Today is Deepavali. We will never forget last year’s Deepavali when we started our trip stuck behind four and half hours of traffic jam crawling from Singapore to Malaysia. I put my bladder to the ultimate test. Since then, we have not driven to Malaysia. According to local news, earlier this year, when Malaysia Customs first rolled out the fingerprint verification system, the traffic jam had extended to eight hours. The only time I could hold my pee that long is when I am having a very good sleep. I cringe thinking about such scenario.
This year’s Deepavali, Cynthia and I are in Hong Kong. If you have not visited Nan Lian Garden, you ought to pay it a visit. The nearest MTR station is Diamond Hill. The garden is filled with rare plantations and fossil stones imported from, I presume, China. Today was my second visit. Inside a souvenir shop that I must have missed in my first visit, I spotted tiny pieces of fossil stones no bigger than an abalone selling from HK$10,000 to 30,000. I could only imagine how much those gigantic fossil stones scattered in the garden would cost.
There is a Chinese vegetarian restaurant inside Nan Lian Garden. It opens at noon and it is popular. My dad got a queue number before noon and we did not have to wait for our table. The decoration is tradition and elegant and the atmosphere is clean and cosy. The beetroot and carrot soup was complimentary. So was the fruit plate. For the four of us, we have ordered:
- Braised Mini Beancurd Patty with Mixed Vegetables
- Yellow Porcini Mushroom with Beancurd Casserole
- Eggplant with Diced Oyster Mushroom Casserole
- Deep-fried Curry Puff with Mixed Mushroom
- Stir-fried Noodle with Bean Sprouts
- Dessert
All in and it costs HK$420 (about S$70). I think it is rather reasonable for a yummy and healthy meal. The restaurant inside our Botanic Gardens in Singapore would cost more, if I remember correctly.
As the four of us admired the fossil stones in Nan Lian Garden, my parents would say: Look, that is a tiger. Look, that is a dragon. Look, that is a human. And look, that is a sheep. Every time when I saw a stone that demanded our imagination, I would whispered to Cynthia: Look, that is a panda. Look, that is a panda too! Yes, we are still in joy. Thank you Blizzard.
My mother often pokes fun at how slow I am to process my photographs. This year, when I click the shutter, I aim for total perfection. Every click matters. The only tweak I need to perform is white balancing. I think that is the bare minimum in term of digital photo processing.
6 replies on “Nan Lian Garden”
Obviously you have yet to experience the jam from Jakarta city to the airport 😀 Happy holidays!
Mark – Oh, I have worked in Jakarta for a year. I know the jam there. But from my experience, coupled with the knowledge of tolls and timing, the jam from the city to airport – from my experience of bi-weekly travel – did not hit 4.5 hours. Set aside 8 hours. And in any case, even with the jam from Jakarta to Bandung before the highway was built (12 hours), there are toilets along the way.
And we are talking about the jam along the bridge that connects Singapore to Malaysia. The distance is hardly comparable to the distance between Jakarta city to her airport in my opinion.
Oh cool, you’re going back to visit your folks right? My wife hasn’t been to Hong Kong yet and we would probably plan a short getaway some time soon. THis looks like a good place to go since I love vegetarian food, places of cultural depth and beautiful scenery!
Walter – That’s right! Spending time with parents. That is the idea 🙂
Yes. You ought to pay the garden a visit. It is connected to a beautiful temple too!
I like the garden/temple with skyscrapers and mountains as the backdrop! Very interesting.
Enjoy your trip and time with parents.
Tigerfish – Thanks for dropping by. Yep. It was great spending time with my parents. Especially my dad who is a bit too old to fly to Singapore.