I was recently asked what our experiences of the dreaded 'Delhi Belly' have been whilst in India. I really wanted to reply to this question in a bit more detail than the teeny-tiny comments box allows, so here is my two cents' worth in its expanded form.

The first thing that occurs to me is that I feel like I should do some sort of lucky rain dance (or non-diarhoerreal dance, as it were ...) before saying anything. If there's one thing I've learnt over the past eight months' travel, it's that there is a HUGE amount of luck involved in the whole getting-sick-whilst-travelling lottery.

The next thing that occurs is not so much about randomness, though.

I will openly admit that I have felt very cautious about the illness question in India. Maybe it's just a sort of retincence that's sprung up over the course of the trip (we've both been very ill in earlier portions of our travels), but I do notice that I've been in red alert mode here.

At a practical level this has involved keeping our fingernails scrupulously short (and yet still, at the end of each day, they are rife with black grime that's worked its way under the very tip of the nail) and being religious about hand-washing before ever touching food. Also, Midcape, you mentioned bottled water being one of the obvious things one relies upon - annoyingly, at times here there can be a question mark of whether the water is 'real' or whether the bottle's been refilled. We had a guy try to palm tap water onto us in Delhi - the legit bottle had been refilled and the seal (on close inspection) was busted. Some brands have a heat-shrunk plastic wrapper that covers the bottle's lid to try to guard against this. That's a useful precaution, but those brands are not always available. Another one to look out for if you're feeling dubious is 'Aquafina' (bottled by Pepsi) as it has a highly unusual seal on its caps that incorporates a little Pepsi cut-out logo. I'd wager they would be very tricky to counterfeit.

Sadly, though, our strategy here has also involved being much more tentative about eating options than I would have liked. Compared to our usual approach (street food, weird food, unusual delicacies, cheap grub - it's all good!), we've been really conservative here. That's meant lots of boring, uninspired eating in guesthouses and traveller cafes, which has kind of bummed me out and made me a bit depressed. [And as to that last statement: Yes! Food really is that crucial to my travel enjoyment ;) ]

Now, this goes directly against the grain of the food safety strategy we usually employ. Normally, I'm inclined to think that tourist-oriented food is highly suspect, whereas food aimed at the more discerning local market is a much better bet. This proved very, very true in China - all our best meals were peasant fare, whereas the things that sorely tested my stomach's limits were served in traveller hangs like Yangshuo.

Here, rightly or wrongly, I just feel that the hygiene is not up to par in most of the basic eateries you see. There's a lot of pre-cooked food about, and a lot of deep-fried items that are left out in full sun, subject to attacks by roving flies (and birds - I've seen it!).

I think our difficulties are compounded by the fact that Andrew and I are much less familiar with Indian food than we are with South-East and North Asian cookery. Not having that basic competency means it's harder to just have a quick 'safe list' running in your mind where you feel like you know which local dishes are your best bet for tastiness and cleanliness.

On the upside, although we both do eat meat, here we have gone the route of sticking to eating only veg food - and that's not a problem at all. The range of vegetarian options is (as you would expect) fantastic - and proves a great kick-up-the-bum to the lazy way of thinking that says good food HAS to include meat. Not true!

When all else fails (and it has a few times - resulting in a dose of the runs, as well as the nasty five-or-six day bout that we got in Varanasi), here's my preferred solution. The arrangement below was in the attached bathroom we had in Orchha.

Yes, it's his and hers commodes (or hers n hers, or his n his - whatever the configuration, it's perfect for those romantic India evenings). Race you for the sit-down option!