Cauvery Nisaradhama and Golden Temple, Namdroling (above)The journey started with Dinesh at the wheel and holy hymns chanting from the car's stereo. It acted as a lullaby putting everybody to sleep with Dinesh maintaining that these hymns would go on until daybreak repeatedly ignoring Deepa's pleas....
People finally woke up and cries of "breakfast" "breakfast" started ranting in the air....We managed with the packaged stuff we had got and stopped for breakfast pretty late....
Enroute to Coorg our first stop was at Namdroling monastery and the famous golden temple. This place is in Bylakuppe, a Tibetan settlement camp near Kushalnagar. It is supposed to be one of the largest Tibetan establishments in the country. We spend the next few hours inside the complex and the monastery... It was so serene and peaceful that we just sat inside the monastery relaxing for a while and clicking pictures. While coming out of the complex I bumped into a college friend and exchanged pleasantries....
The next stop was Cauvery Nisargadhama. It is a breathtakingly beautiful riverine island carved by the Cauvery river in the plains, 2km from Kushalnagar. It can be accessed by travelling over a hanging bridge. Nisargadhama teems with lush foliage, thick bamboo groves, teak, and rosewood. The sprawling 64-acre nature resort has a deer park , orchidarium, and elephant and boat rides. One can also picnic on the sandy beds of the river bank. We also took turns in getting our pictures clicked on a bent tree trunk in one corner of the river.. A nice watery experience it was.. We also had rides on the swings in the park and had some local ice-cream...
Moving on we finally reached Coorg, our eventual destination.. We reached the homestay which we had booked and called up the owner who promised to reach there with the keys in 5 minutes. Return he did only to go back saying he would come soon (never knew soon was 1.5 hours). Thanks to the small kid we spotted with a cricket bat and a ball in hand, we didnt mind..... He came as an angel and pronto - we started a game of cricket.... Deepa was fast asleep in the meantime only to wake up when the ball banged the car exteriors..... Finally the owner did return only to give that house to some other group who had come after us and told us there is a confusion in the bookings. We had paid advance booking money to the travel agency for that place and here we were seeing someone else occupying that house in front of our eyes. We even got into a tiff with the owner but it being alien land, couldnt do much.. He then took us to a few other homestays till we finally decided to settle in one in an isolated place with the valley in the backdrop.....The folks were a local couple and were very hospitable. It was a different experience staying in somebody else's house with the owners also staying in the same place....
People finally woke up and cries of "breakfast" "breakfast" started ranting in the air....We managed with the packaged stuff we had got and stopped for breakfast pretty late....
Enroute to Coorg our first stop was at Namdroling monastery and the famous golden temple. This place is in Bylakuppe, a Tibetan settlement camp near Kushalnagar. It is supposed to be one of the largest Tibetan establishments in the country. We spend the next few hours inside the complex and the monastery... It was so serene and peaceful that we just sat inside the monastery relaxing for a while and clicking pictures. While coming out of the complex I bumped into a college friend and exchanged pleasantries....
The next stop was Cauvery Nisargadhama. It is a breathtakingly beautiful riverine island carved by the Cauvery river in the plains, 2km from Kushalnagar. It can be accessed by travelling over a hanging bridge. Nisargadhama teems with lush foliage, thick bamboo groves, teak, and rosewood. The sprawling 64-acre nature resort has a deer park , orchidarium, and elephant and boat rides. One can also picnic on the sandy beds of the river bank. We also took turns in getting our pictures clicked on a bent tree trunk in one corner of the river.. A nice watery experience it was.. We also had rides on the swings in the park and had some local ice-cream...
Moving on we finally reached Coorg, our eventual destination.. We reached the homestay which we had booked and called up the owner who promised to reach there with the keys in 5 minutes. Return he did only to go back saying he would come soon (never knew soon was 1.5 hours). Thanks to the small kid we spotted with a cricket bat and a ball in hand, we didnt mind..... He came as an angel and pronto - we started a game of cricket.... Deepa was fast asleep in the meantime only to wake up when the ball banged the car exteriors..... Finally the owner did return only to give that house to some other group who had come after us and told us there is a confusion in the bookings. We had paid advance booking money to the travel agency for that place and here we were seeing someone else occupying that house in front of our eyes. We even got into a tiff with the owner but it being alien land, couldnt do much.. He then took us to a few other homestays till we finally decided to settle in one in an isolated place with the valley in the backdrop.....The folks were a local couple and were very hospitable. It was a different experience staying in somebody else's house with the owners also staying in the same place....
