Above: Main square of McLeod Ganj on a wet afternoon as viewed through a cafe window.
Today I finished my 5-day yoga course. I was so exhausted I took a lie down after lunch. As it was my last day in McLeod Ganj, I forced myself to walk downtown to get to the Tse Chok Ling Gompa, a Tibetan temple that has more character than the square 1990s block that forms what I call Potala II and Jokhang II.
I gave up when I got to the portion of the walk from downtown to the Gompa. As usual, the weather was drizzly. The path was wet, muddy and slippery. I picked the wrong day (with the wrong state of mind) to do something like this. (I realised next morning that my bout of tiredness was a precursor to some tummy problems).
A hot cuppa masala chai seemed like the right thing to do instead. Then I took a rickshaw back to the hotel for more of a lie down. I didn’t venture out again and took dinner in the hotel.
Some of the more social individuals in the yoga class have left town already. They had been great company for dinner over the last few nights. The non-Israelis in the class met for dinner most nights either in McLeod and Dharamkot. The Israelis don’t seem to eat with us, even for lunch immediately after class.
We found out why last night … they tend to eat in spots where they’re able to mingle with other Israelis. We were the only non-Israelis in last night’s cafe which appeared Israeli-owned and operated … they didn’t serve chapattis with their curries but pita bread!
