Devotion in Bylakuppe & Aqua Fun in Abbey Falls

Location:
Bylakuppe - Mysore District
Abbey Falls - Madikeri District
Karnataka

Places Covered:
Bylakuppe Golden Temple
Abbey Falls

Distance from Bangalore (By Road):
Bylakuppe -  225 Kms
Abbey Falls - 260 Kms

Route:

Bangalore - Ramanagar - Channapatna - Maddur - Mandya - Srirangapattana - Mysore - Kushalnagar - Bylakuppe Golden temple - Suntikoppa - Abbey Falls 

Estimated Travel Time from Bangalore:
Bylakuppe -  Five and Half Hours
Abbey Falls - Six Hours

Best Time to Visit:
Bylakuppe - Any time during the year
Abbey Falls - June to September

Stay:
Madikeri is the nearest place

This is yet another joyful trip planned by office buddies after a long time. They started in Bangalore at 06:15 AM, picked me in Mysore at 09:00 AM & moved towards River side cottages. This trip was actually planned to relax in river side cottages from the daily routine work in office and not for tourism. However, I was very lucky to cover two wonderful places.  After travelling for about two hours from Mysore, we reached Bylakuppe.

Bylakuppe:

Only four people out of ten people visited the temple while others were enjoying the cold and lazy climate. So we immediately gave work to our cameras for capturing the beauty. This is home for many Tibetan refugee settlements and was established by "Lugsum Samdupling" in 1961 and "Dickyi Larsoe" in 1969. 

Entrance to the Monastery

The Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery is the largest teaching center of the Nyingma Lineage of Tibet Buddism in the world. It is a home for Sangha community of over five thousand lamas (monks & nuns), a religious college and hospital. 

Inside the monastery, Padmasambhava Buddhist Vihara (locally called as Golden temple) houses three attractive golden statues of Buddha Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava & Buddha Amitayus of 40 feet height.   

Padmasambhava Buddhist Vihara (Golden temple)

The walls of the temple are beautifully decorated with colorful paintings depicting gods and demons from Tibetan Buddhist mythology.   

Stepping inside the temple feels like walking into a different world away from the busy streets in the City. During festivals, the main courtyard becomes an open stage where masked dancers twirl in colorful costumes to the sounds of gongs and massive ceremonial trumpets.

Padmasambhava, Buddha Shakyamuni & Buddha Amitayus 

There are few other small temples inside the monastery hosing various gods and monks of Tibetan Culture.

This place is very calm and is surrounded by landscaped gardens. Photography is allowed even inside the temple. There are several stores around the monastery selling Tibetan jewellery, handicrafts etc...

Calendar of events in Bylakuppe:

a. Losar - September to May
b. Tibetan New Year - February/ March
c. Sagadawa Festival - May/June
d. Buddha Jayanti - June
e. Dalailama's Birthday - July 6th

We have spent about an hour here and felt like we were in another country. This is quite place blended with spirituality, nature and picturesque landscape. From here we moved on to our destination - River side cottages after travelling for about half an hour.  

River side Cottages:

This is an accommodation located on the banks of Hatti river located at a distance of 7 Kms from Suntikoppa town in the middle of coffee estates. This place is not luxurious yet it was very comfortable to stay.

Hatti River

Jack fruit

Dining Hut

Little frog

Small Snail 

The rest of the day was filled with fun of eating, dancing & talking. No one knows at what time we slept and few people did not sleep and were enjoying the sight of the river flow in the light of stars. We started to Abbey Falls in the morning next day which is about 35 Kms from here.

Abbey Falls

This is located in the middle of lush spread of coffee plantations and is at a distance of 10 Kms from Madikeri Town. This water finally merges with the Cauvery river and the monsoon season is the best time to visit this place as the water will be in full gush due to heavy rains.

Walking in rain with rented umbrella

Stalls in this place provides umbrella on rental basis for the visitors. A refundable security deposit of Rs. 200/- needs to be deposited initially and an amount of Rs. 20/- will be charged as rent of using the umbrella. We also took two umbrellas to protect the Camera from rain water and started moving towards the waterfall.

Way to Abbey Falls

From the main road, it takes about ten minute walk to reach the waterfall passing through lush green vegetation. The cold rainy atmosphere make the walk joyful and gives visual taste to eyes.

Way to Abbey Falls continued

There is a hanging bridge constructed against the falls to enjoy the sight of the violent flow of the water. The gushing flow of the water makes water to fall on the people standing on the hanging bridge.

Hanging Bridge

One must be careful with the leeches in this place especially during the rainy season. In the main road, there is a board displaying the details of various tourist spots near by the falls along with the distances.

Parking area near falls

This was the end of the tourism for the trip. We moved for lunch and traveled back to Bangalore to come back to the busy life in concrete jungle. This trip was a memory of life.