10,000 Buddha Monastery, Chi Lin Nunnery, and Nan Lian Garden

What better way to spend a day off than exploring the city? We decided to head over to Kowloon side to do a bit of touristy sightseeing and weren’t disappointed!

We first went to the 10,000 Buddha Monastery, which is a Buddhist temple in Sha Tin. Construction of this Monastery (though not actually a Monastery as no resident monks live here) took place in 1949, where it then took eight years to finish construction on all the buildings and another ten years to finish making all of the Buddha statues. As you enter the site and begin walking up to the top, you pass literally thousands of different Buddha’s. It was really quite fascinating.

Then we went to the Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Gardens, which are side by side, located in Diamond Hill, Kowloon. The Chi Lin Nunnery is a large Buddhist temple comprising of a nunnery, temple halls, and beautiful Chinese gardens. There were also various statues, but photographs of them were prohibited. This nunnery was founded in 1934 but was rebuilt in the 1990s, following the style of the Tang Dynasty traditional Chinese architecture. The nunnery was absolutely gorgeous. It was so serene and almost artificial as it felt like a little haven in the middle of a big city.

The Nan Lian Garden is simply a public garden also designed in the Tang Dynasty style, which opened in 2006. This garden is also very beautiful and breathtaking. Sometimes you need to get away from the city (or at least find little spots within the city) to get away from the hustle and bustle to relax, and take in some greenery and beauty.