1000 Places to See Before You Die, a travel series based on Patricia Schultz's travel book, recently took off on Discovery's Travel and Living. It sees hosts, newly-married Albin and Melanie Ulle, take on a whirlwind three month expedition through thirteen destinations across the globe. From Chugach Mountains in Alaska to the Amazon Basin in Brazil, from the luxurious resorts of the French Monaco to the historic Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the couple have been hopping from one exotic location to the next. This week, the series will see them arrive in Delhi at the heart of Mughal civilization. On the itinerary is a visit to Humayun's Tomb, a trip to the Lotus Temple and a look-in at the Qutub Minar before they move to Agra in UP, and the more enduring image of Indian tourism, the Taj Mahal.

Even if some of the destinations are cliched, the focus of the programme has been to get the international viewers get a feel of the local culture. So the Ulles take part in wine-making in an Italian vineyard, ride ostriches in South Africa and get henna tattoos in India.

The focus on India, says, Aditya Tripathi, Vice President, Lifestyle, Discovery Networks, India, is here to stay. "As a channel, we are catering to an urban international audience, who are clued in, well read, and often, well travelled. So even if our programmes are not 100% India-centric, we have now reached a stage when we have enough influence to get our colleagues around the world plan programmes which feature India in it," he says. Die-hard watchers of World Cafe and No Reservations will take heart.