….when I head there later today to “MedTrek” on the Great Wall, take the high-altitude train to Lhasa and climb around Tibet?

Because the following email, forwarded to me by a traveling companion, encouraged me to buy a bag of plastic chopsticks at the local Dollar Tree store. I’ll bet Odysseus would have done the same thing!

“…..Another important recent change in China that makes things better is that a lot of inexpensive restaurants all over now use sterilized plates and dishes that are shrink wrapped in plastic. But the chopsticks are usually the problem – the bamboo is porous and the way they are washed doesn’t cut it.

Like everyone else in Beijing, I was usually fine at home, but I used to get sick (cold, influenza, or gastro-intestinal problems – and sometimes all three) almost every time I travelled in China. I finally found the solution. Buy your own chopsticks – either a new pair of bamboo/wood chopsticks that you carry with you, or a big bag of disposable ones. (Environmentally, disposable chopsticks are terrible, but..) You don’t need to worry eating in an upscale hotel in Beijing, Xian or Shanghai, but everywhere else, and especially on the train, etc., don’t use the chopsticks in the big box on the table. Trust me on this too.”

Watch this space!

July 2 Update:

Chopsticks worked well on Peking duck in Beijing after I meandered through Tiananmen Square and visited the Temple of Heaven.

Text: Joel Stratte-McClure

Follow

About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."