The Golden Temple-Bylakuppe

Last Saturday Diana, Monica and I went to the largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet, 2 hours north-west of Mysore. We saw the Golden Temple complex which includes two large temples and other smaller ones. There's also a nunnery and monks' accommodation and a village where the lay people live. The art and buildings were really beautiful so I've included some pictures below. I think I'd like to go back there again and stay the night so that I can go to the temple early in the morning, listen to the monks chanting and do some meditation.
A small stupa in the middle of a row of buildings containing prayer wheels. We saw a group of elderly ladies with their prayer beads, walking around the complex clockwise, turning the prayer wheels in each building.

Friendly monk.

Monk on a motorbike.

The Tibetan National flag.

There were hundreds of prayer flags flapping in the wind.

Inside one of the smaller temples.

The art, depicting the life of Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambava , regarded by some as a second Buddha, was amazing- so detailed. I could have looked at it for hours.

Everything is so colourful.

Even here ,we have some wonderfully worded signage!

More amazing paintings.

The gong that calls the monks to meditation, chanting and other rituals.

There are three enormous statues in the main monestary building: the one in the middle is of Gautama Buddha, the one on the left is of Guru Rinpoche but I can't remember which one this is. Can anyone help?

The temple roof.

The main temple.

Desara Festival and other stuff...

Last week Mysore celebrated the Desara Festival which lasted about 10 days. As well as organised events such as an elephant parade, a torchlight procession and various music and dance events, people decorated their vehicles, got dressed up in their best clothes and seemed to have a lot of fun. It's the biggest festival in the Mysore calendar, even bigger than Diwali.

The Whitehouse was given a new look, decorated with banana leaves and a pattern on the pavement drawn with chalk.

People smash water melons on their threshold as offerings to the Goddess.

Some tough kids from the slum down the road from where I live.

A detail from the entrance to the cemetry.

The banana leaf seller:

Diana: "So. Two chillis and a lime?" (imagine an American intonation- she cracks me up).

The street sweepers of Gokulum performing puja for the festival.

Even Doctor Ramesh was celebrating!

I'm not sure what this guy was selling but I like his little stall.

Scrawny horses pull these beautifully decorated carts.

In the middle of Gokulum, next to a western style ice cram parlour, there is a street dairy- loads of cows milling around sometimes getting milked.

Some tipsy rickshaw drivers celebrating the festival.

The sugar cane juice sellers performing puja in front of their stall:There were some lovely flower displays around the lake:

More signs:

Wrong!

No thanks!

I'll say!