Tag: Tap Water

Cost and Safety of Drinking Water in Laos

Tap water in Laos is not potable (not safe for drinking). I would not drink tap water anywhere in South East Asia but as a long term traveler who really doesn’t need to get sick while on the road, I also brush my teeth and gurgle them clean with bottled water. Unfortunately when it comes to the cost of safe for drinking bottled water, as is the case of virtually everything else a traveler needs, the cost of staying hydrated is also far more expensive in Laos than in neighboring countries.

But that’s not all – as if being unreasonably expensive wasn’t bad enough, most bottled water available in Laos is not mineral water from quality underground source. It is mostly treated tap water, run through some filters – perhaps exposed to the UV radiation or ozone to kill potential bacteria – but to what extent it is being done and how reliably is the filtering process supervised is anybody’s guess. In an economy where food and beverage regulation are lax, it’s easy to cut corners, especially if there are quite decent profits looking to be made. Yet despite being of such low quality and questionable purity, bottled water costs more in Laos than quality mineral water from a coveted sources in Thailand or Cambodia.

Tiger Head appeared to be the one bottled water quality and purity of which didn’t seem to be as questionable, but a bottle of Tiger Head was even more expensive than already overpriced treated tap water. Careful though as lesser quality Lion Head bottled water is also sold in Laos but it’s not the same as Tiger Head. Lion Head simply utilizes the game of words to make itself easily confused with its superior competitor.

Tiger Head water is bottled by the same company that brews Beer Lao and as such, bears the same tiger head (yellow silhouette of the big cat’s head) logo as you would find on their beer. I found Tiger Head to be the best tasting and purest drinking water available in Laos, but while you can find it for as little as 5,000 Kip (roughly $.60 US) in Vientiane and Pakse, be prepared to shell out 6,000 (roughly $.75 US) or more for it in Luang Prabang and other areas.

For comparison purposes, 1.5 litre bottle of Water O – quality mineral water treated by using Japanese water purification technology can be bought for 2,000 Riel in Cambodia (about $.50 US) and two 1.5 litre bottles of Minere – the finest quality mineral water available in South East Asia can be had for 22 Baht (roughly $.68 US) at Thailand’s Family Mart stores. One bottle of Minere costs 15 Baht (about $.45 US) in Seven Eleven.

There is also a wide availability of water kiosks all over the countries like Malaysia or Thailand. These purified water dispensers can be found on the streets of every town and for mere 1 Baht (in Thailand) or 10 Sen (in Malaysia) – equivalent to $.03 US – you can have your 1.5 litre bottle refilled with treated and purified, safe for drinking water. Since owners of these water kiosks can choose how much water he/she wants to dispense per which coin, some of the kiosks would need as much as 2 or 3 baht (or 20 to 30 Sen in case of Malaysia) to fill up your 1.5 litre water bottle, but this is the most economical and most environment friendly way to stay hydrated in South East Asia.

Unfortunately, I have never seen a water kiosk in Laos so having to spend lots of money for bottled water was the only way to survive. The cost of a single bottle of water doesn’t seem that high, but since Laos is in a tropical climate, excessive sweating is normal and that increases your body’s demand for water. At the end of the trip, the cost of staying reasonably hydrated in Laos added up to quite a chunk of money. And dont even start me on the cost of energy boosting coconut water in Laos…

My First Night in Cambodia

I was dead tired after a long flight and when I eventually made it to my terminal destination and put all of my luggage down at Two Dragons guesthouse, but instead going straight to sleep, I sat on the bed reading the brochure about the guesthouse and life in Siem Reap and elsewhere in Cambodia. Part of the reason was that I felt so tired, all I could summon was to sit on the bed and grab at something to read that was close by. I needed to gather enough strength to actually get up, take my clothes off, brush my teeth and get some sleep. It seemed like too much hassle and my body was refusing to go through it just yet. I was rather excited at the same time. I was in Cambodia. This was my first night in the country so far away. My sub consciousness was dictating me that I should find something better than sleep. Sleep is for home.

As the minutes were passing by, the rain was relentlessly pounding the world outside and I have gone through everything in the brochure and had nothing more to read. I gathered all the strength I had left and started to go through steps needed to get ready for sleep. Bottle of water was provided, which I used to brush my teeth with. I knew Cambodian tap water was not safe for drinking, but what’s worse, it was not even safe to brush ones teeth with. Having to rinse your freshly brushed teeth with bottled water and use it to wash excess toothpaste from your brush made brushing a major pain. But it is what it is. I was in Cambodia where tap water is not safe. That’s the end of it.

I hit the sack as soon as I was done with necessary cleaning and undressing. It took me a while to fall asleep and I had no idea what time it was. The cell phone I brought with me was dead so I couldn’t use it to check time and the only other option was to start up the laptop and change timezone settings to Cambodia to get a sense of current hour, but I couldn’t be bothered. It was pitch dark outside, the sound of heavy rain was overbearing, temperature outside was high despite it being night so I lay on the bed naked and covered with light blanket that was provided.

Once I have fallen asleep, I started having very vivid dreams. I no longer remember what I was dreaming about, but I do remember it felt as though I slept forever. So many dreams. I realized in my sleep that I had no watch to refer to in order to check what time it was so I stirred suddenly believing it’s probably late evening the following day. I knew I was tired when I went to bed and after so many dreams I felt like I slept too long. I got up to find out that it was still pitch dark outside. I walked downstairs to the restaurant area, looked at the watch there and found out it was only 6am the same morning. I have only slept for a few hours. I don’t know why I had such hard time sleeping, but each night thereafter I would get up early in the morning regardless of when I would go to bed. I did not get a single night of continuous, long sleep. Don’t know what the deal was.

This first night in Cambodia set a standard of nights with not very good sleep for me. I had hoped that once I’ve moved to a different guesthouse, sleep pattern would improve. From the beginning I thought it may have had something to do with time shift my body went through, but it hasn’t changed after 6 nights after which time I would expect the body to get adopted. Maybe my room was above some geo pathogenic zone that kept me from getting decent sleep. I’m only staying at Two Dragons for a week. We’ll see what happens after I’ve moved.