An Apple a Day

During a candlelight dinner with a German couple in Darjeeling, the guy, Dieter, told me he'd been traveling in India for five months, eating street food and drinking tap water. He said it with pride, asserting that he was experiencing the "real" India. Impressed by his hearty constitution or extraordinary good luck, I felt like a wimp for the caution I take in what I eat and drink.

As dinner was about to end, I couldn't resist asking, "You mean you never got sick?" His girlfriend laughed. "Tell Rob about the Giardia," she said.

"Yeah, well," Dieter mumbled, "when I was in the hospital last month with malaria they found out I had Giardia and roundworms. Bummer."

Maybe he was experiencing the real India, but I like my way better. Staying healthy in faraway places doesn't just happen. It is, in part, the result of getting the right shots or taking preventive medicines, but it's also the result of commonsense behavior. Here are several suggestions.