Our last day in Mussoorie started with a taxi ride out to a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Happy Valley. It was just Dad and I in the taxi, Mum had a day off to get over a cold. Rigesh took us down through the bazaar and then down the north/east side of the mountain on a road we hadn’t been on before. Near the temple the road was being dug up to it in sewage, so we parked the car and walked.
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We passed Tibetan school. At the entrance to the temple we were greeted by a gardener. There was just one main building, a prayer wheel, and a view down into the valley. Inside the temple was a life size cardboard cut out of The Dali Lama. It was a bit kitsch and surreal. While inside I heard a mobile phone ring, a monk in a room off to the side answered. Dad said much of the art work was similar to Buddhist Temples in Thailand.
After looking around we head back to the car. As we passed the school some kids hung out one of her windows and yelled ‘Photo! Photo!’. Back in the taxi and up the mountain. A quick stop to retrieve suits and shirts from Fancy Tailor.
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In the evening Hayden invited me to a Canadian Thanksgiving, with a promise of food and more young people. It was an interesting evening speaking with expats from all over the place, but mainly Australia. We out numbered the Canadians 3:1. One of the teachers said they other day he as one the balcony looking into the quad and saw 9 Australians having a conversation about football and it was easy to forget you were in India. The food was great. Everyone brought a plate and it varied from pumpkin pie to chicken curry. After dinner we stopped off at another friends place for chai before walking back through the school. It was then off to bed, tomorrow was an early start, and our toughest day of travel.