Dinner with Christina

It's again time for my "quarterly" dinner with Christina, my childhood's "twin" buddy from primary school time (yes, that's what the teachers called us at the after school center) !! =D

You know what, we really should gather more often, because it's filled with so much laughters!!!! ^_^ haha...

We talked and laughed so much tonight....

My personal favorite bits were the "English school net for KITTENS" (wink wink, somebody!!! ^_~ ) and the "Canadian budget airline owned by Chinese people" (that made Mike INSTANTLY scare)... hahaha.....

Have a wonderful Taipei trip!

(And don't get lost, you know you have the map!!!! hehe....)

Nan Lian Garden (Part III) - Chi Lin Nunnery

Continuing with the last part of my Nan Lian Garden visit from last weekend, we walked towards Chi Lin Nunnery (志蓮淨苑) from the north stairs of Nan Lian Garden.

Chi Lin Nunnery

Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist nunnery adjacent to Nan Lian Garden.

To go from one to the other, you just cross the stone stairs in the north part of the garden connecting the two.

The buildings in the nunnery are the only ones built with purely wooden rooftops in Hong Kong now, constructed without using any.

Its construction style reminded me of the famous Kiyomizu Dera (Clear Water Temple / 清水寺) in Kyoto.

Because Kiyomizu-Dera was also constructed without the use of any nails but can withstand strong earthquake. Mike and I were both very impressed when we visited the temple in Kyoto. (Kyoto is one of my favorite places in Japan!!)

Front gate of the Chi Lin Nunnery.

The buildings in the nunnery were built based on a unique architectural style from the Tang Dynasty, which uses special interlocking systems, cutting into the wood for construction.

The Water Lily Pond

There are multiple ponds filled with beautiful Water Lilies in front of the main temple in the nunnery.

Water lilies of different colors are grown vibrantly. I had to admit that this was probably one of the cleanest ponds I've seen with flowers growing!

On the sides of the ponds, water comes out continuously from the mouths of the beautifully-crafted stone dragon-head statues.

I remember a lesson from my Chinese literature textbook in Form 2 (equivalent of eight grade in US) - It was a poem about Water Lily -

Water Lily symbolizes the perfect gentleman, because it can survive in the dirtiest, muddiest ponds but still grows upright and pretty, without being polluted regardless how bad its surrounding environment is!!

I totally agreed with the poem seeing these gorgeous water lilies!! =D

Even the leaves of the Water Lilies are so clean and round and green!!! What an artistic composition!!

The Temple

When we got to the main temple, it was already passed 4pm. (Yea, we had spent quite a long time just touring around the garden before coming to the nunnery).

Unfortunately, the temple was already closed before we had a chance to enter.

As you can see, the entrance to the temple front was blocked, and the security guards were closing down the temple gates as well.

Finally... the whole temple was shut down.

Not main temple, what then?

Well... since we couldn't get into the main temple, we changed direction and walked around the peripheral buildings surrounding the temple.

Discovered one of the many exits as we explored. But of course, we didn't want to leave just yet.

Coming back in, we discovered another interesting building on a different side of the nunnery. It felt a bit similar to the wooden Fragrance Hall back in Nan Lian Garden.

With an additional gigantic traditional wooden door.

Oops... sorry, bad habit - Naught me, couldn't resist the temptation to try to pull the door!! haha~ (luckily there was no security guard around at that time....)

Miscellaneous Interesting Stuff

Gigantic wooden lantern in the middle of the nunnery garden. The West side of it faces other buildings in the nunnery.

While its East side faces some of the tall residential buildings in a long distance!!

Bright pink vibrant flowers can be seen everywhere in the nunnery garden.

Bright Pink (flowers) v.s. Light Pink (lady) !!!!

hahaha..... ;)

Crazy girl jumping up high in front of the temple!!
(Sorry, somebody really needs to keep her behave next time....) wakakkaka.... ^_~

Exiting the nunnery through the same doorway we entered back into Nan Lian Garden.

For those who haven't been here and like beautiful nature scenes or impressive-looking temple structures, I'll highly recommend coming here. (My dad already told me that he'd like to come visit next time when he is back.)

Mike and I spent an enjoyable afternoon and were amazed at how clean, well-designed and well-maintained everything is there!! (May be all those strict rules are worth it after all?!!! hmm..... )

Nan Lian Garden (Part II)

Today was a super rainy and windy day for people in Hong Kong (Typhoon signal # 3 was up! The first one in 2008!!!!).

We couldn't really do much outing activities, so it's the perfect time to continue with last week's Nan Lian Garden visit, Part 2 !!

The Blue Pond

In the middle to the right of the garden located The Blue Pond.

The Blue Pond is a stretch of calm water on which floats the reflection of the surrounding scenery.

You can see clearly the reflection of the bushes, trees, hills, rocks and even the tall residential buildings nearby. So peaceful~!!

There are so many fish in the pond, swimming energetically.

Their energy energized me as well. Look how excited I was!!! It had been a very long time since last time I saw such a clean pond with so many fish in it!! (It's rare enough that you can see through the water!!!)

Standing on the north shore of the Blue Pond is The Pine Teahouse, fronted by a broad covered veranda on the water’s edge.

Even the sign to warn people not to feed or disturb the fish is traditional-looking and pretty!!

They must have spent lots of time and effort to maintain the plants and trees. Look how aligned and beautifully-shaped they all are!!!

The Goofy Couple

Haha... for those who don't know - Mike and I are both very goofy!!! And here is the evidence...

Goofy evidence #1:

Look how powerful my Chinese "Qi-gong" is!! Supporting the entire temple with just my bare arms!!!! Wakakakaka~

Goofy evidence #2:

Hmm.... I think this picture is pretty self-explanatory. Anyone who can pose with a look like this definitely qualifies to be called "goofy". Right, Mike?!! hehe ^_~

Goofy evidence #3:

I *think* (not sure) I was trying to imagine this was how I would feed the fish (like the sign portrays).... Either that or I was begging for money with my hands~

Goofy evidence #4:

Mike's casual, incredibly-cool "James Bond" look. Don't worry, he's not carrying a gun - that was only the camera bag!!

He insisted that he didn't know when I took this picture, and didn't understand why he had such "pretentious" pose.....

Haha... no need to be embrassing, Mike. This picture would make a good Facebook profile photo for you and gets added by a bunch of young gals~ (*wink wink*) wakakakaka!! ;)

Okay, probably enough goofiness for one time.... back to the garden.....

Wondrous Nature

Can you see the big round fresh dews on the small bright green leaves? Isn't nature amazing!!!!

I found the "pregnant tree"!!!!!

This waterfall is called "The Silver Strand". Exactly like its name describes, the waterfall forms a shiny curtain of water, making the view from within dance with the reflected sunlight and the greens surrounding it (even on top of the fall !!!)

Another silver strand of water. This one has the falling water hit directly on the vertical timber, creating thousands of bounced water droplets in the air. I am totally a big fan of waterfalls!!!!

Our failed attempt to capture ourselves with one of the waterfall as background.... Well... you can sort of see the waterfall in that tiny corner..... ;)

Back to the Garden Rules...

Remember the strict rules of the garden that I mentioned in my Part I entry? Well.... here is one that we witnessed and certified in person.

As the sign says, the tea house located on the side of the Blue Pond is only opened for customers. The minimum charge for the tea house is a cup (or pot?) of $120 dollar tea, which I am sure is of high grade tea leaves.... (it better be, $120 dollars?!!)

Well... since we didn't think it's worth paying the $120 but still wanted to see the tea house, so we walked around to the back of the tea house and took a quick peek!!

It's a shame that the garden is forcing people to pay in order to enter.... it's so beautiful, traditional and classic-looking...

"The Scream"

I found a crazy-looking rock behind the tea house (the tall rock in the photo above in the background). It totally reminded me of the famous painting "The Scream". And I did my impression of the screaming face in front of the crazy-looking rock that gave me the inspiration.

Despite my strong effort to convince Mike, he didn't think that the rock resembled even a bit of the actual painting. What do you think?

Continue with the Garden Path

Over 50% of the garden path is nicely paved and surrounded by fresh green plants and trees. Look at all those different shapes of leaves!!!

Passed by a small exhibition room that has a very pretty Chinese name. (Sorry to those who can't read Chinese, I don't think I can translate the beauty of the name into English....)

Then we passed by a stone-paved small playground. And don't get mistaken, the knee-height seat-looking stones are not actually seats. You will get warned if you try to sit on them.

(yea yea, as expected, one of the many complaints filed by visitors!)

Ever seen trees that grow semi-horizontally?!

Beautiful Rock Clusters

There is a part in the garden where various shaped and colored rocks are put together, fronted and decorated with waist-height Japanese plants.

It's even more attention-capturing when water is splashed against the surface of the rocks. Look!!! I stood there for a few minutes to fully appreciate the impressive presentation of the rocks, plants, trees, and splashing water as a whole!!

Close-up of the splashing water.

A tiny pond and waterfall by the side of the stairs composed of leveled rocks.

"Yay, waterfall~ !!!!" (Should probably have put this photo together with my earlier "goofy collection" pictures!! haha...)

But seriously, waterfall is such a magical scenery. To me, it symbolizes hope, energy and adventure, just like life~!!!! (wow... I felt like I am doing some kind of "positive-thinking" commercials by saying that, hahaha~)

Walking up the stairs, we viewed the garden from higher up. The first thought that went through my mind was : "Ahh... so many trees, so green!!!)

Okay, time to end this Part 2 entry (my bed time alert went off an hour ago already), which brings to another temporary pause to my Nan Lian Garden Visit series. (haha... making it sound so grand and interesting and popular or something....)

Anyways, in the next (and also the last) entry for my garden visit, I'll unveil the mask of the secluded Chi Lin Nunnery (志蓮淨苑) next to Nan Lian Garden.