A Whiskey A Day Keeps The Parasites Away

I was in Shenzhen in 2012 for 6 months and became the lucky person to host not one, not two, but three different kinds of parasites in my stomach. I believe there are different causes for this:

1.)  Firstly I was eating gutter oil (yes, people open the sewer and suck off the oil that swims on top of the sewage) for 6 months probably twice a week.

2.)  Someone successfully made me drink water from a mountain spring and after writing my thesis on ground water pollution the following semester I realized that I am lucky I didn’t land in a hospital with dysentery.

3.)  I drank a ton of freshly squeezed fruit juice, because I am addicted to that goodness and there was no way that Shenzhen would also take that happiness from me. But fruit juice is made by dropping the entire fruit with skin into the machine.

So basically I am a bit naïve when it comes to food safety. I believe that one experiences culture best through the stomach and I still stand by that. However, this time I prepared myself the right way:

At the duty free store at the airport in my hometown I treaded myself to a bottle of Glenfiddich single malt scotch. I have been hearing rumors that it apparently sterilizes the stomach and makes it easier for the food to be digested. (Really not a hard conclusion to make based on the alcohol content) But, the food in Yunnan is also a lot better than anywhere else in China so it generally is safer to eat whatever you want.

Diarrhea (or in China called Laduzi = pull stomach in Chinese) is the passionate travelers best friend and is sure to follow you everywhere you go. It can have many causes and does not necessarily always mean that the quality of the food is bad. It can simply be because of the different spices.

My stomach did feel funky after my first two meals, but rest assured the sipping of my loyal whiskey helped clear up the problem! The past days I have had a sip (and I mean a sip…. No need to get drunk after breakfast) after every meal and I feel actually REALLY good. I think I have never had such a smooth transition into Chinese food in China before. But I have only been here for 2 days so we will see how it will continue.

For now I am satisfied with my attempt to make my stomach happy. And who doesn’t want an excuse to sip whiskey from a beautiful flask handed down by ones father?