India Travel Guide

Home to over a billion people, there's a lot to watch out for if you want to keep your cool in India. Join Virologist Dr. Mike Leahy as he travels from the chaotic metropolis of Mumbai to Varanasi -- India's spiritual and cultural heart. With so many people living in such close quarters, India is also home to a vast population of nasty bugs keen to invade or attack the unwary … and the overly inquisitive.

Juhu Beach: Dr. Mike is in the bustling commercial city of Mumbai where he has arrived in time for the end of monsoon celebrations at Juhu Beach -- a colorful gathering of devotees and an ideal environment for the skin-munching scabies mite.
LOCATION: Situated on the shores of the Arabian Sea, Juhu Beach is the most famous beach in Mumbai.

Charak Health Center: Even intrepid virologists need some pampering, so Mike agrees to indulge in what he thinks will be a relaxing therapeutic treatment. Instead he's faced with half a dozen ravenous leeches that quickly get to work on his back, leaving a bloody trail in their wake. Leech therapy is believed to boost the immune system and, true to form, Mike's keen to give anything a try.
LOCATION: Charak Health Center, 1/8 Motilal Nagar No. 3, Goregaon-West, Mumbai–400 062

River Ganges, Varanasi: This sacred river serves as a ritual bathing place, a laundry, bathroom and sewer. Despite the health hazards, thousands of people take their daily ablutions in the Ganges, believing it will cleanse their bodies and souls. Dr. Mike tempts fate by taking a dip in this revered but highly polluted river.
LOCATION: The Ganges is one of India's major rivers, flowing east through the Gangetic Plain of Northern India into Bangladesh.

Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple: Dr. Mike visits this sacred temple, dedicated to the monkey god, Hanuman. Unwittingly he finds himself in the middle of a territorial spat between two macaque monkeys and is bitten by a cranky macaque.
LOCATION: Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple is one of the sacred temples of Hindu god Hanuman, in the city of Varanasi

OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
The Gateway of India is a monument in Mumbai. Located on the waterfront in Apollo Bunder area in South Mumbai, the Gateway is a basalt arch 85 ft. high. In earlier times, the Gateway was the monument that visitors arriving by boat would have first seen in the city of Bombay.

Crawford Market (officially Sanket Phule) is one of South Mumbai's most famous markets. The market is situated opposite the Mumbai Police headquarters, just north of Victoria Terminus railway station and west of the J.J.flyover at a busy intersection.

Banaras Hindu University is a very green and peaceful campus. Few actually know that this university was built during India's freedom struggle and is known as the Oxford of the East.