For an introduction to the trip see my previous post. :-)
So, the next morning, we started bright and early, had a scrumptious breakfast at our resort, and spoke to a very nice host at the resort who helped us plan our day.
Due to logistical reasons, although the Tibetan monastery was my highest priority, it made sense to cover a certain other set of places that day and then do the monastery and another set of places the next day. We were supposed to leave on the day after that, so we had two plus days in Coorg.
After the falls, we decided to cover two more places for the day- Madikeri fort and a well-known Shiva temple. So once we were done, we started our drive towards Madikeri fort. The fort is located in the most central place in Madikeri. You can very well call it the 'downtown'. There are many restaurants and stores, and being a very touristy place, there are some interesting art and spice stores. Needless to say, we shopped at both these places, but since we were exhausted enough from walking in the rain to see the falls, we decided to eat first.
Phew! That was an eventful meal. Once we were done, we went out to do a bit of shopping.
The spice stores are irresistible. Well actually there are spices and nuts. The whole strip from Mangalore down to Kerala, Coorg falling in between but close to Kerala, is known for its cashew production. In fact Mangalore produces so much cashew that they have developed a ton of yummy recipes that use cashew. They are very cheap there too, so used almost like peanuts. The spice shop in Coorg also sold cashews. We decided to stock up liberally on cashews, cardamom and black pepper, which again, is a specialty of this area. Coorg is also famous for coffee, but we didn't get much coffee, except a packet for my in-laws, since I'd stopped drinking coffee and my husband, for whatever reason, was not very enthusiastic about Coorg coffee.
And then we shopped at the art store, where I was dying little deaths trying to stop my little brat from knocking things down. But here's one of the pieces we bought at the store. I love it.
.JPG)
The next morning after breakfast we let the kid play for some time with the little parakeets they had at the resort, and then set out on the road, our agenda for the day set. We were to start with Dubare, cover 2-3 other places and finally end the day with the visit to the monastery. So, off we went.
The experience was completely worthwhile, although I was more excited than my son about the whole experience. He was a little tentative about bathing them, but enjoyed the feeding very much. :-)
Me being me, of course I had some guilt about the whole process of semi-domesticating the elephants, especially the riding bit, but what kind of a boring mommy would preach her 3-year old about the ethics of riding on an elephant. Anyway, the elephants looked reasonably happy. And the "ride", was probably just as long as the ziplining ride. :-)
A fun experience on the whole. Luckily it was not raining that morning, and that made the whole getting around bit easier.
There are some interesting sculptures around the park which have a modern Indian style and are nature and wildlife themed, like these-
They're bright, colorful and quite attractive.
By the time we got to the middle of the park, the rain that had stopped for a while started to come back, and the temperature had come down too. But we had a pleasant little walk in the park, and saw some lovely spotted deer.
Then we headed back to the car and started our drive towards Kushalnagar and the monastery. I was so excited.
Bylakuppe is a Tibetan settlement near the larger town of Kushalnagar. It's between Madikeri and Mysore, but closer to Mysore. Once you get to this place, it's nearly like being in Tibet, except there are no Himalayas and the vegetation is different. There are fields and some hills around, and houses and religious buildings with prayer flags. Once you get to the heart of the settlement, there are many stores and street vendors. The people here do agriculture and small scale business, like selling clothes, handicraft etc., for a living. The settlement is also home to a big Buddhist monastery and a Buddha temple that is quite beautiful. There are a large number of monks in the whole town. In fact once you start from Madikeri and drive towards Mysore you will spot a lot of Tibetans, both regular people and monks, at various places. When we stopped for food at a restaurant on the way, a monk came on his motorbike and stopped by to eat. He didn't have a very happy expression and ate alone.
At another place, a Cafe Coffee Day, where we stopped by on the way back, I saw a few younger (teens/early twenties) Tibetan kids with their smartphones etc., lounging and sipping hot beverages. A monk came in just then and ordered six chocolate truffle cakes to go. :-)
I am not sure what their status quo is, but it does seem like they have established their place here. This thought takes me to a couple of things- I stumbled upon an episode of Koffee with Karan on Youtube a few days back. It's this chat show TV series in India hosted by Bollywood director Karan Johar, and in this episode I am talking about, Richard Gere was the guest. He is Buddhist and was talking about what an Indian soul means to him, that it is special to him because India is the birth place of his religion, etc, etc... you get the drift. But when it came to the political discussion about Tibet's current state, where, I must say, Karan Johar's ignorance about current affairs showed right through, Richard Gere asked about India's stand on it. In that context, he mentioned the Tibetan settlements in India, and specifically mentioned Bylakuppe and expressed his appreciation for the Indian government to have taken these refugees. This whole thing leads to another memory from many years back. In Bangalore we had a neighbor, a lady in her middle age, who was mentally unsound- not sure what she had, but she was socially awkward, and at times, would come home and stay on for a while, talking about her life and her past. She didn't string things she said together in a meaningful way but would blurt things out, sort of. One of the things she felt great angst about was the time she lived in/near Mysore. She said "See what the government has done for these foreigners. There are all these Tibetans taking away resources and living their life. What does the government do for its own people?" I don't know if she resonates the common sentiment or if it was just her mental instability. So, I am not sure how this community fits into the larger social and political context. But they have found a way to live there and they know how to get around and get by. None of them seemed very well off or anything, but they get by.
Coming back to the trip, we reached Bylakuppe sometime late afternoon. As soon as you hit the main road that leads you into the heart of the town, you can see the shrine of the monastery, and you simply drive towards it and park where you can. We got off the car and got in through the big gate that leads first into the monastery, and then as you walk in, takes you to the temple. I was ecstatic to actually be there after all those years of wanting to make that trip.
We had a most memorable time at the temple and monastery. That evening
some special ceremony was in progress. It was not for the public, so we
couldn't get into the building where it was going on but could
constantly hear the low-pitched and loud, rhythmic and rather comforting beats of the
gongs.
We went into the temple and spent some time there. I had a good experience there as I chose a quiet (well, as quiet as possible) place and meditated for a bit.
The kid, by now, after having had his afternoon nap, was refreshed and in good spirits, which translates to out of control. But this time I just left all the anxiety go and sat in the temple for a while, while my parents and husband took care of him.
Needless to say, my turn came later. :-)
When I looked at the idol of the Buddha in the main temple, I realized that his eyes were in fact not closed. I had wondered about it all these years.
I had written this piece, Silence.. Beckoning Silence based on my experience in this place, and the piece starts out with how while I who sit in front of the Buddha seeks answers, the Buddha, completely oblivious, has his eyes closed. I realized that in writing that piece, I had used a metaphor to combine the experience of seeking answers to many questions from a universe oblivious of your presence, with the conventional image of the Buddha having his eyes closed in meditation. I remember having felt exalted but at the same time restless the first time I went there. This time the experience was different. I had a little more clarity in what I wanted in life, or so it seemed, compared to more than a decade back.
Once we were all done taking turns spending time in the temple, my husband and I went around the whole premises praying with the prayer wheels installed all around. It is a huge distance to cover and I got into it not knowing it would just go on and on but of course once I started I was not going to abandon it mid way. The only reason for my restlessness of course was that my parents had watched our son for quite a long time now and I was worried they might be exhausted. Anyway, they were fine and we felt good after the workout + prayer and then my parents went for a round too after that!
On the third and final day, we decided to do the 'plantation trek'. This is a walk around the resort's privately owned plantation that has coffee, pepper and many other things. A guide goes with you to tell you about the different plants and how they're cultivated and processed. Our guide was a nice Coorgi man with clear oily skin and a big mustache, a signature Coorgi look. He was tall and slim and I think he was ex-military. He showed us around the estates. We had gone with hopes of getting some fresh green pepper that you can marinate- makes for a real tasty pickle, but the time we went was not the harvest season for pepper unfortunately.
Anyway, we got to see different types of coffee plants- regular and peaberry coffee beans and heard about how they're processed.
So we started our drive from the Mysore Palace homeward. :-) We were moving quite slowly inside the city but it got much better once we beat the returning-from-work traffic.
Outside the gallery, the premises are exceptional. Full of really old and bafflingly huge, branchy, dense, leafy trees, this place is a quiet, cool place, very conducive to art or studying. They have a little cafeteria as well.
So, the next morning, we started bright and early, had a scrumptious breakfast at our resort, and spoke to a very nice host at the resort who helped us plan our day.
Due to logistical reasons, although the Tibetan monastery was my highest priority, it made sense to cover a certain other set of places that day and then do the monastery and another set of places the next day. We were supposed to leave on the day after that, so we had two plus days in Coorg.
Day 1
Exploring the Resort
We decided to take an hour or so to enjoy the resort before hitting the road, so after breakfast we walked around the resort. I wanted to go ziplining. We walked around the resort, which was quite beautiful. It was like a park with a nice walkway, all green, and a little pond, and there was a little rope course and a teeny tiny zipline. Once I saw that, I really had an instinct to laugh- it seemed like the 'line' went from point A to point A! But I made the best of it by going twice. :-) In the past when I'd gone ziplining in Red Wood Forest, California, there was a landing board on each tree and you had to apply your brakes and land, and once there, one of the staff would help get you out of the harness. Here, there was a Malayali man with a luxurious mustache standing on a branch of the other tree and he was solely responsible for stopping you when you came right at him at full speed. Haha! The zipline went above the pond, which made it a tad bit interesting. :-)
Raja's Seat
Next we headed to a park known as 'Raja's seat', which has a little gazebo in the middle, ice cream carts outside, and a viewpoint from where you can see the hills around Kodagu. But it started to rain when we got there, so we didn't spend a lot of time. And I must add for good measure that the viewpoint doesn't have that much to offer, especially if you're going from Seattle. :-) However, we had fun once we got out of the park. My two boys went for a short ride on horseback.
Abbi Falls
From Raja's Seat we drove to Abbi Falls through windy, bumpy, hilly dirt roads. These falls are really gorgeous. It was raining quite heavily by the time we got there, so the little walk on the trails to get to the falls was not very easy. It's a wet, wet, wet tropical place. Once you get to the falls, there's a rope bridge you can walk on to get a complete view of the falls.Wish we could've spent longer there but considering the rains, we had to turn back pretty soon. It was a nice experience nonetheless.
After the falls, we decided to cover two more places for the day- Madikeri fort and a well-known Shiva temple. So once we were done, we started our drive towards Madikeri fort. The fort is located in the most central place in Madikeri. You can very well call it the 'downtown'. There are many restaurants and stores, and being a very touristy place, there are some interesting art and spice stores. Needless to say, we shopped at both these places, but since we were exhausted enough from walking in the rain to see the falls, we decided to eat first.
The Leech Episode
At the restaurant, we were waiting for our idlis/dosas/vadas when I happened to bend down and look because my son dropped something under the table, and that's when I noticed that I was bleeding from my right leg, on the side, somewhere between my shin and my ankle, but couldn't feel a thing. And just then, I saw what I suspected- a tiny leech. it fell off to the floor and started to move real fast. Clearly it had caught on to me during the hike to the falls on the wet, wet, wet trail, in the rain, and stayed on me throughout the car ride here. I'd never been bitten by a leech and boy did I freak out! I thought I'd bleed to death. But the guys at the restaurant, the locals, were shrugging their shoulders and saying "Oh yeah, it happens here all the time". But since I was freaking out, they were nice enough to offer me some turmeric, the natural antiseptic, which I dabbed on to the bite. After food, I sent my husband to a medical store to ask them if I was really fine and/or if I needed medicine. In about 20 minutes my husband came back with Dettol and cotton, but reassuringly told me that the pharmacist said "It's totally ok, in fact it is good for you!" Now why it's good for you, I still haven't found out. :-) But I am alive! The scar is still there though. I checked my son head to toe and asked the whole family to check their legs and other parts that might have been exposed.Phew! That was an eventful meal. Once we were done, we went out to do a bit of shopping.
The spice stores are irresistible. Well actually there are spices and nuts. The whole strip from Mangalore down to Kerala, Coorg falling in between but close to Kerala, is known for its cashew production. In fact Mangalore produces so much cashew that they have developed a ton of yummy recipes that use cashew. They are very cheap there too, so used almost like peanuts. The spice shop in Coorg also sold cashews. We decided to stock up liberally on cashews, cardamom and black pepper, which again, is a specialty of this area. Coorg is also famous for coffee, but we didn't get much coffee, except a packet for my in-laws, since I'd stopped drinking coffee and my husband, for whatever reason, was not very enthusiastic about Coorg coffee.
And then we shopped at the art store, where I was dying little deaths trying to stop my little brat from knocking things down. But here's one of the pieces we bought at the store. I love it.
.JPG)
Madikeri Fort
After food and shopping, we went to visit the Madikeri fort. It's a nice walk with some ruins and nice views if you go up the stairs.
Trust me, they look angrier in the picture.
This is a view from the top of the fort.
This was a very Indian scene, somewhere in the premises of the fort. I just had to capture it!
Omkareshwara Temple
From the fort, we visited the Omkareshwara temple. This temple is quite vast. I like the openness all around it. The temple pond is quite nice. And my son enjoyed ringing the bell.
This was our last place of visit for the day, so we were slowly winding down and getting ready for the long bumpy ride back to the resort, and some good rest!
Omkareshwara Temple: View of the temple pond
After a pleasantly exhausting day, we had some nice dinner, which included bar food < grumble > on my husband's insistence on unhealthy stuff , < /grumble > and went to bed. :-)
Day 2
Dubare
Dubare is an elephant camp. This is a great place to take kids as you get to bathe and feed elephants, and even take rides on them. So it's fun. We drove to Dubare, and then took a boat to get to the heart of the elephant camp.
The experience was completely worthwhile, although I was more excited than my son about the whole experience. He was a little tentative about bathing them, but enjoyed the feeding very much. :-)
Me being me, of course I had some guilt about the whole process of semi-domesticating the elephants, especially the riding bit, but what kind of a boring mommy would preach her 3-year old about the ethics of riding on an elephant. Anyway, the elephants looked reasonably happy. And the "ride", was probably just as long as the ziplining ride. :-)
A fun experience on the whole. Luckily it was not raining that morning, and that made the whole getting around bit easier.
Nisargadhama
By the time we got done with Dubare, it was afternoon. It was now time to drive to Nisargadhama, a park and grove in the river Kaveri. It's a cool and nice place with a lot of bamboo trees, which I happen to love.
At the entrance : sculpture of mother Kaveri against lush green backdrop
There are some interesting sculptures around the park which have a modern Indian style and are nature and wildlife themed, like these-
They're bright, colorful and quite attractive.
By the time we got to the middle of the park, the rain that had stopped for a while started to come back, and the temperature had come down too. But we had a pleasant little walk in the park, and saw some lovely spotted deer.
Spotted deer. We spotted deer.
Then we headed back to the car and started our drive towards Kushalnagar and the monastery. I was so excited.
Bylakuppe
Bylakuppe is a Tibetan settlement near the larger town of Kushalnagar. It's between Madikeri and Mysore, but closer to Mysore. Once you get to this place, it's nearly like being in Tibet, except there are no Himalayas and the vegetation is different. There are fields and some hills around, and houses and religious buildings with prayer flags. Once you get to the heart of the settlement, there are many stores and street vendors. The people here do agriculture and small scale business, like selling clothes, handicraft etc., for a living. The settlement is also home to a big Buddhist monastery and a Buddha temple that is quite beautiful. There are a large number of monks in the whole town. In fact once you start from Madikeri and drive towards Mysore you will spot a lot of Tibetans, both regular people and monks, at various places. When we stopped for food at a restaurant on the way, a monk came on his motorbike and stopped by to eat. He didn't have a very happy expression and ate alone.At another place, a Cafe Coffee Day, where we stopped by on the way back, I saw a few younger (teens/early twenties) Tibetan kids with their smartphones etc., lounging and sipping hot beverages. A monk came in just then and ordered six chocolate truffle cakes to go. :-)
I am not sure what their status quo is, but it does seem like they have established their place here. This thought takes me to a couple of things- I stumbled upon an episode of Koffee with Karan on Youtube a few days back. It's this chat show TV series in India hosted by Bollywood director Karan Johar, and in this episode I am talking about, Richard Gere was the guest. He is Buddhist and was talking about what an Indian soul means to him, that it is special to him because India is the birth place of his religion, etc, etc... you get the drift. But when it came to the political discussion about Tibet's current state, where, I must say, Karan Johar's ignorance about current affairs showed right through, Richard Gere asked about India's stand on it. In that context, he mentioned the Tibetan settlements in India, and specifically mentioned Bylakuppe and expressed his appreciation for the Indian government to have taken these refugees. This whole thing leads to another memory from many years back. In Bangalore we had a neighbor, a lady in her middle age, who was mentally unsound- not sure what she had, but she was socially awkward, and at times, would come home and stay on for a while, talking about her life and her past. She didn't string things she said together in a meaningful way but would blurt things out, sort of. One of the things she felt great angst about was the time she lived in/near Mysore. She said "See what the government has done for these foreigners. There are all these Tibetans taking away resources and living their life. What does the government do for its own people?" I don't know if she resonates the common sentiment or if it was just her mental instability. So, I am not sure how this community fits into the larger social and political context. But they have found a way to live there and they know how to get around and get by. None of them seemed very well off or anything, but they get by.
Coming back to the trip, we reached Bylakuppe sometime late afternoon. As soon as you hit the main road that leads you into the heart of the town, you can see the shrine of the monastery, and you simply drive towards it and park where you can. We got off the car and got in through the big gate that leads first into the monastery, and then as you walk in, takes you to the temple. I was ecstatic to actually be there after all those years of wanting to make that trip.
We went into the temple and spent some time there. I had a good experience there as I chose a quiet (well, as quiet as possible) place and meditated for a bit.
The kid, by now, after having had his afternoon nap, was refreshed and in good spirits, which translates to out of control. But this time I just left all the anxiety go and sat in the temple for a while, while my parents and husband took care of him.
Needless to say, my turn came later. :-)
When I looked at the idol of the Buddha in the main temple, I realized that his eyes were in fact not closed. I had wondered about it all these years.
I had written this piece, Silence.. Beckoning Silence based on my experience in this place, and the piece starts out with how while I who sit in front of the Buddha seeks answers, the Buddha, completely oblivious, has his eyes closed. I realized that in writing that piece, I had used a metaphor to combine the experience of seeking answers to many questions from a universe oblivious of your presence, with the conventional image of the Buddha having his eyes closed in meditation. I remember having felt exalted but at the same time restless the first time I went there. This time the experience was different. I had a little more clarity in what I wanted in life, or so it seemed, compared to more than a decade back. 
The temple, from the outside
Once we were all done taking turns spending time in the temple, my husband and I went around the whole premises praying with the prayer wheels installed all around. It is a huge distance to cover and I got into it not knowing it would just go on and on but of course once I started I was not going to abandon it mid way. The only reason for my restlessness of course was that my parents had watched our son for quite a long time now and I was worried they might be exhausted. Anyway, they were fine and we felt good after the workout + prayer and then my parents went for a round too after that!
While we walked all around, I captured some interesting shots. Here's one that shows the monks in action. They're playing a game of soccer-
Soccer game
Buying street food: they seemed to love it. I saw this in several places.
After a rather nice evening, we hit the road to go back to our resort. We drove quietly that night. My wish had been fulfilled after 12 years!
Day 3
Plantation Trek
On the third and final day, we decided to do the 'plantation trek'. This is a walk around the resort's privately owned plantation that has coffee, pepper and many other things. A guide goes with you to tell you about the different plants and how they're cultivated and processed. Our guide was a nice Coorgi man with clear oily skin and a big mustache, a signature Coorgi look. He was tall and slim and I think he was ex-military. He showed us around the estates. We had gone with hopes of getting some fresh green pepper that you can marinate- makes for a real tasty pickle, but the time we went was not the harvest season for pepper unfortunately. 
Anyway, we got to see different types of coffee plants- regular and peaberry coffee beans and heard about how they're processed.
The plantation had a lot of spiders too! Here's a good shot-
The trek had been a good exercise since Coorg is quite hilly. We got quite hungry by the time we were done. On our walk back I noticed poinsettias growing in many people's gardens as well as generally on ditches and the sides of the roads. I hadn't thought they could grow in tropical climate, but they do!
Once we got back to the resort, we had brunch and went back to our rooms to pack our bags and get ready to hit the road, but before that, my husband and I stole some time to play Ping Pong at the recreation area in the resort. I had fun playing, got thrashed in every game, but believe that he was very lucky that day! :-)
Then we started the drive back to Bangalore. Our trip back was through Mysore, and so shorter than the trip to Coorg which was from Mangalore. We decided to squeeze in the Mysore Palace on the way back if time permitted.
Mysore Palace
We hit Mysore in the afternoon and stopped for a quick meal. Since we had the whole evening to cover the distance to Bangalore and the Mysore-Bangalore highway is quite nice, we decided that we had enough time to see the Mysore Palace! I had only seen it as a child, so I was quite thrilled about it. And my husband hadn't been there at all.
So after our meal we went to the palace. The first thing I would say about the place is: crowded, just like most of these tourist places. It was just like the visit to the Taj Mahal in terms of battling the crowd and getting in. But once you get to the building, the lines are quite organized.
We were extremely impressed by the grandeur of the palace. In it was not only Indian art but also a lot of European art that the Wadiyar kings had received as presents from overseas- sculptures made from Carrara marble and Elizabethan style paintings. We also learned that one of the Wadiyar kings had a Rajasthani wife. There were sculptures from Rajasthan, and some made with Makrana marble. Needless to say, the architecture was grand, and everything from the ceilings to the doors to the pillars was steeped in luxury. The Divan-e-Aam has intricate decorations all over the ceiling and walls and the pillars are sculptured and polished with real gold. It was just breath-taking.
I remembered the room with the funny mirrors from my childhood!
Once we got out, we got a family picture taken in front of the palace. It's a very precious one! And just then the lights came on, a few at a time and gradually illumined the whole palace. It looked splendid! And we were quite amazed that the palace still stood even after our son had been there! So you get an idea of how our experience going through the lines inside the palace was.
Once we were out, I tried really hard to get a quick shot of the palace from the car but it was hard since the police were hurrying all the cars out of the way, given how much traffic there was. But I still clicked one, and it so happened that the cop was standing right there, so it was like shooting right at him. The cop looked at me and said "Yaenri, namge hodeeteera!" and laughed. Now that's for anyone who knows Kannada to enjoy! :-)
So we started our drive from the Mysore Palace homeward. :-) We were moving quite slowly inside the city but it got much better once we beat the returning-from-work traffic.
Once you get on the highway from Mysore to Bangalore, you see a lot of handicraft stores, Cafe Coffee Days, Punjabi Dhabas, and South
Indian Vegetarian restaurants. Makes for a comfortable and nice drive.
Close to Mysore is a little town called Channapatna, which is well known for hand-made, organic dyed wooden toys and crafts. We made a quick stop at one of these stores, bought a couple of things and hopped back into the car. After this, we made just one stop at a restaurant for dinner, and then continued the drive to Bangalore, which was pretty good. It was such a welcome change driving on this road after three days of absolutely crappy roads in Coorg.
We reached Bangalore 10 PM or so, unpacked and crashed.
A very, very memorable trip. Thanks to my amma and appa for arranging the whole thing and making it happen!
Bangalore
We had just another day in Bangalore after which we were to leave for Chennai. We used this day to meet up with some friends and make a trip to NGMA, National Gallery of Modern Art. It's located near Palace Road and this place is awesome. My dad likes the place. They have a gallery as well as an auditorium where many events happen. My dad has been to some of the talks there and wanted to take us to the place this trip. Of course, photography is not permitted inside the gallery, so I don't have any pictures but I can only say that it was a great experience and I came back with a lot of inspiration.
The next day we left for Chennai. Diwali was round the corner, and we had more travels planned. More coming up in the next few posts... :-)
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