what you need to know before going to goa

Do you often visit countries with low sanitation levels? Personally, I love trips to exotic countries, and I am practically not embarrassed by the dirt on the streets, unwashed tables in the necks (cafes) and street counters with fresh juices. Of course, now I will not rant about five-star apartments – everything is more or less neat there, I will write to you about my budget travels, which means about inexpensive, almost starless hotels. Friends who love European service ask the same question before my travels: what vaccinations do I get? None! Immediately I will make a reservation that I have not been to South Africa and have not visited the wild tribes of the Masai and Zulu. I will talk about the more common travel countries: India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba and Thailand.

If you did not grow up in the USSR and for the first time are going to go on a cheap tour of Asia, then you need to mentally prepare for a lot. After all, those who remember the reality of the 60s – 70s – 80s will not be surprised at the filth of India or Cuba. I remember how in Soviet times foreign students from some Uganda were afraid to take sticky handrails on our buses. The wind blew the crumpled newspaper pages of Pravda and Komsomolskaya Pravda and Komsomolskaya Pravda along our routes, and in the center of provincial towns one could easily throw trolleybus tickets and ice cream wrappers under one’s feet. The hairdressers did not know what it was to sterilize tools, and one unwashed comb went straight to all the unkempt heads of clients. The manicure was done with the same forceps for all female marigolds, however, sometimes they rinsed from the stuck cuticles.

We, who grew up in the Soviet Union without trash bins and white public toilets, have known the third world. We, hardened by collective farm canteens, are meticulous in knowledge and new emotions. Dirt doesn’t take us, but we remember about safety in exotic countries. How to protect yourself from unsanitary conditions? The most important thing is clean water. You need to buy bottled water not only for drinking, but also for brushing your teeth and washing fruit. And now, honestly, I can’t advise you anything else. I used to take alcohol hand gel with me, on the second day I forgot about it, and I didn’t see the point. If you really isolate yourself from bacteria that are everywhere – on banknotes, in transport, on doorknobs – then it is better to walk with a bag of disposable gloves or not go to these countries at all. On the third trip, I realized that bacteria do not stick to me. The main thing is clean water. And I almost forgot – slates in the shower, I do not recommend walking barefoot on tiles, in a humid environment there is probably a lot of microbial muck.

There is always something to be surprised at!

I remember in Vietnam I was surprised how large companies of local residents dined. They threw scraps and rubbish right under the tables. Nearby, on a portable grill, which Ferry had never seen, they were fried various shellfish and small fish. The finished dish was put on the table surface without plates and napkins. The Vietnamese threw the gnawed remnants of shells and bones at their feet. In the morning, even after the night cleaning the streets, the smell of rotting fish did not disappear, and the tables in street cafes, as a rule, remained greasy and sticky. I don’t know how to explain why you quickly get used to it, maybe curiosity wins disgust, and interest in exoticism closes your eyes to many things?

When I first went to Europe in 1996, I was struck by the white sheets and bathrobes in the hotels. We achieved such snow-whiteness only with chlorinated “Whiteness”, and they had a delicious smell from the linen, and not a single speck on the washed towels. Don’t dream about it in India! Even for expensive hotels, linen is washed by hand, first soaked in containers, and then the dirt is knocked out on concrete, rinsed in a pond and dried outside – either on the same concrete or on ropes. Ah, this fastidious Russian tourist from a two-star hotel, he always demands a spotless white towel. Fool, he’s in India!

At the street market, Goa was amazed at how ice cream is made for local residents. A piece of ice (it is not known from what water) is ground into shavings, from which a lump is molded with bare hands for a future drug, placed in a plastic glass and poured with various syrups. With these same hands, money is taken and change is given. And so in a circle: money – ice cream modeling – money. Indian children with the same voluptuousness dig into an ice dessert, as our children into a creamy ice cream in a waffle cup. I have not tried it myself and I do not advise you. Reason should still be present, but not always with me.

In Cuba, of course, I drank the national cocktail of coconut milk and orange juice – pinacolada. There is more rum added, but I did without alcohol. Cocktail stands are common in the dusty streets of Varadero and Havana. Fruit is not washed – that’s for sure. As they unloaded a batch of coconuts and pineapples in our presence, they began to cut them up for a drink. Christmas trees, how delicious your cocktail with bacteria is (laughing).

In Cambodia, I visited a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. On a natural muddy-orange reservoir there are entire villages with their schools, police stations and temples on pontoons. The lake for a population of more than 6 thousand people is both a source of water for cooking, and a dimensionless bath, and a sewer pit. In the largest Cambodian estuary, the Khmers throw nets and get their own food: fish, seaweed, shellfish. And no matter how I mutter about my carelessness here, I beg you: do not even try to dip your elbow in such waters and do not sit down at the table with the local aborigines. Do not test your fate and stomach, even those who were born in the USSR.

And one more life hack from me. In Buddhist and Hindu temples you need to go barefoot, shoes are left at the doorstep. After walking around the sanctuary of the gods Krishna, Ganesha and others, wipe your paws with a bacterial napkin and only after that get into your dusty slippers.

I in no way advocate an irresponsible attitude to my health. But I am sure that excessive sterilization and pasteurization kills something natural and human in us. That being said: wash your hands before eating and don’t be afraid to travel! Unfortunately, there are no photos of local beauties here – the topic is not the right one.