Take on the fool proof method of avoiding the water in China

for anybody who has ever traveled to a second or third world country, you know the dangers of drinking the water as our posh pampered gastrointestinal just cannot process the water that the locals have no problem drinking from.    The horror stories I have heard and experienced of hours of ass-pissing from the mere consumption of a few drops of local water makes us all weary of travel. Whether it is Montezuma's Revenge, Traveler's Diarrhea, Curry forcing Hurry or visits to the Great Ceramic Bowl of China there is just no pleasant way to go through a trip when afflicted.   The easiest ways to avoid this is by drinking bottled water, water that has been boiled like in coffee or tea or drinking your own urine because the EColi, salmonella and gonorrhea from other countries just do not mix with our immune systems.

Well you can never be too careful but even as I take all the precautions there has been the occasional time I have erred mostly because the incredible bouts of jet-lag, long days and different environments in itself completely get you out-of-sorts.    I have avoided the worst cases by exclusively drinking alcohol while I'm abroad although having a Ting Tao at 8AM makes for a rough 11AM.  BUt this can't be foolproof because even if you control everything you drink you have to watch things that have been washed in the water like salads, fruits and vegetables so you are always very weary when eating.  But the biggest problem is not at the buffet lines but in an unexpected spot.  I have made the mistake of opening my mouth in the shower or brushing my teeth with the sink water so a few years ago  trip I decided on the following precaution:  No bathing for 10 days, which has had the unexpected additional benefit of helping to ensure an extra few seats around me on the plane.   

The tooth-brushing problem is a bit more difficult as my dentist wouldn't be thrilled with a week plus of not brushing.   You can avoid the sink water with bottled water of course but the problem is that brushing your teeth is completely routing.  It is so incredibly normal to just turn on the water in a sink so I needed a way to break this routine and came up with the fool-proof plan to break the routine which you must be drastic especially when you a tired and jet-lagged.  A few years ago, tired and hungover, i made the mistake of brushing my teeth with the sink-water instead of the bottled water I had sitting directly next to the sink.   So the fool-proof plan I developed was to place two cups directly to over the knobs so that even in a haze of maotai you cannot make the mistake of accidentally turning on the sink water

so far so good.