Bylakuppe (Kushalnagar) Trip April,09

Bylakuppe is the largest Tibetan settlement in India located near Kushalnagar. The settlement set up in 1960 holds a several monasteries and temples. The largest monasteries are Namdroling (Nyingma tradition) and Sera (Gelugpa lineage).

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The main intention for the trip was not a much needed break from mundane life, neither to visit the famous Namdroling (Golden) Monastery but to enjoy the wonderful Tibetian cuisines. Momos (Dumplings), Thukpa, Noddles, Tingmo, Fried Rice, etc are few of the mouth watering recipes that you can expect there.

Anyway, our trip started with a early morning rush to Kempegowda (Majestic) Bus Stand (KBS) in Bangalore, as we had KSRTC bus (Airavat Volvo Rs 270/person) at 6:50 AM from there. The local bus which got us to KBS didn’t charge us a penny since we had KSRTC ticket. Also to our surprise, the bus started in right time. Phew, we were the last to get into the bus. The bus was very cozy with good push back seats and an excellent leg space. They provided us with 500ML Mineral water bottles. We had Masala Dosa and a cup of hot Tea, when the bus stopped at 9AM in some place on Mysore Road for breakfast. After that we reached near Mysore non-stop in no time, but then due to elections it took quite a while more than expected to cross Mysore city due to some checking at different places. However, a Kannada movie starring Ganesh kept us entertained during that time.

The bus did not get inside Mysore Bus Stand, and headed towards the final leg of the journey to KushalNagar. As the bus was speeding on the highway, after about an hour from Mysore, we suddenly saw few shops with location reading Bylakuppe. We were shocked to realize that the conductor has forgotten to remind us. So we got down in the next stop i.e Koppa. This place was near to the famous Namdroling monastery, but a quite far from where we were planning to stay.

We took and auto and asked to him take us to Sakya Guest House in Camp 1 in Bylakuppe. He immediate agreed for Rs 50. Well finally as we approached our Guest House, we could see acres of empty land, with few trees and our small Guest House in the middle of it. We were greeted by one of our Tibetian friend’s sister who stays not very far from that place. The room rate was Rs 350 (Double Bed) which was very much reasonable. It was very clean and well maintained, though it had no TV or any other facilities.

We immediately got in the room, took a nice shower and started taking some shots of the nice monastery that was just adjacent to our Guest House. Now we were hungry and really dying to have a nice Tibetian Lunch. So we quickly ordered Chicken Momo, Chicken Noddles, Chicken Thukpa and Chicken Fried Rice. But to our surprise chicken was not available that time!!! So we had to remove Momo from the order, and change chicken to egg for the other 3 dishes.

While having the sumptuous lunch we decided to make a quick visit to Madikeri. So after lunch we called the same Auto which had dropped us here earlier (he had given his number) and headed towards the Kushalnagar bus stand. From there we boarded a local bus and reached Madikeri after an hour travel. The bumpy ride in an old local bus was very much forgettable.

After reaching there we managed one Auto who agreed to take us to the famous Abbey Falls. After an half an hour ride we reached near the Abbey falls entrance. Then we had to walk about a kilometer into the jungle until we could see the Abbey falls. Unfortunately that was not the right season to visit that place. There was almost no water in the falls, and it like a small patch of water flowing down from the hill!!! To our sadness we started back to the Madikeri. On the way back we purchased Coorg Honey and Coffee. It was of good quality and reasonable price. Finally the Autowalla dropped us near the famous lord Shiva temple very close to Coorg town. After a brief visit we decided to return back to Kushalnagar, but not before having our evening snacks in the famous Hotel Ease End. The Mutton Cutlet and dosa was extremely delicious. Then we headed towards the bus stand, but it was very late, and we were in a big soup since the bus frequency had reduced. Somehow we could get inside a local 'khatara' bus. There was hardly a place to stand in the bus, and we somehow survived the horrible trip and reached back to Kushalnagar.

To be continued...