the street food. He was so ill he had to go to hospital for four hours to get rehydrated so that we could get the flight back home. Not the best experience to cap off our 10 weeks overseas.
- Posted by: Janice on May 5, 2010 1:50 PM
Jetstar breakfast will make you sick as a dog!!! It cost me $15 so i was determined to eat it, ignoring the niggiling doubt that something wasnt quiet right.
- Posted by: Lynda on May 5, 2010 1:55 PM
Never got sick travelling, then ordered pizza from my local place two weeks ago and had the shits for days. At least I was able to see out the illness in the comfort of my apartment. I can think of plenty of places I could have gotten sick over the years that weren't as well plumbed as my place *shudder*
- Posted by: Lu on May 5, 2010 1:57 PM
@Nudge - We did not get sick in Bolivia - but my husband did in Guatemala.
@Jason - We did not have chicken in Uzbekistan - but again my husband got sick - so obviously more than just the chicken there!
The only places I have been sick is Morocco and Israel (here's a tip - avoid bacon in a country that does not eat it for religious reasons!)
- Posted by: megan on May 5, 2010 2:02 PM
I'd have to say for someone who's travelled on a moderate level, I've been extremely lucky where I've only had food poisoning (or at least what I can remember) once and that was more my fault than the vendors. Unwilling to throw out food containing mayo that's been sitting in the hot sun for a few hours, I decided to eat it. Managed to shoot a lot out of the lower end for a few days...and before I travelled back to Oz too. Luckily it stopped (or at least slowed down) by the time I got on the plane..
I don't think I'd ever want to experience food poisoning on the plane.
- Posted by: Miss independant on May 5, 2010 2:10 PM
I was bought up eating day old non-refrigerated food so I think I've built enough resistance in me to dodge the bullets. Although I do keep away from chicken, or I have it cooked to death. And I always keep away from tap water, my friend just recently caught a bug from water here in Sydney! so your chances of getting something in those less developed countries is high.
- Posted by: John on May 5, 2010 2:17 PM
Your body can just react to being in different places also. I had the runs in San Francisco and Brugge.
I started to feel very dodgy in HCMC but had a full day planned so I took 4 immodium, lots of fluids and shut up the shop until I got back to Sydney 5 days later.
- Posted by: KLFH on May 5, 2010 2:19 PM
Different bugs occupy different countries - a bit like the diversity of cultures we all travel for.
Street food or 5 star hotel are all vulnerable. I've been stricken in Egypt (hands up those who weren't), China (isn't everyone) Morocco (that rancid milk in the coffee was a dead giveaway) Thailand (its like a right of passage), Bali (the phrase Bali bellie wasn't conjoured out of thin air), not to mention Adelaide (oysters) and Sydney (or maybe that was the alcohol).
Best advice is - see a travel doctor about 4 weeks before departure to check you have all appropriate shots, and take some standard antibiotics for stomach trouble with you as well as those anti-emetics - which should only be taken if you can't wait your tummy bug out. Our travel doctor gave us a great flow chart of what to do depending on how your gastric symptoms progress. Usefull every time.
Strangely - a tummy bug has never put me off exploring the world, or trying any countries cuisine.
- Posted by: David Arrow on May 5, 2010 2:19 PM
Oh yes PERU without a doubt.
I spent 8 months in Sth America and had a few short bouts of illness in other countries like Bolivia and Ecuador but for the majority of my 2 1/2 months in Peru I spent running to the bathroom - great for weight loss not so great for the memories as most of them are tainted with those endless bathroom adventures.
- Posted by: Kate on May 5, 2010 2:23 PM
I picked up a bug in Penang, Malaysia from a street vendor (yes I watched her cook char kway teow and the wok was extremely hot, but not hot enough apparently).
The bug ate my intestinal lining away and 8 years (and plenty of visits to the gastroenterologist) later I am just recovering. But I will never completely recover.
Nasty stuff - but it was some of the tastiest food I have ever eaten!!
- Posted by: bz on May 5, 2010 2:50 PM
Never got sick in Bolivia.
Had a belter of a bout from a seafood salad at a buffet in Rio - normally I'd be cautious about buffet and seafood (crab?) salad, but I was a bit delirious as it was the first decent meal the day after a 10hr transit day from La Paz. I managed to get in a game Fluminense game (and the traditional 1/2time spliff) before it smashed me hard for 3 days at the hostel (run by an Aussie sheila) - thankfully we had the only ensuite loo and some natural pain relief remedies.
- Posted by: Che on May 5, 2010 2:59 PM
Ok, i must have a stomach lined with iron - after travelling through Hong Kong, Thailand, the Maldives and Malaysia, not to mention Europe and the US, i have not once gotten food poisoning on a trip. My gut has held all the seafood, meat and vegies it could handle without once making me panic and dart haplessly from toilet to toilet.
Btw, isn't it a general "rule" that to be sick from food poisoning, you would have had to have eaten/drunk said culprit approx. 24 hrs before you started to get sick...? Otherwise, i'm guessing it's more germs than anything else. That's what the doc told me anyway after i thought i got food poisining from my own home cooked meal! Alas it was gastro from another bug and couldn't be food poisoning due to it only happening a few hours after the meal...too soon.
So for those that got sick straight away, it probably wasn't food poisioning, but a bug - though having bad food wouldn't help your cause and in those cases I have deep sympathy!!!
Now someone please tell me i haven't jinxed my next trip...
- Posted by: sylvastar on May 5, 2010 2:59 PM
Often the food from street vendors can be fresh and well cooked. But you will still get sick from the plate and utensils - sometimes simply wiped with a dirty rag between customers. A good tip is to use your own plate and utensils, buy them from a 7-11 if you are lucky enough to be somewhere like Bangkok where there is one on just about every corner. And always buy street food from a vendor who clearly has a high turnover. That way you are less likely to be getting yesterday's unrefrigerated leftovers.
I live in Jakarta and generally I won't touch the street food here. There have been high profile cases of street vendors being busted for selling rat meat, although the rats here are big enough to qualify as livestock. Often the street vendors have a low turnover.
I never had a problem with street food in Thailand when I was living there, street food tends to be very clean and fresh by any standard. But then again I always got takeaway and ate it at home or I used disposable plates and utensils. Same with Vietnam, no problems with the superb street food there.
- Posted by: Bill on May 5, 2010 3:01 PM
Have eaten a lot of different food in Egypt and never been struck down. the same cannot be said for the chicken and vegie pie, purchased from my local safeway...
- Posted by: Cindy on May 5, 2010 3:01 PM
Imodium... best invention ever. Saved me on many occasions.
- Posted by: Paul M on May 5, 2010 3:10 PM
These are interesting stories, so much so that I am back with more.
Someone earlier mentioned handwashing - spot on - you have got to be really vigilant but if you can be, I believe it pays off.
That same person mentioned Travelan which is something that binds onto enterotoxigenic e coli - which is the cause of a lot of probs. Another good thing which binds onto viruses and bacteria in entero (proven in lab tests etc) is Saccharomycies Boulardii - available in various different preparations at any chemist - this stuff is the bomb, when you first feel the symptoms in your gut, get about five caps of this down and IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE - if you don't get it in in time, it was shorten the duration of diarrhea.
Don't forget the cottees red cordial - this stuff has saved me in Bali before I got onto homeopathy.
Not drinking water - LOL when I was in Vietnam we went to Cat Ba Island. The bottled water in Hanoi had labels on it: 'La Vie - purified water'. Down in Cat Ba I noticed (too late) that the bottled water was the product of a local 'refinery' which had a version of the real label - this one was called 'La Vile' and 'purifiled water'. Hot damn!! That was one honeymoon I will never forget for all the wrong reasons. However the hospital in Hanoi for foreigners was the best hospital I have ever been in, served in ten minutes of arrival by an American doctor. Every cloud has a silver lining.
My cousins just went to Hanoi with their two young kids and none of them got ill. It can be done.
Nepal - another exit drama. 3 weeks no worries then bang! after coffee and a cake at the airport 'cafe'.
This always interests me - you can't always blame the last thing you ate for the illness - could have been something festering away inside of you for a few days before it manifested itself in symptoms. Although I guess cake in nepal could hurt you.
- Posted by: woman on May 5, 2010 3:28 PM
Baku, Azerbaijan! Everyone got sick there. Painful guts, explosive diarrhoea for weeks. Excellent times.
- Posted by: wrestlergrrl on May 5, 2010 3:45 PM
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Fiji and never been sick yet (touch wood).
Next on agenda... Nepal and Bhutan.
- Posted by: filter this on May 5, 2010 3:51 PM
Over a twenty year period I have travelled extensively through Singapore, Malaya, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and the only time I got sick with food poisoning was on a Qantas flight coming home.
- Posted by: Barry Tyler on May 5, 2010 3:51 PM
Oh, I love this topic. I also want to say that in this day and age you could never say that Sydney or any major city was 'safer' for food consumption, as so many people have attested. I mean the water here won't kill you but the sloppy food prep here matches anything overseas if you are not lucky.
And my point is that round 2007 I got very ill with an intestinal 'thing' - put me in mind of giardia. But when I went to the doctor, she said I couldn't have giardia - becasue I hadn't been away anywhere. It took me until only recently to recover from this illness (for whcih I was prescribed antidepressants rather than antibiotics because it couldn't be giardia/ entamoeba whatever because I hadn't been away anywhere.)
Bacillus cereus has two forms; one (usually from dodgy rice) that starts up within four hours of eating the food, and you vomit severely for a bit. The other form starts up round 24 hours later and tends to be associated with other vegetables, it gives you the runs but not the vom.
The staph auruea baccillus can cause gastro symptoms within a few hours of eating something. But for the most part it is likely not to be the very last thing you ate that gave you the problem.
- Posted by: woman on May 5, 2010 3:54 PM
In 2005 I spent a couple of weeks in Vietnam with a group of friends. It was a case of 'when' you would get crook rather than 'if'. I got badly crook about half way through the 14 day trip and was going from both ends simultaneously...not a pleasant experience. I barely ate for the rest of the trip, but still managed to get through as many $1 beers as I could. Aside from that one negative aspect, travelling Vietnam was amazing - beautiful country, amazing history and the friendliest locals.
- Posted by: Heags on May 5, 2010 3:57 PM
I've travelled through China, Indonesia and other parts of Asia without a single food poisoning problem. I got my poisoning in Swizerland, and my travelling partner in Italy. Go figure!
- Posted by: Lucy on May 5, 2010 4:05 PM
Having filled a couple of passports I compare the normal one or 2 days upset stomach which can happen here in Oz or any other country with what you get in India. After several trips only got sick once but it lasted many weeks. Many I have spoken to have experienced the same. Not even the cement tablets work.
- Posted by: EN on May 5, 2010 4:14 PM
I went trekking in Nepal and ate food from the side of the road for 3 weeks. I then stopped off in bangkok at the Lebua @ state tower 5 star hotel for our wedding anniversary, and got food poisoning there, at a place which was charging AUD14 for a coffee!!
Not going back there again...
- Posted by: Daniel on May 5, 2010 4:28 PM
I was sick for months after going on a Fairstar cruise and participating in a kava drinking ceremony with the locals on 'Mystery Island'- whatever attacked my intestines certainly was a mystery. Should have known not to drink kava from a shared cup and the locals were mixing it with their bare hands...but that's when I was young and silly
- Posted by: Sue on May 5, 2010 4:39 PM
All of these things can happen just about anywhere. We caught a highly contagious air-borne bug in a south pacific island frequented by many Aussies, and were passing fluids at both ends for two days - alternating turns in the bathroom - along with half our resort, and 60% of a 5 star resort a few kilometres away - all on the one weekend.
- Posted by: Maxalon Man on May 5, 2010 4:39 PM
I am a medical doctor and was in all the places mentioned (except Uganda) and was never sick. Kathmandu has some amazing restaurants.
The only places I regularly get sick is at... hospital cafeterias. (Which I tend to avoid like hell).
- Posted by: SG on May 5, 2010 4:45 PM
I travelled all through Egypt eating whatever I wanted. Street food, fresh fruit from the markets ect. I then satyed in a 5 star resort to relax for a couple of days before heading home and was ill for the next month.
- Posted by: fred on May 5, 2010 4:48 PM
I'm sure it was the pork balls...hubby and I just arrived that morning to Club Med Phuket and had the banquet lunch. He had spent months travelling Asia eating from street stalls, thought he was indestructible. He spent the whole week double-ending at the loo.
- Posted by: Julie on May 5, 2010 4:50 PM
Hospitals - I've travelled to some dodgy places in my life but i've never been as sick as the stuff i've caught whilst working in a hospital and i work in admin. There the sort of bugs where imodium doesn't help as you can't keep it down.
Second would have been the a wedding in indonesia. We saw the food cooked the night before (mostly meat) left on the floor in the kitchen during a humid warm night served up the next day till late in the afternoon (and there wasn't even air conditioning). Needless to say i decided to go vegetarian for a while after that.
- Posted by: Bureaucrat in Training on May 5, 2010 4:50 PM
My husband got a dreadful case of food poisoning in Oslo Norway on a coach tour of Scandinavia in 2003. We bought salad & ham bread roll "sandwiches" for lunch at Baker Hanssen's (a takeaway food outlet recommended by the tour leader). Back on the coach an hour later he became so violently ill we left the coach at the next stop & caught a taxi straight to our hotel (with him throwing up all the way into plastic shopping bags) at a cost of approx $120. The hotel said there was no local doctor for tourists, so he took medication we'd brought from home & after a night's sleep was able to continue the trip, although he still felt very "off" & couldn't eat for the next 4 days. We noted that in many parts of Scandinavia ready to eat food, including fish & meat products, was sold unwrapped in the open from tables without any sort of refrigeration or covering to keep flies etc away, but what we bought was from inside a display cabinet in a shop.
- Posted by: Sandie on May 5, 2010 4:56 PM
sylvastar @ 2.59 - Food poisoning /can/ come on within a few hours. A friend and I shared some Vietnamese in Chatswood before a film (is there a bit of a Viet theme emerging here?) but never saw how the film ended as I was in the toilets vomiting. Thankfully that ended the problem - consistent with another poster's explanation of which bug does what. I reported the restaurant to the relevant food authority - I'd commend this to any one who gets sick here in Sydney. The person on the phone agreed it was probably in the prawn rolls due to the way it came on and as these were the only dish that I didn't share with my friend.
- Posted by: Mim on May 5, 2010 4:56 PM
You forgot Cairo (Egypt). I was lucky enough to stay at a 5 star motel on the nile. The only place in the world I've had food poisoning (and I've ate from street carts in Indonesia, etc). The Lucky bit was that they a medical team (+ drip & drugs) that comes to your room. No need to sit in a surgery! Was it luck, or was it because it's an often needed service.
- Posted by: Tony Lee on May 5, 2010 5:10 PM
Panadol and Neurofen.
Cold and flu tablets.
Antiseptic cream eg. Savlon.
An anti-emetic eg. Anagraine (over the counter at a chemist).
Bandaids (box of various sizes).
Bird flu/sars mask.
Put it all in a single lunch box/tupperware container. Make sure they're all in their original packaging. Check the country you're going to allows them (notice there's no Codeine in the list)
The last trip to Thailand we used most of them *except* the imodium!
- Posted by: pd on May 5, 2010 5:11 PM
Ah yes Nepal....having the runs and having to go outside in a blizzard at around 5000m to go the the crappa...memories I will never forget. Or the first day cycling from Kathmndu to Mugling (around 110km) with a bad case of giardia...get off the bike and go where you can....all a part of the adventure.
- Posted by: The Oracle on May 5, 2010 5:11 PM
There are two times when I have been genuinely sick when traveling and both times it was the bush meat that caused me problems.
I was adventure traveling in Borneo a few years back when I picked up a few days work to train the locals on effective land clearing methods for the planting of palm oil plantations. One of the blokes I was working with was always keen to show off how tough he was had bagged a couple of Ranga's (brought them down with a sling shot and stones) and put them in the pot. I remember telling the camp cook when he pulled them out that they weren't ready but, he reckoned he knew his bush tucker and I will admit the taste wasn't too bad. It laid me out for a good 48 hours, and all I could do was lie in my cot drinking the local brandy between gut wrenching bum explosion and bright orange vomiting (it was like the colour of their fur had stained my insides).
The other time in Uganda one of the boys brought in a nice silver back for the pot. He reckoned he had brought it down that day with a well timed shot from his antique riffle and it's missing hands and head should have tipped me off he was not being honest but, I was exhausted from the long hours I was putting in on my contract for the local militia. The rotten bugger had probably found it in the bush and god only knows how long it had been there. Again the taste of the meat was excellent but, it tore me a new one with the speed it left my back side.
Advice for anyone who is thinking of tucking into some bush meat, it will taste good but, remember to heave plenty of banana leaves on hand for the next day.
- Posted by: Garry - Real Adventurer on May 5, 2010 5:17 PM
In Hawaii at the mo, my wife, son & I have just spent 4 days in bed with food poisoning from a sushi place in a mall food court - fun way to spend a holiday looking out the window at people lazing themselves on the beach!
- Posted by: Hamish on May 5, 2010 5:20 PM
My husband tried to out-drink and out-eat some German friends in China. They were drinking bai jiu (cheap nasty rice wine that taste like metho) at a Brazilian BBQ. The alcohol plus raw meat ended up with him having a severe case of alcohol/food poisoning requiring a hospital visit. That was after discovering the inadequacies of the Chinese plumbing system. Now he can't even go near rice wines.
- Posted by: Caroline on May 5, 2010 6:21 PM
I have to agree about Nepal- I was sick for 5 weeks AFTER I got back to Australia due to a dodgy meal. Though strangely I didn't get sick while my friend and I were by ourselves, travelling in dodgy buses and eating roadside fried goods (perhaps because it was fried to within an inch of its life we didn't have any issues). The illness occurred was while I was with the Australian owned tour company we went hiking with. The night before our trek we were taken by the guide to 'the best indian restaurant in Nepal' Hhm. Might I note I never once got ill from the Sherpa cooked food, but in a 'renowned' restaurant.
The second sickest I have been was from a sushi place in Chatswood. Prawn salad. Nightmare stuff.
- Posted by: Erin on May 5, 2010 6:24 PM
I have eaten out in China approximately ......6,000 times, maybe even 6,500 and have been sick twice. One was a stray bit of unclean offal which had jumped into a vege dish by mistake, and the other was Western Pizza joint of all places.
Vietnam, never sick and spent months there. Italy, yes sick from pigging out only (4 years of it.)
Worst long time tummy sick was in Turkey at butterfly Valley near Ulu Denez south fo Fetyre. Everyone at the camp ssemed to get sick within 2 days of being there.
Girlfriend got a nasty Montezumas revenge in Egypt which lasted a week. Have orbably been sick at home in and around Sydney just as much on a %age basis.
- Posted by: Scambuster on May 5, 2010 7:43 PM
I got samonella poisoning from a chocolate mousse desert in a 5 star hotel in Beijing. The worst part was that my flight home was the following morning after I consumed the offending sweet treat. After some exorcist style spews I passed out twice - once outside the hotel waitin for the taxi and then in the airport after security.
I also vomited in a plant pot next to the check-in desk. God knows how they let me on that flight.
I very nearly didn't get allowed back into the country!
Ah the joys!
- Posted by: Mich on May 5, 2010 7:46 PM
apart from low level diarr. for several months across Asia, 2 memorable ones ...
Kabul Afghanistan about 33 years ago - sheep fat shishkebabs so delicious, but the killer was the desert mirage delicious red strawberries - result - four days flat on my back hallucinating in Purple !
Nha Trang Vietnam more recently - enjoying street boiled snails with pepper lemon juice - mostly delicious, just wondering if a few were past their use-by date, when suddenly police jeep pulls up, people scatter, stools thrown over the fence to avoid confiscation - while a local tells me they didn't pay the usual bribe, indicating opposite footpath stall continuing to trade undisturbed ... next - 4 days flat on my back in Saigon taking every medicine I can find, only once or twice a day able to drag myself to eat nearby - so not much sightseeing in Saigon.
That last one destroyed my previously reputed cast iron stomach, so I am more sensitive now.
- Posted by: Frank on May 5, 2010 8:00 PM
One of my biggest achievements as a traveller?
Spending a year travelling South America, Oceania and Asia (incl. Nepal but excl. India) without a single day of vomiting or diarrhoea, while relying mostly on street food and lots of it (esp. in South East Asia because it was sooo yummy).
I so definitely have a pig's stomach :)
- Posted by: Alice on May 5, 2010 8:09 PM
After 35 years travelling Asia, Europe, the Americas, the Pacific, Australia, the only places I have had food poisoning are the Gold Coast Qld, Town of 1770 Qld and Kings Cross NSW.
- Posted by: mareeS on May 5, 2010 8:18 PM
After 12 months and two courses of metronidazole, the all-singing-all-dancing giadia I picked up in Attapeau (Lao) is pretty much a permanent resident in my gut. Clearly its made of robust stuff.
- Posted by: Gulliver on May 5, 2010 8:19 PM
BRUSSELS SEAFOOD SHOW - my husband was there last week and got a super bout of food poisoning from what he thought was a shrimp croquette - my son was at the show the next day and he came down with the same!! i spoke to a friend in nz who told me without any input from me, that he got sick at the same show couple of years ago from eating a shrimp croquette... i reckon no more shrimp croquettes they have been around too long...
- Posted by: bev on May 5, 2010 9:04 PM
Yep, well this message comes to you from Thailand, where I've spend the best part of the day ill. It was a nice meal for sure, but I'm still dealing with the effects 24 hours later. Yee haa
- Posted by: feelingilltoday on May 5, 2010 9:15 PM
I can't believe India is not on this list. I traveled through Thailand, China, Tibet, Nepal and was fine, but 3 days after arriving in India I was brought to my knees. Took me 2 months to recover.
- Posted by: h on May 5, 2010 9:28 PM
2008 Aba, Anambra State, Nigeria; 6 days Cipro and Loperamide slowed it.....
2002 London; 6 days, Cipro nuked it
1996 Ansett food returning from Bali; 8 days, and nothing worked
- Posted by: Igbo on May 5, 2010 9:35 PM
Interesting timing for this blog given the excellent Rick Stein Far Eastern cooking series on ABC at the mo..
Now lets see, what has done me in over the years - Penang fish head curry, Georgetown; Chicken curry at Singapore airport food center which hit mid-flight on the way home and lasted 11 days; charcoal grilled chicken on Chaweng beach (can't forget that squat style bungalow bog that had me straining for 3 days either); hamburger at local 24hr restaurant near Bangkok where I ate the lettuce and tomato - big mistake and only just recovered in time to make the flight out.
Just this week bought pricey bratwurst sausages from woolworths, opened the pack and they were covered in slime. No, I didn't eat them but I sure know where I'd like to stick em,
It can get you anywhere.
- Posted by: J on May 5, 2010 9:36 PM
I think the more you travel the more of a resitance you build up.
Just spent two weeks in Egypt with my parents and another family. My parents and I are seasoned travellers, I live in the ME, and the other family hadn't travel much further then Bali and Europe once.
My parents and I had no problems but the other family has stomache and digestive problems almost from the second day, and we were all eating the same food.
Golden three rules, learnt by experience in Nigeria, seem to do the trick:
Always drink bottled water (inc teeth cleaning)
Don't eat the salad or fruit you haven't peeled yourself
Keep away from the rice, that's where all the bugs hide, generally not in the curry.....
- Posted by: Travel Bug on May 5, 2010 9:47 PM
Cant remember which resort it was in 1994 but i think it was a desert that put me on the toilet for 24 hours straight.
The toilet was flushed so much that it overflowed in the bathroom and had to call for help.
This happened on the last day of an non-eventful week there.. i remember clenching my bum cheeks tight from nadi to Sydney
- Posted by: Jimbo on May 5, 2010 9:59 PM
Years in China - and now totally immune to every hazard - only last month and completely undone by a pork sausage, In Manchester England - damn even my tongue went black
in moments of delirium between the steaming hot shower and the bliss of the cold tiles - i started cleaning my tongue with the bath towels - now having a black tongue and a half a bath towel covered in black slime is enough to get anybody worried. Luckily my american mate saw me and freaked out calling his pharmacist wife - with "he's gonna die" Peptio Bismol - side affect - black tongue
- Posted by: g thats good on May 5, 2010 10:58 PM
The worst food poisoning I had was at the now closed down Connaught Hotel where Angela Hartnett (of Gordon Ramsay fame) was head chef.
Bad food and bad stomach at a 2 michelin star hotel. What a letdown
- Posted by: Diana Dee on May 5, 2010 11:21 PM
I am a refrigeration mechanic and have travelled in India. All the good refrigeration people in India have moved to Australia or work in the Middle East. But at lest they can cook good vegetarian food. Avoid ice, dairy, and buy water in a bottle from larger stores or the new Reliance Super Markets, and take it everywhere. Heart burn got me there. And I have only had problems with eating Indian meat dishes from restaurants in Australia.
- Posted by: Carl on May 6, 2010 12:16 AM
There's the old advice ... eat the local specialty as they know how to source it, store it, prepare it and there's a higher volume being sold.
Eating western food like hamburgers in western style restaurants in less developed countries is just asking for trouble.
Go native, go high volume, watch out for water borne nasties and wash your hands from trekking round the streets all day so you don't poison yourself...
- Posted by: Cayman on May 6, 2010 1:04 AM
Ben, I'll buy your new book but only if you promise it's not a rehash of this blog. I'm a regular here on Wednesdays. It's not showing on Amazon UK yet. You'll sell more if you get in on there.
I've had two bouts of food poisoning, both times in Cypress. The first time I made the mistake of eating a cooked breakfast at 4am in the Weatherspoon's pub in Gatwick. The bacon tasted a bit farmyardy and I left most of it. It must have been under the lights for hours. I spent 4 days on a drip, nill by mouth, in a clinic in Limassol. High temperature and rear end job but luckily no vomiting. I got a good look at what food poisoning can do to us. After all the food had passed through, a green slime kept coming out every hour or so. It stopped on the 4th day. First meal of spaghetti in water was delicious although the drip and drugs suppressed my appetite well. If you have a fever, it's an infection. All that stuff about different water is nonsense.
The second time was probably caused by eating garlic prawns on rice. My assumption was it was the prawns but someone told me it was probably the rice. Apparently cooked rice that is left to go cold is a perfect growing medium for bacteria. Restaurants often cook rice in advance then reheat it. So be warned folks.
- Posted by: Alan on May 6, 2010 1:28 AM
I find myself protesting at the inclusion of China at all in this list - albeit noting the humour attached, and in agreement with the sentiments from the "china plates" above. Twenty odd years in China commencing 1983, north to south, east to west and much time spent in rural villages, night markets, roadside, mountain tops, riverside, 5 star and six star, and price, everything from the very very high to the "what ever you think this worth", never once having stomach trouble must mean that china does have its culinary act together or I have been blessed with particular stomach antibodies that like many other organisms in the world have a holiday when they visit Australia -because then and only then do they start to give me trouble .....only one rule dont drink the water.. and that now applies sadly to australia as well.
- Posted by: chifan on May 6, 2010 3:50 AM
Where to get food poisoning? Try Interlaken, Switzerland before heading by car through the 15 km tunnel to Italy and watching your girlfriend throw up into plastic bags as there is nowhere to stop in the tunnel. Then you also get sick, so you blow your budget getting a 5 star hotel in Milan to get room with a bathroom. Don't feel like spending a lot of time looking for 'budget' hotel.
I worked in Malaysia for 6 months and ate the street food and never got sick possible because they had a good treated water supply. But also worked in Mumbai, India for 15 months and got seriously ill twice but never ate real street food. Their water supply is questionable as in some areas, they turn off the pumps for a few hours most days so polluted water enters the potable water system. Upset stomachs treated with Imodium don't count. Only counts if Imodium doesn't work and you need Cipro. Also contracted a parasite, blastocystis hominis, that is effectively untreatable but your body adjusts.
Oh the joys of international travel.
- Posted by: babyboomer on May 6, 2010 4:31 AM
all i can say is skip the free soup that comes with the $2.50 chicken rice in singapore, where do you think they put the left overs from the chicken rice they cant sell, they refer to it as a continous broth, tastes good but has the potential to make you loose 5kg in 9 hours as it did with me, if you brave the soup then all i can say is good shooten
- Posted by: beergenie on May 6, 2010 5:30 AM
Yeah. 1980. Wet season. Sumatran jungle. Bengkulu to Padang. Dirt road. Stuck in an ancient Enganno bus for 7 days waitin' for Taiwanese road workers to tow us through a massive series of bogs. Mud. Mozzies. Tropical fever. Dysentery. Rice and bananas squirtin' out both ends. Near died. Saved by a Taiwanese doctor.
- Posted by: Mr Lucky on May 6, 2010 5:53 AM
Having lived in California for many years, I would have to say that Mexico has been the only place that I ever gave me food poisoning....it seems the water doesn't agree with us 'gringos'...it's called Montezuma's Revenge
- Posted by: CN on May 6, 2010 6:14 AM
Been to Vietnam three times in 2009, going again in July.
Eat from restaraunts.
Never been sick.
Travel with my 5 year old son, he has also never been sick.
Go to expensive dinner river cruise in the NT, on the toilet for three days.
Vietnam is great.
However lived in Tanzania, Unbeleivable.
how can you drink water and have 30 seconds to get to the tiolet after drinking?
Lost 20 kilos in three weeks.
- Posted by: Steve on May 6, 2010 7:09 AM
The only place i have ever had food poisoing was Madrid. Serves me right really, if you cant look at a piece of meat and know what it is you really should'nt eat it. I did and i paid for it for 24 hours.
- Posted by: Sarajane on May 6, 2010 8:20 AM
Gosh, my worst experience would have been in Vietnam on a school trip.
The entire trip, the teachers and group leaders were emphasising (enforcing perhaps!) that we, under no circumstance are to drink the water. That includes salads, soups, etc.
On our last day, we were given a sumptious seafood buffet. Not thinking, we all had a bit of seafood. We arrived in Australia, a couple of people were feeling a tiny bit ill, but put it down to jetlag or whatever. I on the otherhand was hospitalised. I had food poisoning, and it lasted a week. It was awful, exploding out of both ends.
- Posted by: Sophie on May 6, 2010 8:40 AM
Must have been very lucky, as just returned from a year long excursion and I didn't get sick once in China/Tibet, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia or Laos. In India I was there for 6 weeks eating only vegetarian (bit of fish in Goa/Kerala) and had one afternoon of about 2 hours of stomach upset, was perfectly fine the next day.
With every border crossing, however, I'd have a "new country digestive adjustment issue" for a few days then...no probs.
I'm not sure if I built up some sort of immunity? Or if it was drinking coke occasionally & obviously sterilising water (though I did brush my teeth with the tap water)? Or just dumb luck?
All that Fasigyn and Nuroxin in my medical kit went to waste!
- Posted by: sarah on May 6, 2010 8:49 AM
sylvastar @ 2.59 - Food poisoning /can/ come on within a few hours. A friend and I shared some Vietnamese in Chatswood...
Posted by: Mim on May 5, 2010 4:56 PM
Reminds me, never EVER leave home to eat out in Sydney (or NSW) with out first consulting:
It may not be thorough enough; I've lived with intestinal ulceration for 5 years now and know when a place is sus from being really sensitive, that said I eat out about 3 times a week usually no dramas just from being really careful. Careful is not overeating, profiling the staff (are they dirty grots?) and always good when they have an open kitchen where you can carefully scrutinise wtf they do with your food before serving it to you!
PS if you ever need to send food back to the kitchen, that's your cue to pay and leave and NOT eat!
- Posted by: Beware! on May 6, 2010 9:03 AM
If any one has been to Morocco, you might think some of these places are 5 star....fish and meat that are hung of dusty dirty wallsl....and left there for the whole day in 45+degree heat with flies and other vermin crawling all over it! It is these meats that are bought by the restaraunts and served up to you in the evenings....whilst some food tastes great....make sure you have a few boxes of immodium tablets handy.
- Posted by: RSV on May 6, 2010 9:06 AM
As the beautiful sun rose at Angkor Wat, so did everything in my stomach.
14 days of sitting on the toilet 30 times a day in neighbouring countries followed.
- Posted by: Sal on May 6, 2010 9:11 AM
I survived Egypt for 2 1/2 weeks with no problems, as did everyone in the group of 20 I was with - at least until the last day, when we had a buffet lunch at a 5-star hotel. Those that ate the salads suffered, those that didn't were fine.
A similar story in Turkey - the people near me at a restaurant told me I was paranoid for not eating the tomato salad, but I had the last laugh.
I had a problem in China 15 years ago, but my recent trips have been fine.
My worst case was just a few weeks ago in London - I think it was the whitebait at an Italian restaurant - in any case I was up all night.
- Posted by: Tony on May 6, 2010 9:13 AM
Travel yearly to China for work and twice ended up with stomach troubles - hard to know where it came from water or food. I've heard it can just be differnet bugs to what you are used to. I try to avoid drinking water except from bottles, but then you get ice in drinks and shower in it. Second time lost six kilos and took me three weeks after I returned to get better.
- Posted by: china belly on May 6, 2010 10:00 AM
After 5 years working across Asia as a tour guide...the winner would be Uzbekistan. I had a 99% strike rate with tourists getting some sort of stomach bug. There is nowhere to hide. And vegetarians...you are not safe. All vege's get washed in local water as do plates and utensils...might as well just embrace the illness....and then take the russian cure...triple shot vodka mixed with a teaspoon of salt. After that, usually good to go.
- Posted by: Steve on May 6, 2010 10:13 AM
despite a bout of giardia in nepal and a kidney infection in india (not fun!)ended up in a hospital where i had to buy clean needles for injections of anti-biotics, i still love those huge pappadums you buy from the pappadum wallah on the banks of the ganges in varanasi.
- Posted by: sicko on May 6, 2010 10:15 AM
Vietnam - Agree. Having taken the anti cholera medication before going, however, it was nothing more than a mild feeling of an unsettled stomach, and the only noticeable effect was that I lost weight (I forget what its called but ask your doctor coz its brill!)
Egypt - Felucca food was great! Didn't get sick at all, though did need to use the loo more often as my body got used to all the extra fibre. Best falafel on the planet.
Cuba - No problems there. If you like ham and cheese you will get by fine in cuba (they add it to everything) The 7 peso pizza from the streetside windows was the culinary highlight (as was the first real beef burger we found in Havana, at Comestibles (near the entrance from the prado to Obispo -opposite the park)
Either way I highly recommend getting that anti-cholera stuff - I ate from street side stalls in rural cambodia and didn't get ill at all - I think it was a capsule (or maybe a liquid) but it prevents most bugs from really taking hold (and lets you enjoy your trip!)
- Posted by: Erin on May 6, 2010 10:26 AM
Remebered the name of the anti-cholera drug - Get some Dukoral into you before you go. Also try the anti-typhoid oral - Vivotif. Both worked a treat for me two years ago - Didn't get sick as I ate street food from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam & Egypt.
- Posted by: Erin on May 6, 2010 10:34 AM
Tahiti did it for me like no other country. I ordered a beef burger and got something tasting like pig kidney patty between the moist buns. The waiter had disgusting dreadlocks and long dirty nails...
i was hungry and spent the rest of the next two days bento over in a dingy toilet crying in agony....
- Posted by: Fat Boy Trim on May 6, 2010 10:36 AM
Egypt was the worst for me. I don't even know what it is that I ate (especially as I'm a vegetarian), but I had traveler's sickness for a good two weeks while I was there. But it's also where I was given the best advice for overcoming stomach issues: local drugs for local bugs.
Funny thing is I didn't have any problems in Thailand, despite gorging on street food...
- Posted by: M on May 6, 2010 10:46 AM
How can India NOT be on this list?? It's the number one place to get food poisoning - Delhi Belly ain't called that for nothing!
- Posted by: Mel on May 6, 2010 11:08 AM
Forget political strife - the real problems are dengue fever/malaria and limited access to refrigeration and water of any kind (especially outside Dili) combined with locals' preference for luke-warm food.
I took all precautions - alco wipes, Travelan, all medicines, bottled water and only eating hot HOT popular dishes with takeaway containers/cutlery - and was OK, but only after several bad experiences both in Oz and elsewhere that have left me paying $10,000+ in doctors bills.
The problem I still don't have a solution to, however, is how to deal with friendly locals who invite you to dinner. It would just be too rude to decline.
- Posted by: momo on May 6, 2010 11:10 AM
Avoid chicken everywhere, even in Australia where 35% of all takeaway chicken contains salmonella. Drink only bottled water whenever you go overseas, and, when in tropical countries, take your own mosquito net. Besides malaria, mozzies and other night-biters carry a veritable zoo of dangerous and annoying parasites and bacteria. Nothing worse than coming home with a life-threatening and/or chronic disease to put you off your tucker.
- Posted by: icurhuman2 on May 6, 2010 11:15 AM
Visited India for a month with my partner earlier this year. We took a month to recover on our return.
We were saved from hospital admission only by "NORE-T", a multipurpose antibiotic (it's also available under other labels). We'll never again travel without something similar in our extensive medical kit. The medication was available freely and I researched it in detail on the internet before use. However we still became to see food as only a necessity, sad for foodies!
Overall, we have found China to be relatively safe, after many trips.
The cost of food is no indication. I've suffered the worst cases of food poisoning in Dalat, Varanasi and Stockholm! The only two countries where we have not been ill are Japan and Indonesia (Java). Pot luck!
- Posted by: Eric on May 6, 2010 11:17 AM
I have been relatively lucky I reckon in the "squirts" department. When 15, after my mum died,I got shipped off to Singapore to live w my aunt and uncle (at the then NZ naval base at Sembawang) Got my first taste of backpacking at 15 AND of the squirts on a night bus from Singapore to KL.Stopped for food in middle of night, went straight to the hawker stall with NO queue. BIG MISTAKE! Remember going both ends and navigating from Pudu Raya bus station across town to my hostel, via hotels and shopping mall toilets - holding my guts - in between. Lesson 1? go to the busiest stall where locals are eating. Lesson 2? If you can't cook it, boil or peel it, you can't eat it! Also eat no reef fish, such as parrotfish, after heavy rain in the tropics (open water species only to avoid ciguatera) Lesson 3: If the worst happens: immodium/Electrolyte and if have none then REALLY Strong, sweet, black tea kill the bugs, then maybe some papaya (pepsin). Generally though in my travels I've been pretty lucky (even in China, India). In Southern Italy, I remember that ingesting high volumes of olive oil in your diet makes you loosen up so to speak! And sometimes when going from Winter to high summer, the change in temperature can also bring on the squirts. Lastly, people have often got more to worry about from their local E- grade grease-pit than eating when travelling. always check the food safety rating. The F-grade, if you see it, is for hmmmm 'Filthy'?
- Posted by: Antman on May 6, 2010 11:23 AM
Laos - Never eat a chicken and mayo sandwich from the side of the road!!!!
- Posted by: BF on May 6, 2010 11:39 AM
It's a gamble. The only time I have had food poisoning in nearly 50 countries was on a night train to Rome after scoffing a mortadella roll I bought in squeaky clean Switzerland.
- Posted by: Squeaky on May 6, 2010 11:39 AM
Probably been said heaps before, because almost everyone I know including myself got violently ill ater visiting Marrakech in Morocco. Missed the desert trek because I was too Ill.
Also, caught a terrible bug in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania that laid me out for a few days a couple years back.
Also had to get treated for Ghiarrdia upon returning from a trip to Vietnam several years back.
I always carry tablets of Tinidazol on my travels now, especially to less developed countries, great for getting rid of severe stomach bugs that wont go away, within 48hrs!
- Posted by: MattC on May 6, 2010 11:40 AM
it was those cheap fruit shakes that got us. my son had two to my one and he was much sicker than i was.
after a horrendous night we had to check out and groan thru several hours at siem reap airport before boarding for hanoi.
checked straight into the hotel and bed at hanoi. for a week my son could not stand asian food and only wanted western foods that burned a hole in the wallet.
i'll still drink those shakes!
- Posted by: kae tang on May 6, 2010 11:43 AM
I've heard it can just be differnet bugs to what you are used to.
In something like 80% of cases it's just different e.coli.
I would just like to second Dukoral as a preventative measure against worse illness (if not against illness altogether)
- Posted by: woman on May 6, 2010 11:55 AM
Peru definitely!! If you are at altitude it makes it even worse. I hadn't thrown up for 12 years before going to Peru. Got it from eating a toasted sandwich. Spending a night in a Peruvian Hospital isn't much fun either.
- Posted by: Alex on May 6, 2010 12:19 PM
How about Bali Belly?? Even has a song about it Kevin B Wilson
- Posted by: Dave Webster on May 6, 2010 12:38 PM
To pd on May 5, 2010 5:11 PM
I had to laugh seeing your exhaustive list of medicines to take with you travelling including disposable gloves, tissues, face masks, band-aids, strepsils and anti-histamine tablets.
Are you for real? Are there really people who take whole medicine cabinets with them when they travel?
Not being rude or suggesting superiority in any way whatsoever (and you are probably better off if you indeed do take that extensive list with you) but I tend to be the opposite. I just make sure I have some money, a visa card, passport - and maybe a few pairs of jocks, couple of t-shirts and a shirt, and that's me done. It's worked fine for me over the past 20 years.
Never thought about taking all that back-up medicinal paraphernalia.
- Posted by: Filtered on May 6, 2010 1:37 PM
Peru does have some of the best cuisine in South America, particularly seafood. Unfortunately, there is also something else going on there. An Australian delegation spent a year travelling there for meetings in 2008 when Peru hosted APEC (me included) and I don't know a single person who didn't get sick at least once in that year. In my case, I blame the chicken mayonnnaise sandwiches supplied by a catering company at the venue.
Last year, it was a gelato in Mendoza, Argentina.....
- Posted by: Lydia Bezeruk on May 6, 2010 1:39 PM
When I travelled to Thailand and Malaysia I only ever ate hawker food or food from the back of a bicycle or scooter. My partner and I would walk up and down the streets looking for them and we never got sick.
My partner has a very weak stomach and is forever sick from eating at restaurants here in Melbourne instead.
I on the other hand have to thank my lucky stars for not getting sick after all these years, especially after eating at a hawker stall situated in between an open sewer and a busy street in Jakarta. I counted at least 15 flies on one dish but as I was a guest, had no choice but to close my eyes and shove food into my mouth as fast as I can. The vendor noticed my reluctance and even had the cheek to tell me that these flies were clean (implying that they never landed on roadkill). Probably the best meal I had in Indonesia. Close call but no stomach bugs. Phew!
- Posted by: Carmen on May 6, 2010 3:07 PM
Like most Aussies, I have travelled a fair bit, but the worst cases of food poisoning that I have encountered occurred in Selsey and Bournemouth, England. On both occasions, I was so ill that I thought I was dying. The only other major event was in Natal, South Africa.
- Posted by: Khrisered on May 6, 2010 10:01 PM
What about the water born illness from the washing of vegetables? I traveled to Zion National Park and got the worst case of food poison from eating the sausage at breakfast. It took a week to recover.
- Posted by: Travel Tips Newsletter on May 7, 2010 1:09 AM
Peru-i have been living in Cusco for five months and have had a mixture of giardia, salmonella and amoebas on and off for at least four of those months... fun times!
- Posted by: Pip on May 7, 2010 8:34 AM
I am a seasoned traveler and I believe that once a year all travlers must pay their dues to the A.E.C. the Ass Explosion Club. Last year it was in Vietnam that i had to pay my dues, an ice coffee took me down for a couple of days.
Stay away from the water.
- Posted by: Ruth on May 7, 2010 12:44 PM
Salmonella fromm a pizza joint in Merida, Mexico. Yes, probably a little silly to be eating pizza in Mexico!
Salmonella again (on the same trip), in Aguas Caliente in Peru. Dodgy river trout or something from the karaoke bar down a laneway...
I've never been sick from anything in Aus, although I think i'm more picky about where i eat here than overseas...
- Posted by: hm on May 7, 2010 2:20 PM
Funnily enough, I've never had food poisoning overseas but I did get it from a chicken sandwich at a Sydney hospital cafeteria!
- Posted by: SR on May 7, 2010 7:42 PM
There is a product called Travelan, which we took religiously half an hour before every meal whilst travelling in India - fantastic stuff - lined the stomach! We also do not leave home without plenty of Imodium, which we usually bring home with us! We have travelled fairly extensively and my worst bout of food poisoning was after eating at a Chinese place at Westfield Doncaster right here in Melbourne.
Happy travelling - drink only bottled water and cooked food and fruit that has a thick skin - My motto and I am sticking to it!
- Posted by: Janette Frawley on May 7, 2010 9:14 PM
- Posted by: delvon.c on May 8, 2010 9:59 AM
Ahhh Morocco. Not sure what it was, but I really enjoyed using the squat toilets.
- Posted by: summer on May 8, 2010 3:44 PM
Eating overseas is like Russian roulette i spent three days in Brazil lying on a bathroom floor after eating a hamburger from a chain fast food restaurant but walked away from the markets in Beijing with out so much as a stomach rumble after eating scorpian, seahorse and starfish.
My general rule in China is DO NOT LOOK INTO THE KITCHEN of restaurants and your stomach will generally be fine and the food will be all the more delicious!!
- Posted by: Emily on May 8, 2010 4:13 PM
Just had 2 wonderful weeks in Vietnam. Thoroughly expected to get bad tummies particulary from those amazing salads they are famous for. Took with us all the remedies but amazingly no problems. Was it the daily probiotics I was taking perhaps(thoroughly recommend) or the fact we were prepared that meant we ended up okay?
- Posted by: JU T on May 10, 2010 11:41 AM
My fiance and I specifically went to Turkey 2 weeks before our wedding knowing we would inevitably get food poisoning from the wonderful food - BUT would help us loose a few kilos before the wedding day. Worked a treat!
- Posted by: Malcolm on May 10, 2010 11:54 AM
Although I'm a vegetarian and stay away from street vendor food, I can always count to get sick in Burma (Myanmar).
Vietnam brings up memories of food poisoning and being stuck on a 13 hour train ride.
- Posted by: Z on May 10, 2010 11:15 PM
According to the Centres for Disease Control, there are more cases of food poisoning around the world caused by vegetables than by meats. "Going vegetarian" for a while might feel less heavy on a startled belly but it certainly does not decrease your chance of getting food poisoning. It increases it. This is due to three things - 1> the water and fertiliser it is grown in (often conatining human waste) 2> the water it is washed in (often unclean) and 3> the fact that diners are less able to judge the level of cooking of vegetables as compared to meat. With meat, you can usually tell if it has been thoroughly cooked or not, and if it has been, your chance of getting ill is very low regardless of all the water / sewage issues. With vegies, it is a lottery. As counterintuitive as it may seem, when you are in dodgy territory, a diet of well cooked meat supplemented only with vegetables you know to be very thoroughly cooked is your safest bet.
- Posted by: ian on May 11, 2010 7:43 AM
After travelling 6 months in Europe I was never sick at all. Been to Fiji, New Zealand and Thailand as well not sick at all.
Sydney on the other hand is the riskiest place I have ever eaten out especially at the pubs.
- Posted by: Trent on May 11, 2010 1:37 PM
I've eaten all kinds of crap in all kinds of places, and like to think I have iron-clad insides, but the one place which has defeated me was, surprisingly, Hungary, where I spent a night worshiping the porcelain god and sleeping on someone else's wet towel in the hostel bathroom.
I blamed it on a cheese pastry and didn't eat the stuff again for a good three months. Heading back to Budapest in a few weeks to give it all another go.
- Posted by: Lauren on May 12, 2010 10:56 AM
Bali!!! Got sick the 2nd of ten days there and was so sick couldn't leave the room at all the rest of the trip, and was still sick for 2 weeks after returning!!!
Used only bottled water, no ice, all precautions, but there you go......I won't ever go again!
- Posted by: JJ on May 12, 2010 11:08 AM
I have travelled extensively through China, southeast asia, south america, south africa, europe and the middle east. Eating mainly local food but some hotel food as well. Only places I have ever had food poisoning is London, Australia and NZ. Only precaution is drinking bottled water
- Posted by: Jay on May 12, 2010 12:58 PM
I grew up living and traveling around Asia, and (to my knowledge) never once got food poisoning.
The worst food poisoning I've ever had was right here in Sydney, at a very expensive and classy restaurant around the Darling Harbour area. I spent 2 days being the sickest I've ever been, and when I called the restaurant to let them know, they were so rude, and denied it could have been them. Oh, and did I mention that this was on Mothers Day?
- Posted by: Jayne on May 12, 2010 11:00 PM
Hey i was in Thailand (Kata Beach) and while i tried lots of thai food and enjoyed most i got food poisoning just as we were leaving Thailand.
I spent the plane ride home sick as a dog and took a week to get better!
Then when all was normal again was back at work and got REACTIVE ARTHRITIS from the bacteria i received from my lovely thai food!!! Be careful when eating unusual foreign foods that good!!
- Posted by: Sman on May 13, 2010 8:21 AM
Simple Rule .. if the locals are eating there then the place is probably pretty good.
And avoid places that use a comment in Lonely Planet 4 years before as the basis of their credibility - yes Palmyra Syria - I'm looking at you !!
- Posted by: mrbenj on May 16, 2010 10:09 PM
Worst I ever had was in China Town in Sydney. Every single one of us was sick that night.
/food did taste GREAT though, haha
//cant wait to go back
- Posted by: Adam from NY on May 17, 2010 10:57 AM
Tapas bar in Madrid last week. Half cooked chicken and chorizo = 3 days off work. Not much fun!
- Posted by: Richard on May 17, 2010 7:20 PM
Pretty simple answer
INDIA - stands for
I'll Never Do It Again!
- Posted by: mick k on May 19, 2010 12:56 PM
Having had many experiences over my years of traveling and eating, the yardstick I always use to know if I am better is if i can "Fart with Confidence"
- Posted by: John on May 19, 2010 5:52 PM
Had mild problem in China eating dumpling off the street. Worst experiences were in restaurants in Thailand (omg the toilets) and Malaysia (omg the flies) and in Australia (omg the poor enforcement of food handling laws) in a Chinese take-a-way at a major Melbourne shopping centre. Have travelled much throughout the Western world and never had a problem! Have eaten in many people's homes in Asia and never been sick... the secret? Don't eat out in these countries!
- Posted by: PK on May 28, 2010 12:30 AM