Tibet comes to town..Coorg Part 2

After a bit of rest, we were raring to go.. Wanted to make the most of our time in Coorg.. Up and off we went.. hit the road that led to  the Namdroling Tibetan Monastery,  popularly known as the Golden Temple in Bylakuppe.  It is  very well maintained and one feels at peace with this world.  It is a very big monastry, with very well laid out buildings  and fully landscaped. After parking the car, we walked towards the Monastery..

As you enter, there are these huge apartment complexes, which are the monk's home.. Past that is the entry into the overwhelming monastery.. The vibrant colours, large towering structures and beautiful surroundings had us mesmerised... We saw a couple of funny looking birds pecking at a pair of slippers, swans running away and a duck or two straying in the grass.. 

 In front of these statues sat multiple rows of Monks chanting, the words we could not make out but the rhythm resonates in my ears even now..  

The walls were adorned with colorful murals, each depicting different eras and some were about how good reigns over evil... Its a photographer's delight to feast on each of these art works.. 

one of the paintings on the walls 

The pillars loom large, almost reaching to the skies, there were some decorated wtih what looked like huge ties, absolutely breath taking... There were dragons, devil, angels, monks, and so much more filling every inch of space here...  :)

Door handle... beautiful and huge

The Ngagyur Nyingma University is the name of the building... Inside are more majestic statues that are towering high... There were 2 other buildings near it... One had a whole collection of mini Buddha's in it, all placed inside a glass case... 

The other one is a few steps away, with a huge bell right in the middle.. we wanted to ring it, but dint want to be the only odd ones doing it... :) 

The bell

The main building- Zangdok Palri Temple, houses 3 huge statues, all made with intricate gold cladding- Buddha in the center, Guru Rinpoche on his left and Buddha Amitayus on his right.  It just blows you away as you step in through the beaded curtains... Again here too we saw Monks sitting and praying, huge gongs hanging everywhere, walls adorned with paintings and art work... There was also a box with what looked like a giant horn, but we dint know what it exactly was... 

Along the way we kept seeing monks and everytime we saw one i had a quirky phrase --
Monk on a bike
Monk wearing sneakers
Monk outside the theater
Monk riding a bike with keys hanging from his back pocket
Monk at a restaurant
Monk wearing a watch

Monks heading out of the temple

This was driving my friends up the wall, but there was little they could do, finally they too joined in and started reciting more phrases as and when we spotted Monks around Coorg....  :-) 



After spending few more mins walking around the monestary campus, we headed out to the shopping arcade just down the road. Rows of shops selling tibetian ware- pretty mugs, hand fans, toys, stoles and outfits in true cantonese style, and various other knick knacks... It was then time to bid adieu to the place and make our way back to the homestay... however, we did stop enroute at Hotel Kannika International for a cuppa coffee and some light eats.. An incident i cant forget is that we ordered Chai, and ended up pushing it away cos it tasted of curry leaves... But the baby corn manchurian and french fries[atleast the 1st plate] was good... Settled for coffee, enjoyed the cosy warmth inside the hotel till it was time to hit the road... 


What i realised while at the monestary was - the place seemed so pure and it was almost like we were ruining its purity by walking and taking pictures... Infact Apar said the exact same thing... Its truly a magical place.. one must visit... Am glad we chose to stay at Kushal Nagar, its def closer to all these hot spots... Otherwise Kr would have gotten tired just getting from one point to the other... :)


Phew, we were tired by the time we reached Hallimane... Walked to our cottage, and crashed for a bit before thinking about dinner... We did manage to get the guys there  to bring us the Carrom board they had and played quite a few games.. which A jr also played, and some games he played quite well... :) 


Yawn... see ya tomorrow... !!! :)