Bylakuppe and Elephant bathing?!

I never thought I would see this part of Tibet in Karnataka! But there is! Baylakupe is home to two Tibetan settlements in India, founded by Luxum Samdupling (1961) and Dickie Larson (1969). It is located in the west of Mysore district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The sister cities of Kushalanagar are 6 km from Bailakupe.

Bailakupe is a 3,000-hectare land leased by the Indian government to Tibetan refugees in 1961, and they are ready to stay! It is the largest Tibetan community in exile and has approximately 40,000 members in five settlements including monasteries, kindergartens and high schools, clinics, hospitals and traditional Tibetan medical institutions.

The most visited temple here is Namdroling (Golden Temple).

Above the altar, three beautiful, huge ornate statues look down on the visitors.

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

It is necessary to witness the prayer of the monks. The harmony of their songs is amazing.

The exterior of the New Zangdokpalri Temple looks majestic with its majestic rainbow arch.

We are so used to being told not to take pictures in temples that the monks allowed us to take pictures of idols in their temples, so it was interesting and surprising.

If you want to try Tibetan food, you can do that too. There is a restaurant to delight your adventurous taste buds.

All this was amazingly good but due to time constraints we missed the visit to Dubar Elephant Camp which is 40 km away. But this great video by Gorey Synthol gave us an idea of ​​what to do.

He missed it. Elephant bath! So, if you are in Madikeri area, don't forget to visit Dubar to bathe and swim among the elephants! Indeed, life is beautiful ! When you get back to your room, use the super cool sinhol soap to feel good after your elephant bath!

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