Tuesday, May 6th

After getting a late start (trouble sleeping/woke up late and some dilly dallying in the morning), I headed for the Chi Lin Nunnery & the Nan Lian Gardens (they are adjacent to each other). The portion of the nunnery open to the public included the lotus garden in the front and a Buddhist temple in the back. Once entering the compound, the world outside seemed to disappear, I could hear the fountains, the birds and even the chirpy sounds dragonflies make. Some of the Lotus flowers were in bloom







This is a brazilian cherry plant.



Entrance to the temple.








When I stepped into the temple compound, I could hear chanting, I went looking for where it was coming from but finally figured that it was probably being piped in. The environment was very serene.







Across the street from the nunnery is the Nan Lian gardens - picture below show the lotus garden of the nunnery on the left side and the garden on the right. I remember having been to the Nan Lian garden before, probably before the age of 9. In my memories, the place was much bigger than it actually is. The pagoda below is a part of the garden. After a stroll through there, I headed to the plaza by the subway station and got some lunch (and water!).





A few subways stops from the Nunnery & Gardens are the various markets. There is a walking route that leads you through all of the ones in the area. I decided to skip the flower, bird and goldfish markets and headed straight to the Ladies market (which also sells kids and mens things). The ladies market connects with the Jade market via a walk on Shanghai street, one of the oldest in town. I stopped into the temple along the way.














Along the walk route, behind a public library were a bunch of stalls selling sex toys - odd place for it and odd time of day too..... lol. By the time I got to the jade market, the vendors were closing shop, so after a short look around, I continued on into the night market. By then, I was getting a bit tired, so after a quick look around, I hoped on the subway and headed back home. I hit the subway at commute time - OMG - it was soooooo crowded, like Embarcadero at 5pm (or worse).