Well, I know many of you will not be surprised, but it has been a rough couple of days after I was afflicted with a horrific case of Delhi Belly…or Bombay Belly?
Delhi Belly? Bombay Belly? My Stomach “Issues” in India…
Folks, it’s part of travel and part of life I guess, and I’ll spare you the lurid details, but let’s just say I’ve been making frequent trips to the toilet the last 48 hours. Very frequent.
Thankfully, I’ve moved to the Four Seasons Mumbai where I’m quite comfortable, but gosh…this was my worst-nightmare and it happened. Go ahead and gloat after I had Taco Bell in Delhi and other Mexican food in Mumbai, but I’m not sure we can definitively trace the source…though I’m happy to share exactly what I’ve had to eat and drink the last few days.
Let’s work our way backwards. It started Sunday afternoon. For brunch on Sunday about five hours earlier I had coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and “Mediterranean-spiced eggs” at a place in Mumbai called Nandan. This was my last meal before “the troubles” started:
The night before, I had Mexican food from Maiz plus bottled water (sealed):
For lunch, I had Amritsari Choley Tikki on Air India and ate all of it:
There was also a fairly nasty PDB beverage that I thought was fruit juice but actually tasted like turmeric:
I did not eat in the lounge prior to the flight. A few hours earlier, I had coffee:
For breakfast I had an omelette, masala eggs, bacon, avocado, bircher muesli, beet juice, orange juice, pistachios, and a salad:
The Andaz appears to bottle its own water, like the other Hyatts in Delhi, and I did drink this and brush my teeth with this:
The night before I had lamb shank with bottled sparkling water and pistachio ice cream for dessert:
Earlier in the day I had a coffee and blueberry smoothie:
Also another coffee a few hours before that:
For breakfast I had eggs (omelets, shakshuka, scrambled eggs) with ham and bacon plus a salad and fresh-squeezed juices:
Also more hotel bottled water.
I could continue, but I’ll stop here.
It seems the most likely culprit was the Mexican food from Maiz, but I suppose it could have been the water or the salads? Even though it was “bottled” water, perhaps it was bottled from local sources and my poor Gorā stomach could not handle it?
Whatever the source, I’m living on the toilet right now but trying to replenish myself with more hotel-bottled water. I haven’t lost my appetite (though I’m eating very tenderly) and am otherwise feeling well, so I’m thankful for that.
But goodness, I was hoping to escape the Delhi/Bombay Belly this trip, but nope…it has struck.
The Mexican food is the most likely culprit but the salad might have been washed in tap water.
Trying to figure out the is near impossible when it comes to food poisoning.
It could have been from LA or lounge….. although, everyone gets sick in India so India-somewhere is almost certainly the answer.
Why its so hard to pin down: these are just a few critters that can cause your malady with the timeframe runway
Staphylococcus aureus: 30 minutes-8 hours (typically 2–6 hours)
Bacillus cereus: 6–15 hours
Enteropathogenic E. coli: 1–6 days
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli): 1–10 days (typically 3–4 days)
“Salads” are always suspect. In my many years of overseas business travel I’ve always avoided them outside of Europe and the U.S.. I couldn’t take a chance on any kind of “belly” before a business meeting. Taking pepto bismol tablets before visiting non-advanced countries also seemed to help.
Lettuce.
I never touch it in the developing world. And it is even an issue in the first world. Whether contaminated in the field by some pathogen in the soil or upon “cleaning” with sus water, it is best avoided unless one is confe=ident of its provenance.
Get well.
Salad, salad, salad (lettuce). The biggest culprit just after ice cubes from unfiltered water. Did you not read up on how to avoid the illness? Only eat heat-treated food -or bread- if you want to stay clear. But I´m glad you finally tried the local kitchen instead of Taco Bell
It’ll be one of the salads.
Last time I was in India I stayed with friends. After 7 days I came down with the Belly and we think it was some of the chillis from a takeaway curry (yes, in Bengaluru) which might have been left out in the sun to dry.
The golden rules is, if it’s not cooked, don’t trust it unless you have washed it yourself.
I would bet for the fresh-squeezed orange juice, but man, there are so many suspects you might want to write a mystery novel: the salads, the lettuce on the taco, the smoothie, the combination of spices…..
My first rule in India is to never eat raw vegetables and fruits and never accept ice on beverages (besides not using tap water not even to brush my teeths). It has worked fine for me.
Could be anything other than the coffee.
I’d blame poor food handling as the culprit.
Can happen anywhere, even in our great country.
You’ll never know. I for one jokingly blame @1990 for joking about the buckets in your last hotel (which looked perfectly nice, actually).
Feel better!
Mate I can’t believe you had the stomach to rehash all the meals and photos of food. Mind you I assume this was a while ago now.