"Get Thee To A Nunnery."

Kwun Yam Ling Wan Nunnery.

I was scrolling through the internet the other day when I came across a video of a monastery I had never seen or heard of before. I thought the statue-filled gardens shown in this video were really beautiful, so I immediately wanted to go and see them. The video was in Chinese, but at least the name of the monastery was written in English, so I could look it up. However, this proved to be really confusing, because there are so many monasteries and temples with similar names. It got even more confusing when I found some reviews, as they were originally written in Chinese and then changed into English using Google Translate. This, of course, meant that some parts of the translation made no sense whatsoever. I decided, although I knew practically nothing about this place, I would go and find it.

To get there I went to Kam Sheung Road MTR Station then took the 64K bus. I find this bus journey quite an interesting one. The bus goes all the way to Tai Po, but I was getting off long before that at Ling Wan Temple bus stop, which is one stop before Kadoorie Farm. When I got off the bus, I went back in the direction the bus had come from, then crossed the road. There was a sign post for the monastery, but it was only written in Chinese, thus I wasn't a hundred percent sure I was going the right way.

This is the sign for the temple.

There was a village next to the road that led to the monastery and, next to the village, huge quantities of rubbish had been dumped on the ground. This was giving off a terrible smell in the heat. This didn't feel like a good start.

After walking for a couple of minutes, I came to a temple gate and a flight of stairs. The monastery I had come to see is called Kwun Yam Shan Ling Wan Monastery. It is actually a Buddhist Nunnery. One review I found says Ling Wan means 'floating clouds'. This is possible as the nunnery is in the foothills of Tai Mo Shan, the highest mountain in Hong Kong, which is famous for often being shrouded in mist. So this would be the nunnery of the goddess of mercy mountain, floating in the clouds. Apparently, according to a review I read, there is a couplet above the gate that says: "The treasures of thousands of leaves gushing from the west, and a branch of spring from the South China Sea." I don't know what that means, but it sounds lovely.

The outer gate on the way in.

The outer gate on the way out.

As I climbed up the nunnery steps, a Buddhist nun was coming down them. She spoke to me in Cantonese and I replied in English by asking her if it was possible for me to look around the nunnery gardens. She said: "Of course, you can, but be careful there is a dog." I thanked her, but at the same time felt rather nervous about the dog. I walked very slowly and cautiously. I didn't notice this until at the end when I left, but behind where the nun was standing there was a sign that said: 'Please don't touch our dogs.' The idea that maybe there were several dogs would probably have freaked me out even more.

Stairs leading up to the temple.

The entrance with the sign about dogs.

Through the gate I saw there was a shrine off to the right and the main part of the nunnery off to the left. I went towards the main part first. Outside the nunnery gate there was a lovely garden filled with statues and butterflies and flowers. There was a big group of statues arranged all together and others scattered around. It was very peaceful, and there was no sign of a dog. There was also a beautiful fresco of Kwun Yam on the wall.

Statues in the garden.

Statues with the nunnery behind.

Statue.

Statue.

Statue.

Statue.

Statue.

Kwun Yam.

Looking towards the nunnery.

I went through the inner gate of the nunnery and came to the main building. The doors of the nunnery were closed. I had seen some videos where people were wandering around inside. One review claimed the nuns will open up the nunnery and do tours if enough people come to see it, so as I was the only visitor there, that clearly wasn't going to happen. I didn't notice any information in English. Maybe I was just still too preoccupied thinking about that dog.

Looking towards the inner gate.

The inner gate.

Offerings.

In front of the nunnery there was a lovely lotus pond with a bridge and a statue of Kwun Yam, goddess of mercy. There were lots of flags behind the pond. I wandered around the pond, taking photos and enjoying the tranquility. There were quite a lot of flowers. I especially liked the orchids. I noticed that there was an organic garden where the nuns grew their food beyond the nunnery building. Some nuns were working there as I passed by.

The pond and bridge.

Kwun Yam statue.

Looking back across the pond.

Purple orchids.

White orchids.

I still had not encountered a dog and I knew I still had the shrine off to the right to do. I wondered if it would be there.

Finished with the garden, I went back out through the inner gate and suddenly, without any warning, behind me there was barking and snarling. I turned round to see a big orange dog running straight at me. I have no idea where it appeared from. At first I felt quite scared, but it came to a stop a few feet away from me and just kept on snarling. I got the sense that it probably wasn't as fierce as it seemed. I muttered things like: "Nice doggy and good doggy" and slowly backed away. The dog continued growling for a few minutes, then lost interest and turned round and went back inside. I heaved a sigh of relief. I was glad this had happened at the end of my walk round the gardens rather than at the beginning or I'd have been too scared to go in there at all and in case you are wondering, no I didn't take a photo. I was too busy panicking.

Later looking at people's videos again, I saw the same dog in them sitting around peacefully while those people looked around. Maybe it could tell I like cats. Maybe its bark was worse than its bite. Maybe it just didn't like me. I don't know.

I walked to the shrine I hadn't visited yet on the right hand side of the entrance. There was a very friendly nun there sweeping up the fallen leaves. There was a Buddha statue and a large metal bell. People pray then ring the bell using a wooden stick suspended on a rope. After a quick look around, I said goodbye to the nun and headed back out of the temple. Mercifully I had no more encounters with the Hound of the Baskervilles on my way out.

The Buddha Shrine.

Next to the shrine.

Little cave shrine.

This had been a strange visit. The nunnery was tranquil and peaceful, yet had a fierce protective dog. The nuns were friendly and welcoming, but the nunnery didn't seem to be open and I was the only visitor.

I was able to find out a little bit about the history of the nunnery. Kwun Yam Shan Ling Wan Nunnery was built during the Ming Dynasty by Tang Hung-yee, the son of an important family in Kam Tin. This means it is around five to six hundred years old. Tang Hung-yee built it for his mother, so that she could peacefully practise Buddhism there. Parts of the nunnery were rebuilt in 1821 as they had started to decline. More restoration, this time of the gates and courtyards, took place in 1911. It was at this time that nunnery walls, the bell and the lotus pond were added. Kwun Yam Shan Ling Wan Nunnery is one of only three ancient temples in Hong Kong. It is run by the nuns themselves. According to one review there are currently around eight nuns living there. I can't vouch for all this information being accurate as I had very few sources to judge from and these had all been mangled by Google Translate.

It was still early and I wasn't ready to head home yet, so I decided I would go and visit Yuen Long Park. I didn't know if my bus back went anywhere near it or not and, as I didn't want to wander around in the heat pointlessly looking for it, I got off my bus at Kam Sheung Road MTR Station and took a train to Long Pin Station. I knew from having gone to see the red leaves in Tai Tong that if I exited through exit B and went to the main road I could catch the K68 bus to Yuen Long Park. It's right next to the K66 bus stop for Tai Tong.

When I got off the bus, I noticed there was a large public swimming pool close to the park. I later found there was a good view over this from the park.

Yuen Long Swimming Pool.

Yuen Long Swimming Pool.

I've been to Yuen Long Park years and years ago with Peter. All I remembered was that it was located on a hill which had a pagoda on top of it. The pagoda is an aviary and a viewing tower.

Map of Yuen Long Park.

Pagoda.

Pagoda.

I guess before this hill was made into a park it was a burial ground as there are still quite a lot of graves on the slopes of the hill.

Graves on the hillside.

Graveyard.

I started by climbing up lots of steps to the aviary. It's not actually far, but everything feels far in the heat. When I got there I found it was closed between 12 and 1 for cleaning. It was 12.20. I had a look at the bird models outside it and the tiny exhibition room next to it.

Entrance to the aviary.

Bird model.

Bird model.

Bird model.

Display in exhibition room.

Then I decided to visit the parks second attraction - its waterfall. This involved going all the way down the stairs again and when I reached the waterfall, I found it is currently a building site as maintenance work is being carried out. I had a look at the pond instead . That was quite pleasant.

Pond.

Turtles.

I also had a look at some of the park's many flowers, trees and butterflies.

Butterfly on golden dewdrop.

Cycads.

Camelias.

Chinese ixora.

In the park.

By this time I realized that the aviary would soon be opening up again, so I climbed back up the hill again. The aviary is at the bottom of a seven tiered pagoda. There are several different kinds of bird in there, including a myna that seemed to be saying hello. Some birds were behind a metal mesh. I went close to this to take a photo with my zoom on and all of a sudden my whole screen went black as the myna had flown across and placed itself right in front of the camera. It did this several times. I seemed to be attracting all the animals that day.

Information about the aviary and pagoda.

Diamond dove.

Oriental magpie robin.

Common emerald dove.

Java finch.

Java finches.

Myna bird.

Nicobar Pigeon.

Bird in the aviary, possibly a Chinese hwa mei.

When I was done with looking at the birds, I climbed up the pagoda steps. The spiral staircase inside the pagoda is quite attractive and photogenic.

Looking up.

Looking up.

Looking down.

Looking down.

Plants in the pagoda.

There are viewing platforms on all levels. I walked round a couple on the way up before going to the top floor. The views from the pagoda are actually very pretty. You get a good view of the public swimming pool and over Yuen Long and towards some of the nearby mountains.

View over Yuen Long.

Looking over Yuen Long Public Swimming Pool.

Yuen Long.

View over Yuen Long.

View over Yuen Long.

View over Yuen Long.

I decided it was time to go back home and I had noticed that there was a 68E bus to Tsing Yi from just outside the park. I decided to take that as it would take me almost all the way home. I had to wait twenty-five minutes for it though as they are not frequent. At first I was the only passenger on the bus so I went upstairs and sat on the scenic seat at the front. The journey was actually quite nice especially when we crossed a bridge over the Ramblers Channel. It was hard to take a photo without getting part of the bridge in the way but I managed it in the end.

Crossing the bridge.

The Rambler Channel.

The Rambler Channel.

The Rambler Channel.

Since I was in Tsing Yi, I went to Marks and Spencer's and bought a baguette for dinner. I was glad I had gone to investigate the nunnery and had enjoyed the pagoda and aviary.