I have never gotten sick in Pakistan. Not yet, at least.
There! I said it! Oh God, please don't have me fall ill this time just to stop me from being boastful!
Anyway, I've heard a lot about people going to various countries and getting ill. The other non-Pakistani wife of M's cousin laid in bed for more than a week (I think) during their first trip there. A Pakistani friend, upon visiting last year, was so sick and dehydrated, he was admitted to a hospital for a few days. I'm not sure of all the reasons why people get "travel sick ", but I assume it's mostly from the water, the fruits and vegetables, parasite or bacteria, or just being ill adapted to whatever flora and fauna are hanging out in the third world.
I have always had a very strict policy about water. I read it in some travel book once. Only bottled, and only if you take the cap off yourself and make sure it wasn't glued back on and reused. In fact, my in-laws buy Nestle water by the case and we bring our own bottles to most restaurants with us. In fancier restaurants, they seem to instinctively bring 'the outsider' that kind of sealed bottled water, too. As for fruits and vegetables, I'm sure I'm going overboard, but I don't eat any raw fruits or vegetables while I'm there. I'm thinking this year I may expand into eating those things that have a thick skin that can be washed with soap and water before eating, like melons, bananas and oranges. We'll see how it goes. I always think it's better to be over-careful because really, it's only a few days we're talking about here and who wants to be sick when they have such a short vacation to enjoy? Nobody, that's who. Better to be overcautious and healthy, even if it's unfounded.
Of course, I'm a total hypocrite. Because while I'll steer clear of raw vegetables, I can't help myself when I'm around street food. And which do you think is a more likely culprit of disease? The kachori that dirty, sweaty guy is hunching over in the communal bowl with the room-temperature dipping sauce, or an innocent carrot?
But besides being careful (or not) about what we eat while we're there, the other thing I credit with not falling ill (besides the grace of God!) during my previous trips is all the vaccinations I got before departing. I got SIX vaccines before our first trip. Those six were varicella, hepatitis A & B, typhoid, and boosters of my MMR & DPT. And then I was also prescribed malaria pills to take before, during and after our trip. (My doctor followed the CDC recommendations for travel to Pakistan.)
(Oh, and we also tried to lock ourselves in a large hand-sanitizer covered plastic bubble the whole time we were on the plane. Those darn petri dishes in the sky.)
This time, I'll have to decide if I want to take the malaria drugs. Mosquitos are a problem, even in the city and even during the December cold. But neither time did I remembered to take them as I was supposed to. They're supposed to be taken once a week - the same day of the week - starting the week before travel all the way until four weeks after you get back. I'll get the prescription but who knows if I'll remember. Maybe one of you can be responsible for sending me an email reminder. (Volunteers, anyone? Anyone?)
The rest of the vaccines should still be good for this trip, although I think the typhoid was for 5 years, so I'll have to get a doctor's appointment to look into that. The baby only had his vaccinations two years ago, so he's all good to go too.
Thank goodness, too. It's heartbreaking to give the baby shots. I left his face since it's so distorted already.
So, that's the plan then, getting a doctor's appointment to discuss vaccinations and malaria prophylactics. Next up? Travel Visas!
What about you guys? Do you have any special tips for staying out of the sickbed before or during travel? Besides staying away from the kachori, of course, let's be reasonable people!
21 comments:
Which country are you traveling from to Pakistan? How exciting!!
I am an American. I lived in India a few years (99-01) and have been going every year since 2006 with Krishna, my hubby. We visit Kerala, that's where his family was. When I went to live there in 99 I got all vaccinations recommended by CDC... but I got sick (well after about 8 months.. I was very healthy at that time). Now when we been going since 2006 I have not been doing anything special. I have not updated any shots. I don't do malaria tabs. I do take mosquito repellent, but prefer the Indian brands for some reason. For most part we cook and eat at home or more fancy hotels. We do visit some local hotels, some are a mix between a regular sit down hotel and a dhaba (street food). Again with those big fat sweaty guys making parotas. I guess it's the sweat that makes it more tasty (they actually say this about Pani Puri in Dehli, which I did have from street vendor in 2000, and did not get sick....) ;)
We have filtered and/or boiled or bottled (aquafina) water at all times. I also love the tender coconut water, which is always safe. There are also herbal waters that are boiled preparations in most Kerala households that is good as it is boiled and ayurvedically healing to overheated bodies. I also try not to stay in direct sun too long or carry an umbrella. I also try not to be in a/c for too long or mix a/c and heat (like getting in and out of a a/c car in the heat/sun).
Have a great time!
Glad you bought out this point!
When I have gotten ill, I just try to look on the bright side, drop 5 or 10 lbs without even working for it. Yep, I know, I am a very sick person. Or perhaps I hope to be.
Aw, poor baby! Good thing he wont need to get any of those this year! When I travel, I never get vaccines and stuff. I guess my body just roughs it through. Thank God. And it's probably used to it by now.
Stay away from meats and keep drinking bottled water...oh and eat some yoghurt every day...Works really good...
Then again..you can be as careful as you want and still get an upset stomach!!
In which case lets hope you have strong ankles for all that time spent squatting....HA
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Have always loved reading your blog and continue to do so...but please dont call Pakistan the "third world". I am an Indian woman who has been married to my American husband for 12 years and the biggest fight we had was a year into our relationship when he called India a third world country. I dont think he even realised he was saying it - but just because they are developing countries does not make America first world and them third world!
About what Anonymous said, 'developing countries' is technically and politically correct. However, I don't think people should take offense to 'third world'(unless the speakers intention is clearly to offend). Think of it as a colloquial term.
I never get sick while traveling, but I don't eat anything abroad which I don't eat in the US such as street vendors food. BTW as for Kachoris you can get it at fancy places try Clifton.
My biggest problem traveling has to deal with sun and dehydration... it all started in Kenya when I thought I was superwoman. I was living in the rural areas, and was running out of the water I brought from the city and there was only water from a local bore-hole that was really cloudy with stuff floating in it. So I started "conserving" the little city water I had left by barely drinking anything for several days-- BAD combination in the hot dry temperature (and not having bathed to cool down for two weeks) and after spending a day dressed in Maasai clothing at a special ceremony under the scorching sun. I landed myself in the Nairobi hospital for 4 days with horrible sun poisoning and sun blisters on my back, plus I needed intravenous fluid to help with pretty bad dehydration. It was really scary (the dehydration- I really felt like I was going to die out there in the wilderness). I should write about it some time.
Now I am super over careful about dehydration and sunburn, although it still happens. While hiking in the Himalaya this summer I started vomiting in the night for a few nights, and I thought it was dehydration again, but later I realized it was probably a combination of exhaustion (our travel companion was a marathon runner who wanted to run up the mountain- fat chance)and altitude.
Stomach wise I haven't had too much trouble. I eat a lot of fruits (mango!) and vegetables, in Africa I used to love eating the roasted corn on the side of the road for lunch. This summer I was good until I convinced myself I couldn't leave without trying "real" pani puri on the street... and that gave me... uh... a "running stomach" for a while, but it was worth it (so delicious!)
So my best advice-- and what I tell my study abroad students... drink LOTS OF WATER and wear sunscreen :)
Eat yoghurt first thing :P.. it helps with all the other Pakistani food you'll consume and Insha Allah you won't get traveller's diarrhoea.
That's what a friend's two cousins do whenever they visit Pakistan. They're given yoghurt first before ANYTHING they consume here.
I stay home and get sick HERE.
bottled water .. thats the key to travelling to karachi .. even for the rest of non-residing karachi-ites ;)
the rest is all fine, even the kachori wala ;)
Good post.
I agree with anonymous. Referring coutries like India, Pakistan as 'third world' is offensive and snobby. It is common decency to avoid rating places and calling it Third world/Ghetto/Slum when the person from that place is around.
I'm not someone who gets upset over every little thing but this one irritates me. I know mass media like CNN, BBC use this a lot but it may not be appropriate in an inter-cultural blog where many of your readers are from what you rate as "Third world" countries.
I wouldn't choose the "developing" countries title either because not all the countries are truly "developing". It is easier if people just refer it as "Countries like Pakistan/India" rather than rating them.
Do you watch House?
In the latest episode I saw yesterday, House (who is a diagnostics genius) was treating a porn star. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, he was bleeding out of every orifice and he had excruciating pain in most of his body.
Now this porn star dude is not someone who's in this profession because he has daddy issues or was abused as a child. He does it because he was sick and tired of the way his parents had lived their lives, afraid of everything, never letting him out to play, never letting him into the sandbox.
The docs send a camera down his bile duct and find worms. And so they think that he had contracted the worms out of his unhealthy lifestyle of doing porn.
So they give him something to treat the worms and he just keeps getting worse. At the end of the episode, they found out that the worms weren't killing him, they were saving him. The porn star has extraintestinal Crohn's disease - his exceptionally clean childhood made him more likely to develop diseases such as Crohn’s.
They called it the 'hygeine hypothesis' ... why there's so much autoimmune disease in the developed world but almost none in the developing world.
:)
Long and probably irrelevant comment, sorry. But your post made me think of it.
Have a safe, healthy journey to Pakistan and relax. I'm sure you and your family will be fine.
HAHAHAHAHA....its early here and all is quiet except my BIG MOUTH LAUGHING outloud at Minerva's comment. That was quite a bit of useful information! I am NOT joking either. I really learned something AND that delightful comment was just what I needed to help calm that motherly defensive feeling for you that I was getting over some of the comments.
So in the end, eat-be sick-and your body will be stronger-according to House
I love it! :)
Haha, I aim to please :P
You should say alhamdullilah and have others say mashaAllah after comments like that. That is always guaranteed to be nazar and jinx proof.
so
MashaAllah
and InshaAllah you wont get sick :)
I never got any kind of vaccinations or anything for the two times I went to Pak. And I never got sick either time. My husband's family is full of doctors, and they simply had me drink bottled water and stay away from street food, saying if that's done then vaccinations aren't that necessary. Well, I cheated and ate street food a couple of times and his mother flipped out...but I was fine! (Hubby had some stomach problems, though. But I'm sure it's because he wasn't as careful as I was, thinking it's his home country and what does it matter if he hadn't been back for 10 years).
Oh my...that poor baby. But I couldn't stop laughing at his face. awww, bless.
My only caution in traveling to India is to not eat road-side food and to use bottled water. And, uh, spray mosquito repellent. So far, so good.
On the Third World appellation - I personally don't see anything wrong with it. People should care about the reality of the situation, not the labels that are applied. I mean, if you're going to get outraged at something, at least make it something that matters. Every few years the "correct" label changes:
developing countries
less developed countries
third world countries
newly industrialized countries
underdeveloped countries
least economically developed countries
non-industrialized countries
etc etc
I believe "emerging countries" is the current phrase in vogue (altho developing countries is the most common in economic journals) - somehow, I guess the emerging vs. emerged comparison sound "less derogatory" than "developing vs. developed" or "first world vs. third world".
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I have been following your blog for quite a while... this post I know is quite old but I will post a comment here anyway. Just because if someone like me is reading it they may find it useful. I just wanted to say I have been to Pakistan twice and I have not been sick once Alhumdulilah. You can enjoy all the street food. There is nothing wrong with the raw fruits and vegetables as they actually build your immune system. Just make sure to give them a proper wash before eating. As long as you are drinking bottled water you will be good. Infact you can even gradually ease into drinking boiled water after a week or so. My brother went for the first time to Pakistan last year and he ate all the street food since day 3 of our visit and never got sick.
That's just what I think. I must say you are inspiring me to start my own blog about my life. I just might do that :)
W
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