Nan Lian Garden
Nestled in the concrete jungle that is Hong Kong is Nan Lian Garden, a newly-built park that features distinct greenery and buildings. The architecture was modeled after classical Chinese buildings, and constructed using wood that is interlocked in a way that no nails or glue are needed. One thing that I noticed was that it was very quiet inside the garden grounds, when most of Hong Kong has the constant sound of traffic (unless you’re on a mountain). It turns out that sound-dampening barriers around the perimeter have been erected to create the peaceful atmosphere. It’s quite amazing to see skyscrapers so close and all around, when there is such a calm place here. There must be a tremendous amount of labour involved in keep such a place, as guards, gardeners, and grounds keepers were always around. I wish Julie was there; she would appreciate the horticulture so much more than I could.
There’s a dress code, designated eating areas, and visitors aren’t allowed to take group photos, so as to not disturb others trying to enjoy the surroundings. More places need to implement rules like this.
Unfortunately, the areas of scale models and examples of interlocking wood were not allowed to be photographed. I tried to do so surreptitiously and shoot from the hip when the guard wasn’t looking, but the photos didn’t turn out.
Chi Lin Nunnery
The Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist temple directly attached to the Nan Lian Garden. Most of the areas were off-limits for photography, and unfortunately, a picture is the only way I could describe the many colours and statues in each of the shrines. One thing to note were the many bowls of fruit at each shrine, unlike Taoists or other non-Buddhists, who also offer meat because they’re not vegetarians.
It’s interesting to see people kneeling by each shrine and bowing their heads three times, even when they’re not Buddhist. Sort of like making the sign of the cross when entering a church, I suppose.
I really enjoy the tranquility in this buddhist temple and the garden, a world away from the big city.
The ironic thing is that the garden and temple are right in the heart of the big city!
This is such a lovely place, and I’ve never been there.… going to have to make it the next time I go. Thanks for the gorgeous shots.
The koi ponds take a huge amount of effort to set up, but I hear that (with these big ones) once the right toxin-filtering plants and such are established, it’s not as hard as you’d think; they develop their own good ecosystem.
The woven branches you saw are actually an English garden tradition called hedging, which they used to perfect for penning in farm animals and such. It takes a long time!! There’s an artist, David Nash, who creates sculptures based on hedging, which is how I bumped into that.
I can certainly imagine that any kind of sculpting that involves growing plants takes a long time! Thanks for the info.