On 24/01/2015 10:22 PM, Gary wrote:
> Janet Wilder wrote:
>>
>> On 1/23/2015 7:17 PM, Xeno wrote:
>>> On 24/01/2015 12:04 PM, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>>> On 1/23/2015 6:07 PM, Xeno wrote:
>>>>> On 24/01/2015 10:32 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the story. I am now well warned.
>>>>
>>>> I will only drink bottled water when we are ashore. I guess we should
>>>> be wary of raw vegetables as well as they are washed in the water.
>>>>
>>>> I have to start taking my malaria preventative pills next Friday. One a
>>>> week for two weeks before leaving. One a week while gone and one a week
>>>> for 4 weeks after coming home. I am bringing 98% Deet spray as well as
>>>> spraying certain items of clothing with a special insect repellant spray.
>>>>
>>> One more thing I might warn you of. The insect sprays you use at home
>>> may not work abroad. I found that with a common spray in use here -
>>> aeroguard. It works for me here but, in Thailand, it seemed to attract
>>> the mossies! I was forced to use the local varieties. They worked..
>>>
>> I'll keep that in mind, though everything I've read says that the
>> highest percentage of DEET should work.
>
> I've always wondered about applying insect repellent to your skin on a
> frequent basis. It *does* soak into your skin. Perhaps you should look
> into that. It can't be good for you and your immune system is already
> working full time without that.

If you worry about your local brew, the Asian variants will scare the
hell out of you! They are strong, stink like hell too, but they work.

An interesting little story... I was in the village in Thailand chatting
with my wife's elderly aunt on her front verandah. She was probably mid
80s at that time. She was small and wiry, thin arms and legs, but still
able to take care of herself. She told my wife that she just loved it
when I was around. I thought this was a very nice thing to say. Then she
continued... It turned out that, when I was around, the mosquitoes
would leave her alone. They were attracted to my sweet foreign blood.
She held out her tiny arm and compared it to mine. They came to her, she
said, because most of the villagers drank "Lao Kao" the local moonshine
whiskey and had alcohol in their blood. The mosquitoes didn't like the
alcohol in the others so they were left with just her and a few of
children in the village. The village was populated with only old people
and some children as all working age people lived and worked in the
factories in Bangkok and surrounding districts.
Here I was thinking that she liked my company because I was a charming
foreigner!....

To get back to the topic at hand, the clue to fighting the mosquitoes
then appears to be the drinking of alcohol and maintaining a
concentration of it in your bloodstream. No doubt some of you will find
that a very easy, not to mention pleasant, alternative to mosquito sprays.
>
> And then the water issues and the raw or undercooked food issues...
> Those people that live over there are used to it and somewhat immune
> to it. USAins are too sterile and fragile without all the shots and
> precautions.

Not only those from the US....
>
> I had a chance to go there 40-some years ago, all expenses paid. I
> declined the offer. And you're paying your own money to go there?

I was in Thailand in 2001 scoping out a secondment option at the time I
became ill. There was a job going with an automotive consortium to set
up a training system in Chon Buri, a huge industrial complex near
Bangkok. Needless to say, I never got there.

>
> As for me, I'm content to google Vietnam or watch a documentary. And
> I'll let Andrew Zimmern tell me about the local food. And sw can
> tell me about the cuisine from the top Vietnamese neighborhoods in the
> U.S.
>
Watch Luke Nguyen on his cooking shows. Do you get them where you are.
Luke, though Vietnamese, has the typical laid back Aussie style about
him. Both my wife and I watch his shows. Definitely good value!

--

Xeno.