Choose Places to eat with a common sense approach 

The TCG guides are extremely sensitive to any problems which may occur and of course want you to have a perfect trip. In fact, sometimes I believe they are on the brink of paranoia with their concern for your safety and health. :-)

We have found that they always took us, on our two trips to China, to restaruants that met Western standards for cleanliness. However, there are never any guarantees so it is always good to take some anti-biotics and a few of the various stomach medicines available (e.g. Tums, Pepto, etc) just in case.

There are good, local medical facilities and very cheap prices in case you need medicines more than that which you bring with you. If you worry about Chinese doctors and medicines, remember they were practicing medicine while much of the rest of the world was just coming out of caves! If in doubt, find out where the foreigners residing in China go for emergency treatments.

You can trust your TCG guides to know where to go also.

In all our travels in China and throughout Asia for decades, we have never had any food-related ailments even eating off roadside carts - except once in 2008 when I got a slight touch of "food poisoning" which we determined came from eating a salad of raw veggies in a five-star Beijing Hotel!  :-)

On our trip to the Western Tombs, we decided to try eating near the tombs at a local farmhouse that they had turned it into a restaurant which in the evening was still their living room - yes, capitalism has made it to the countryside.

Our TCG guide was so worrired about the food's cleanliness, that she did some of the preparation and cooking and also carefully watched the farmer's wife and neighbor prepare the dishes.

The dishes were made with farm-fresh ingredients of course and tasted great. After all, it was truly homecooked!

The place was a typical Chinese kitchen if you know what I mean, but we really enjoyed the experience - and none of us had any stomach issues after eating!

So, be prepared and don't think that eating off a push cart is not as safe as eating in a five-star hotel - you travel for experiences and adventure I assume, so be practical but try the great little "mom and pop" places to eat also. The food is plentiful, cheap and tastes better than food in any hotels!

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