Coorg

A good choice for a small outing (min 2 days). We went there last weekend. We were 7 of us and the trip was awesome. The stay was cool and food was amazing….
Just takes 5 hours to reach Coorg (Kushal Nagar being the entry point) from Bangalore. The roads are quite good and we do have decent eat outs on the way. The place as such looks like a small town in Kerala but for the Kannada boards and hoardings. Coorg has to its credit a great choice of Home stays for us to pick. Most of them offer you great scenic ambience in an affordable rate ~ 2k per room per day. The main attraction of these is the food they make suiting the needs of the guest. For people who are interested, they offer local wine that too in affordable rates.

Since we had very less time at our disposal, we chose to make the trip as less hectic as possible.

We started with the Golden Temple in Bylakuppe which is a big Tibetian Monastery. It is in Kushal Nagar itself. The road which leads to the temple is fully surrounded by corn fields. You feel like you are in Tibet. Bylakuppe has several Buddhist viharas, (temples)
The inhabitants, the hotels, the shops, things which they sell, the names of shops and hotels will be more in their style. You will be able to spot monks from Kushal Nagar junction itself.

The Monastery is really huge with accommodation facility on request. It is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside the mountain kingdom, the first being Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, where the Dalai Lama lives. And you will be able to see their prayers and rituals if you go in the right time. Language is a big problem as they won’t understand a single word of English (I badly wanted to take a snap with one of them, but didn’t know how to ask.) Most of them will give a hearty welcoming smile and that’s it.
A little bit of googling will reveal that there inhabitants there are not the actual citizens of India and that they will have to renew their residence permit every year. They are just Tibetian refugees in exile and are taken care of by the Government of Tibet. It’s good to see the bright colors and golden paints flashing from everywhere once you get into the temple. Their walls are covered with paintings and roofs are colored gold. They have the custom of lighting lamps; their prayed are echoed by rhythmic subtle beats. Everything around including the attire of the monk is bright and colourful. Once you get out of the temple, you have enough shopping outlets where you can get classic Tibetian souvenirs.

Abbey falls – not the biggest or the largest, but since we went in the monsoon season, the water flow was very high and it looked really majestic. It’s around 10 Kms from Madikeri. The waterfall could be seen only from a distance from the hanging bridge since the pathway down was closed ---safety first!

Rajah’s Seat is a small garden offering great scenic view especially the sunset. Legend has it that the local kings of Coorg spent their leisure time here watching the sunset. But since we went in the late morning, we missed the sun set but it really gave a good view from top.

Dubare Elephant Camp Coorg – This is an elephant camp which has close to 150 elephants. We didn’t get inside - No one who has for once seen Guruvayoor Aanakotta would dare to go anywhere else just to see Indian elephants. Beside this camp flows the river Kaveri where you can do river rafting. Now that’s something that we missed but there should be something to do when you go there the next time!

Nisargadhama, a wild life sanctuary is a good spot not to be missed (Beware, there will be monkeys that might scare you). You have resorts inside the sanctuary and it’s nice to see the bamboos neatly grouped giving a good path way to venture through.

We were done for the day after all this and had to start back home. But this trip was indeed a memorable one. Not to mention the Dump charade, the best being Agrahaarathile kazhudha, Kalli chellamma, pakshe and avan chandiyude makan

Nami’s dialogue over the dinner table – the besttttest. For security reasons, I’m not publishing it here. None of us will forget it very soon, especially Kiran, alle Kiran? ;)

Akkru – the best performer. You held the spirits high throughout the trip!!!

Jisha – I have said this before but now in front of a larger audience – you are the best accountant and will continue to be our Finance manager in future.

So I leave the rest for others to complete …