Chi Lin Nunnery/Nan Lian Gardens

Last Friday, I got up with a very specific destination in mind. So far, my sabbatical has been completely devoid of plans and deadlines of any sort - I have been letting my impulses decide how I spend the next few minutes, hours, days. But when we caught up with a friend for dinner a few days ago, conversation veered towards the Chi Lin Nunnery and the Nan Lian Gardens in Diamond Hill. Our friend had recently taken a few visitors to the place and had good things to say about it, especially the veggie restaurant. That got my mouth watering, both literally and figuratively – here was a brand new experience waiting to be had, and the lure of a good lunch was just icing on cake. We had stayed in Hong Kong long enough to know that anything even remotely famous is almost always a tourist trap, and I didn’t expect the nunnery to be any different. But there is always an off-chance that something will surprise you in spite of all the crowd-pleasing artifice, so I was quite excited nevertheless. So destination Chi Lin it was on Friday!

I love walking, and if the place is new and the route unknown, that’s all the more reason to get there on foot. However, Chi Lin Nunnery was a bit too far no matter how many google map strategies I tried and since I was a bit hard pressed for time, I decided to walk to Yau Ma Tei and take the MTR to Diamond Hill. While tromping down busy Jordan Road, I came across this pretty pink blossom tree (not sure which blossoms though, didn't look a lot like Sakura but I could be wrong) -- the first harbinger of spring! 

Solitary Blossom on Jordan Road

I didn't know we had blossoms in Hong Kong, but Gireesh tells me a huge bunch flanks Garden Road every year. This one was pretty enough for me, specially because the tree and the shrine that housed it really stood out amidst the lego-blocked buildings that dot most of urban Kowloon. 

Moving on, I ran into one of the main streets that make the famous Night market. By day, the street looked so quiet and ordinary, I would not have recognized it but for the markers. What a transformation a few hours will bring, when stalls will be set up and boxes of souvenirs, apparel, purses, gadgets will be set up for the perusal of haggling, remorseless and mostly touristy crowds that will poke around narrow streets hours into the night.   Quite interesting, I must say!

Night Market street, by day!

The rest of the walk was quite nondescript with several similar blocks packed with a lot of honking cars and nudging people. But just before Yau Ma Tei station, I saw a pretty little shrine, dedicated to Tin Hau, the most popular goddess in Hong Kong.  The shrine had a biggish garden and a square where quite a few people were lounging around, reading the news paper or playing mahjong. The complex itself was compact but very colorful, with hundreds of coiled incense sticks building up an aromatic haze inside the main chambers and a few devotees offering their prayers to the main deity. Unfortunately, they didn't allow pictures inside the main shrine, but it looked similar to other Tin Hau temples that dot the region. However, it was so quiet and serene inside, I forgot all about the traffic half a block away and as W.H. Davies put it, took time to just stand and stare.  

Tin Hau temple, Yau Ma Tei

Just outside the temple complex, there was a small roadside shrine, and judging by the number of passers-by who bowed to it, seemed quite popular. 

Street side temple

After this brief stopover, I finally got to the MTR and an uneventful ride later, was at the entrance to the Nan Lian Gardens. The first thing that struck me about the entire area was how the usually ubiquitous sky scrapers were relegated to the distant background, giving an idea of how huge the entire complex was. The Nan Lian Gardens are attached to and maintained by the nunnery and entrance to both is free, which, along with the proximity to the MTR, makes them very accessible to the local public.  The introductory spiel about the garden pronounced it to be a modern-day oasis for the city weary population to relax and rejuvenate in - I was about to find out if the claim actually held true. 

Entrance to the Nan Lian Gardens

The gardens focus on the use of water, rocks, wood and green to create a visually simulating environment. There are a few wooden pagodas, prayer halls and auditoriums spread out between artificial lakes and water bodies, and you are only allowed to walk in one direction, completing the entire circuit before exiting out into the nunnery. The central pagoda is Hong Kong's diminutive answer to Kinkakuji and while it doesn't really deserve any comparisons with Kyoto's famous golden pavilion, it looked resplendent with a dash of orange and green thrown in. It was not a sunny day unfortunately, because it would have made a very pretty reflection on the lake surrounding it. 

Golden pagoda at Nan Lian Gardens

I enjoyed the leisurely walk around the garden. It was very quiet inside, which was surprising since it is surrounded by busy freeways and roads on all sides. I found my answer in the brochure later -- they have sound proof barriers all around the garden and monastery in order to preserve the atmosphere inside the complex. Quite commendable, I must say! Even though the gardens were constructed pretty recently, a lot of effort has gone into making them aesthetically pleasing and harmonious, which was a lot more than what I had expected. The buildings and gates stood out nicely next to the landscaped slopes and there were faint strains of traditional music chiming in from well concealed speakers.  However, after every couple of turns, an ugly building or two would rear its head in the distance, serving a stark reminder that I was still in the middle of one of the most heavily populated urban regions in the world.   
    

Brown, Green and Pink

I missed the entrance to the restaurant the first time around and I couldn't have found it soon enough. After all the walking around, I was really game for a good meal. The restaurant has a great location right behind a wooden water mill, overseeing a small brook. Unfortunately, the food here was the single biggest disappointment of the entire trip, even more so because it was so highly anticipated. The tofu didn't seem very fresh and the stir fry noodles were dripping in oil. The only redeeming feature was the free pickle in the beginning, but one swallow doesn't make a summer. I think my unhappiness was exacerbated by my hunger, but I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. 


I moved on to the nunnery after the meal, my initial enthusiasm tempered down a notch or two. The structure was beautiful, but not spectacular. The gently sloping roofs and engraved motifs were like most monasteries in Asia, but what the place lacked in grandeur, it made up for in serenity. Maybe because it was a weekday afternoon, but the crowds were thin, people were very respectful and there were no external deterrents to the atmosphere built by the golden spires and lotus ponds. I really hope it stays like all throughout the year -- the sobriquet of being an "oasis in the middle of Diamond Hill's urban desert" would be quite appropriate then. 

Rooftops of the nunnery

Lotus Garden

Overall, this was a productive day out. I got to see a new place, found a new restaurant to pan, had a good walk without having to breathe in anything carcinogenic and got a couple of half-decent pictures. Would I recommend it? If you are a tourist in Hong Kong on a tight timeline and a checklist, maybe not. You will find much prettier gardens/monasteries in other Asian countries. But if you are a resident, its worth spending an afternoon here instead of lazing on your couch or marching through super cold malls. It feels a bit artificial and antiseptic and probably has no historical importance, but for city-sore eyes like mine, anything beyond the usual glitter and grime is always a welcome break!