A couple years ago Angie and I went on a cruise. One of the stops was Cozumel
in Mexico. I noticed at that stop that unlike all the other places we had been
the ship didn't take on water. We went to a dolphinarium and swam with the
dolphins and had lunch there. At lunch I noticed that the water we were given
was bottled.
Later, walking on the street my wife noticed a shaved ice vendor and decided
she wanted a shaved ice. I foolishly said "no, don't get shaved ice". Angie
about pitched a fit. To her credit we were 5 days into a 7 day trip and it was
late in the day, she was tired and we were both getting kind of punchy.
Trying not to be insulting to the vendor I quietly informed my wife that if she
had a shaved ice and it "upset her stomach" I was going to kick her out and she
could sleep in the public bathroom. She got the picture.
I don't know if the water was going to make her sick but I certainly didn't
want to take a chance.
-Curt
________________________________
From: WILTON via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
To: mercedes list <mercedes@okiebenz.com>; WILTON <wilt...@nc.rr.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2014 6:02 PM
Subject: [MBZ] OT - another non-political B-52 tale - DON'T DRINK THE WATER
DON'T DRINK THE WATER
By Wilton Strickland
During the entire three to four months, while flying bombing missions
from Thailand to Vietnam in Sep - Dec, 1972, we had been told many times,
"Don't drink the local water," because of the danger of possibly getting
dysentery or some other digestive system malady.
Two of our Thai maids had been saying for quite some time, "We want to
take you to a Thai movie. Pease let us; when may we take you?"
Finally, on the afternoon of Dec 28th, when the women learned that the
other two members of my Kincheloe crew and I would not be flying that night,
they insisted they take us to a movie. We agreed and traveled early that
evening via a Thai bus to a large city, Rayong, about 12 miles from base.
Before entering the theater, the women stocked up on snacks - candy
bars, cokes, peanuts, fried banana chips, etc. - quite a feast, I thought.
We thought they were getting all of that stuff for themselves, but
evidently, they were trying to make sure we three men were well fed, also.
The women passed snacks to us continuously during the entire double feature
movie - even shelled peanuts for us.
The theater was like any movie theater in Anytown, USA - clean,
comfortable, and cool. I don't remember what the movies were about -
American, I think, speaking Thai, with English subtitles.
After the movie and while walking back to the bus stop, we came upon a
"cart café" - the owner transports the entire restaurant - food, stove, ice,
water, soft drinks, table, chairs - everything - on a small cart and sets it
up on the sidewalk.
Surprisingly, the women said they were hungry and asked, "May we get
something to eat?"
I exclaimed, jokingly, "Gosh! We've been eating steadily for the last two &
a half hours, but yes, of course, you may get something to eat, if you
want."
We all sat down at the small tables on the sidewalk; the café owner
placed beautiful glasses of shaved ice and water before each of us and asked
what we would like to eat. The women ordered noodles and some other stuff,
but the other two men and I ordered nothing. While waiting, I toyed with
the cold glass of shaved ice and water in front of me. Ambient temperature
was about 85F and had been above 95F during the day; I was very thirsty. I
thought about the many SAMs we had dodged during the last few days and
somehow thought, foolishly, of course, "If all those SAMs can't get me,
surely a glass of ice water is OK."
I also had another fleeting thought, and said jokingly, "If it makes me
sick, maybe I won't have to go to Hanoi again tomorrow night."
I turned the glass up to my lips and drank away. The instant I put the
glass down, the café owner re-filled it with shaved ice and water; I quickly
downed it again - 'don't know when I've ever had better glasses of water.
The other two guys, seeing me be so brave (or foolish), followed suit. None
of us ever felt a thing! We went to Hanoi again the following night,
anyway.
BTW, for those who are wondering - there was nothing else "going on"
between us and the women. They knew we'd be leaving soon and simply wanted
to show their appreciation for our treating them with great respect and to
demonstrate some Thai hospitality.
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