Since I really wanted to go to another peaceful place, we planned another weekend outing. The next places that we visited were the Nan Lian Garden and the Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill. The garden and the nunnery weren’t very different from the Big Buddha that we visited a couple of days before, but it was definitely a different experience. When we got to the garden, it was very crowded with locals and tourists, but that didn’t take away from the experience. Being in the garden was very surprising because there were so many trees and flowers, but if you looked up from them there were the high-rise apartment buildings and the mall in the background. The experience was like a little mini escape from the fast life of Hong Kong while still being in the heart of the tall buildings.
While we walked through the garden, there were very unique trees and beautiful flowers lining the walkway. There were a couple of little exhibits that were off to the side of the garden that features different rock structures in the area and miniature traditional building structures. It was really cool reading about the different structures and their importance to the Chinese culture. We came across a footbridge and it was definitely a photo opportunity. However, I was told not to use a self-stick because it took away from the atmosphere of the garden and I really appreciated that because then the garden didn’t feel like a tourist attraction. We ended up at a pond afterwards that had fish swimming in it and just watching them was relaxing. There were a lot of people viewing the fish and children that were amazed by them. There was a restaurant that was built underneath a waterfall that you could look out at the water falling over the glass. The smell of the trees was the best part to me because it reminded me of the park near my house with all the trees surrounding the pond.
After the garden, we walked over to the Nunnery to see the different praying stations inside. On the outside of the Nunnery it looked like something you would see in movies and was beautiful. Even though there were a lot of people in there too, it was still very peaceful. We took pictures and relaxed next to the man-made lily pad pond. Inside of the Nunnery the statues of all of the Buddha’s were very detailed and there were explanations of what each one stood for and why the Nuns prayed to them. It was really nice getting to see more of the Buddhist religion because I have learned about it in high school, but I got to expand on that knowledge firsthand. To end our day off, we took a bus to Monkey Mountain and got up close and personal with them. The macaques just sat and watched the people walking around and didn’t bother anyone at all. I was very surprised at how comfortable they were with humans and how they barely paid us any mind. It was a really packed day, but it was worth every second.
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