Nan Lian Garden, Chi Lin Nunnery and Hakka Dinner

After talking with my flatmate for several hours (record broken!), here I am, at 5:02 in the morning, writing this post. Outside I hear the first birds chirping, reminding me that soon the sun will rise.

But before going to sleep I would just like to share a few pictures I took last evening. A friend asked me to join her and two of her friends (a girl from Hong Kong and a German guy) to visit some sights and have dinner - this pretty much saved my Saturday evening, because originally I had no plans. By the way, I'd like to thank my Hong Kong friends who were so nice to show us foreigners around.

First we went to the Wong Tai Sin temple, but it was already closed (at around 6 pm). So we went to Nan Lian Garden, which is near Diamond Hill MTR Station (see map below).

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The Nan Lian Garden is a public park which despite its ancient looks was opened in 2006. It is a reproduction of the garden style of the Tang Dynasty era (7th - 9th century). It reflects the desire to rediscover the forms of the ancient Chinese civilization and offer the public an exotic, eye-catching version of the past (Rinaldi 2011 garden p. 116).

Adjacent to the Nan Lian Garden is the Chi Lin Nunnery, founded in 1934 and last renovated in 2001 after a major refurbishment (Wordie, p. 270). The resemblance between Chi Lin and the Zen temples for which Japan is renowned are due to the fact that the Tang Dynasty period, on whose architectural style the nunnery is based, was a time of great achievement for Chinese culture that deeply influenced its neighbouring country Japan.

After visiting the Nan Lian Garden we went to have dinner in Tsim Sha Tsui. One of our friends chose a really nice Hakka restaurant. Hakka is the name of an ethnic sub-group of the Han Chinese, who have their own dialect (or language, if you will), customs and cuisine. The Hakka group can be found mainly in Southern China, especially Fujian Province, and Taiwan. Here are some pictures of the great food we ate.

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