St. John's Church in the Wilderness

Sunday morning and I thought I would travel up to McLeodGanj and take in the morning service. It is a really pretty Anglican Church built by the colonials in the 1800's high in the Himalayas. Lord Elgin is buried there, as are lots of English men and women who died young in the service of their country, quite poignant really, so far from home and family.

I don't know what I expected but it wasn't what I got. Not a foreign office chappie or a Major General in sight. The church was full of 'hippies' and the service was taken by a lad with a guitar, so I did what all good ladies do and joined in and sang my heart out. One or two of the young people came to speak to me after the service to ask what I was doing in India and one said, 'Respect man', praise indeed. Alleluia!

I sat next to a lovely lady in the church, originally from Burma but now living in Australia. We got on like a house on fire and spent the rest of the day hanging out in the markets haggling over scarves and trinkets, all good fun and Maisie was a natural, running rings round the locals, go Maisie!

The Dalai Lama lives in McLeod and there is a complex of houses for the Tibetans, a hotel where Maisie was staying (Richard Gere and Goldie Hawn also stay there occasionally), and a temple for worship. On entering the temple there was a multitude of people congregating outside, Tibetans, tourists, monks and nuns, there were also beggars asking for alms and it was heartbreaking to see them suffering with terrible afflictions like leprosy and polio deseases that have been eradicated in the West.

Once in the temple I spun huge golden prayer wheels and thought about all my friends and family back home (that's you)!