The Coorgie Trio - Part 1: Tibetan Escape

The weekend of Good Friday...  another long weekend knocking our doors and we had absolutely nothing to do. Over the usual adda, someone came up with the idea of a weekend retreat and after days of debating, procrastinating and lobbying within the group, we finalized on Coorg just 48 hours before take off. A small but merry group of Gour, Shreya and me started off at early hours of morning with three printouts of map, 2 bags and 2 bikes. 

The first stop, was the breakfast at Mysore Road’s Kamats, an ritual common for Gour and me from our business trips to Mysore. The time on Mysore Highway was pretty uneventful, until  we hit Srirangapatnam and asked around for a shorter route to Hunsur which can save us few kilometers  Little did we know that we will end up in a dirt trail which made the next few kilometers pretty exciting. Once we were back on the highway, it was one long straight drive ending in Bylakuppe. 

Bylakuppe turned out to be a surprise. The Tibetan refugee colony turned out to be a town spread across kilometers  and had everything from a fully fledged marketplace, farms, monasteries and a peaceful, beautiful lake in the middle of it all. After a few diversions, we reached our first checkpoint, Golden Temple and the guest house adjacent to it. Now, most of the tourists tend to stay in Coorg and drop by to see the temple for few hours in the day. However, our decision to spend a day here turned out to be a really good one. After a quick lunch and visit to the temple, we set out to explore the colony. Once you have spent a few hours in colony, you really forget that you are in the middle of Southern India, the buildings, people and whether remind so much of the towns like Dharamshala (minus the altitude). With the help of a friendly biker, we found the lake, named simply as the Camp 2 lake. Its full of large fishes who eat Tiger biscuits, sold at MRP by monks. The day ends early in Bylapkuppe, like we found out when we went to then adjacent Peace Cafe at six to watch the sunset over a cuppa. 

Next stop was a nice little restaurant called Potala Kitchen in the Tibetan market. The food is amazing, undoubtedly the best Chinese I have ever had. After filling up with Momos, Thupkas and Soups, we headed back at the guest house. It wasn’t even nine and the town was sleeping already. With no street light on and only a large set of starts lighting our path, we made it to our rooms and decided to spend some time at the balcony overlooking the small establishment. In a few minutes, we saw a group of Monks dancing in the temple courtyard. There was no music, but the sight was beautiful. The caretaker of the guest house, another monk told us the monks practice every night after their daily routine for a festival in May. We slipped out of the guest house, and made our way to the courtyard. For next one hour, we sat in a corner and watched them dance. Though we were sure we will be asked to leave since the visiting hours were long over, no one gave us a second look. After an hour, another monk politely told us they will be retiring for the day, and so did we. 

The morning starts early in Bylakuppe, and we were up and ready with them. With our
bags packed, we went to the temple for a more relaxed visit and were amazed at the magnanimity of the place. For an camera enthusiast like Gourav, this place has many things to capture, which he did beautifully. 

We left Bylakuppe energized and elevated and rode to our next destination. Once we hit the highway again, it felt like we have come back to India from an ancient land, the realization was too much to absorb in a single minute. The roads remained breathtaking, scenic treasures around us as we started to gain altitude. After another hour of driving, we were at our next check point, a charming little homestay called ‘Coorg Nest’ located just before the town of Madikeri.