The pandemic having curtailed our intentions to travel while we’re here, and with social distancing measures still in force, we’re starting to get cabin fever. There’s not a huge amount to do here in Hong Kong really, once you’ve visited the obvious places like the Peak, the Big Buddha or the 10,000 Buddhas at Shatin. The Chi Lin 志蓮Nunnery, about an hour away on the bus and MTR at Diamond Hill is the other obvious attraction here.

Surrounded on all sides by the inevitable high rises, shopping malls and multi-lane carriageway flyovers, this is a place of quiet. It was originally founded in 1934 as a haven for Buddhist nuns, and rebuilt in 1998 following traditional Tang Dynasty architecture.

You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the halls in which are housed numerous golden statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha, of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy and other bodhisattvas.

The actual cloister is sectioned off so you don’t see any nuns, but there are plenty of regular worshippers at the halls, bowing to the statues and praying with inscense sticks.

The beautifully-tended garden includes rocks in interesting formations and large bonsais, and is a haven for birds, including this red-whispered bulbul.