“Do go and visit the Golden Temple while you are here”, “don’t miss it”, “it is a lovely experience” these and other words of advice were given to us when we reached Coorg. The “Golden Temple” I asked, isn’t that in Amritsar where I had been last year??? Well this is the Golden Temple of the South I was informed.. well my interest was piqued and my curiosity got the better of me and we made our way to the Golden Temple of the South. During the drive I quizzed our driver on the origins of this great site that we were about to visit, and this 
is what we learned.. the Karnataka government had given around 12,000 acres of land to Tibetans to make their own township. The Golden Temple was their main place of worship in their monastery.
As we entered the township, we passed Tibetan schools, a hospital, young Tibetans on bikes while older men and women walked about doing their daily chores. We passed through the beautifully carved gates of the monastery and were transported immediately into another world.. A world where there was
silence in the air, though I saw children running around, a world where the young men had shaven heads and wore the brown and maroon coloured robes of the monks, a world where I felt like an outsider looking in, a world that had a lot of bright colour where ever I looked. After drinking in the scenes around me, my eyes fell on the beautiful temple in the middle of the monastery.
is what we learned.. the Karnataka government had given around 12,000 acres of land to Tibetans to make their own township. The Golden Temple was their main place of worship in their monastery.As we entered the township, we passed Tibetan schools, a hospital, young Tibetans on bikes while older men and women walked about doing their daily chores. We passed through the beautifully carved gates of the monastery and were transported immediately into another world.. A world where there was
silence in the air, though I saw children running around, a world where the young men had shaven heads and wore the brown and maroon coloured robes of the monks, a world where I felt like an outsider looking in, a world that had a lot of bright colour where ever I looked. After drinking in the scenes around me, my eyes fell on the beautiful temple in the middle of the monastery. 
As we walked towards the temple, and we came closer to the beautifully painted wall of the temple my breath left me as I realised that all the paintings on the walls had been hand painted!! I have never seen such intricate and minute and colourful and beautiful work ever!! On entering the temple there was a hush that overcame all that were in there.
I gazed at amazement at the 60 foot Buddha made of metal and completely gold plated before my eyes.. As I looked into his eyes, I felt that there was we two were the only ones around and that the temple and other worshippers had dissolved away into the clear air around me. There were two other gods who 
flanked both sides of Lord Buddha and looked as beautiful as ever. The pillars had dragons would around them and were painted in bright colours and complimented the other pillars, the hand painted ceilings and walls. This was one of the most colourful and beautiful places that I had ever seen!We left the temple still in awe of the beauty we had just seen. And my advice to all that go to Coorg would be to please go and visit this place – totally worth a trip!
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