Tibetan refugee camps have been around India, Nepal & Bhutan since 1959 as relief assistance from the longstanding tension between China and Tibet. In fact India is home to 39 out of 58 of those settlements. However I had no idea that the government of India has relocated them all the way here in Karnataka.

Some very interesting details of the Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, Kollegal I visited last weekend can be found here .

The settlement has five monasteries:

1. Dzongchen
2. Taksham
3. Tanak
4. Dhragyal
5. Bayoe

We saw two or three of them.

Distance and journey

This place is roughly 192 kms from Bangalore. The ideal distance for our bike ride would have been 150 kms one way, however we made an exception when we found out how remote this place is. There is another settlement on the way to Coorg – Bylakuppe which is far more popular.

The views on our ride here were incredible.

Finding food

If you are hoping to find authentic Tibetan food like Momos and Thukpa I don’t want to raise your expectations too high. It’s not like there were a dozen options to choose from. There was one tiny canteen that offered beef noodles so if you are vegetarian – tough luck! In our case one of my friend was vegetarian and so we decided to stick together and found another tiny veg place that offered the regular lunch meals (rice, dal, sabji, parotha). South Indian food like Dosas and Idlis with filter coffee was much easier to find.

More monasteries in this settlement.

A Sunday well spent

Some snapshots of the journey back to home and pit stops we made on the way. If you are looking at day trips or bike rides from Bangalore, I would definitely recommend this trip.

Last but not the least – selfies and random sights I took photos of!

Sometimes I see things in frames. It’s a pity the cow’s head is cut.

Us being silly

Another view

Life of a pillion

Google map route to get there : https://goo.gl/maps/u28uUH7tdWz