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Published: April 5th 2012
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I've been reading a lot of blogs lately. I find reading well written or interesting ones helps motivate me to write my own. One topic I've seen discussed a few times is water. I hadn't realized how little people know about it. I guess I should have been tipped off back in 2009, when my parents were preparing to come to visit. My mother had asked me if she needed to go to a special store to get water. I replied that the special store she needed to visit was 7-11 or any other version of it. My thought at the time was, "It's water, this isn't that difficult." Of course, I live here and it took me little time to adjust.
Unlike in the US, you cannot drink water straight out of the tap. So what to do if you're thirsty? Well, there are a few options. You can boil it in a kettle and it's considered safe. You can buy bottled water at any store for prices so cheap it's almost like they're paying you to drink it. Another option found in many work places and homes is either big jugs of water (think of a water cooler
for people to stand around) and then a big strong man comes and changes them for you, or at least drops them off.
I'm fortunate enough to have filtered water come into my apartment (and all our classroom buildings) without the hassle of a jug. It's conected via pipes to a central system and is safe to drink. My favorite feature of the water cooler and this filtered water system is that there are spigots for both boiling hot and cool water. Tea drinking is so prevelant, and hot water is preferred (some even think healthier), so that's why there are two spigots. Hot water is the only free thing readily available on trains in China. (Which is why you'll see everyone drinking tea and eating instant ramen noodles the whole trip.)
Now, what about brushing my teeth? Do I use filtered or bottled water for that? No. I did my first week in China. I remember the first guy in our group to transition to tap water for brushing his teeth was considered brave and we all wanted to know how he felt. You'd have thought he'd climbed the Great Wall with his eyes closed in a dust storm. As he pointed out, you're brushing your teeth with the water, not swallowing it. Those words of wisdom have carried me through many teeth brushings in India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. I've not gotten sick once.
What if I want to wash vegetables or fruit? I use tap water. Yes, I'm eating them. But guess what: everyone else in China is washing vegetables in tap water. If I can't eat vegetables that have been washed in tap water (and then cooked), I can't eat in any restaurants. This is one key reason most vegetables are cooked in China (well, that and fertilizer methods). But even uncooked vegetables and fruit have yet to make me sick.
But yes, on the rare occassion that my stomach feels "uncomfortable," I switch to bottled water for a few days. You never know what caused it and it's better to be safe than sorry while my body sorts things out.
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kevin
non-member comment
actually, you can drink tap water in China. most school kids drink directly from the tap water after they play basketball or soccer, nobody got sick. but at home, their parents usually only allow them to drink cooled boiled water, and thinking that's healthier, and some people only drink hot water and love it, they don't like the taste of cold tap water. just a chinese tradition , there is no proof that you will get sick when you drink tap water. like you said, everyone eat fruit washed by tap water, and clean their dish with tape water, no problem.