This is one of those really touristy things everyone should go see, the Nunnery is a not very old Buddhist Temple Complex with an amazing garden and some great architecture. Located in Diamond Hill it is slightly out of the way, as things in Hong Kong go anyways, but is definetly worth the MTR ride up
Because I did this trip shortly after the Typhoon (vlog coming soon) the city was still recovering slightly as can be seen above. So my walk to Prince Edward Station was made slightly more interesting by the bits of building swept to the sides of the road. The short walk was followed by a short half hour ride to Diamond Hill station, where I then wandered around until I found the entrance to the Nan Lian Garden
The Gardens aren’t exactly sprawling but in a city this dense that’s not surprising, they are however incredibly pretty the highlight being the Pavilion of Absolute Perfection, a bright yellow building in the middle of a lake connected only via a short arched bridge. It a rather striking image and stands out incredibly from both the surrounding gardens in there dark greens and the pastel colours of the characteristic high rises surrounding the entire complex.
Both the Bridge and Pavilion are off limits to the general public, or at least they were when I visited, which is understandable given the amount of tourists that I saw there even on a random Tuesday Afternoon in September.
Once you’ve walked through the garden a short bridge leads you to the nunnery itself. A word of caution here: although you may want to pose with some of the lovely shrubbery on the walkway up to the nunneries gate the grounds staff are really very incessant and loud about you not touching them.
Walking through the gate and into the compound doesn’t have quite the majesty I would’ve thought but that may be because the nunnery is in the middle of the city and next to seveal big roads. Now I’ve not been to many, or any, other nunneries but this seems very stereotypical, in the courtyard there are four small ponds surrounded by lots of plants and flowers and then some steps take you up to the temple (see above)
This isn’t exactly a whole day excursion but it is worth the two or three hours that it takes to get there and walk around, its a rather unique sight in Hong Kong
