"Get thee to a Nunnery" (thought I'd throw in a little Hamlet)

The Chi Lin Nunnery dates back to the 1930's, but was completely rebuilt of wood in the style of the Tang dynasty in 1998. There are some really lovely pictures of it on the net.  Apparently it is built without the use of iron nails, but the wood is cut so it interlocks with the next piece. I'm not sure why it's called a Nunnery instead of a Monastery.  It's quite amazing when you are walking around the park, how quiet and soothing it is, considering the fact that there is a lot of traffic just on the other side of its walls. It's a beautiful and quiet oasis in the middle of a noisy and frantic city.

The flowering trees are really blooming now and are the prettiest they have been since we got here.    They bloom year around, but in the summer it's so hot that they look kind of tired.   November and December are the best months of the year for visiting here because the weather is cooler and most vegetation looks bright and colorful.

You cross a bridge that runs over the streets below to get to this temple which houses a large gold Buddha.  This is the beginning of the actual Nunnery and the buildings go far back behind this one.

The park that is open to the public is called Nan Lian Garden.  There were a group of monks visiting and taking pictures along with the rest of the tourists and of course people were taking pictures of the monks!!

Right in the center is this beautiful golden pagoda siting in the middle of ponds and waterfalls.  Very serene while the world rushes by !!

One of the lovely lotus ponds in the garden.

The building behind the waterfall is a vegetarian restaurant .

Neat water wheel by the waterfall.  It almost looks like something out of the old west.( if you block out all the high rises behind it, and the bonsai shaped trees beside)  Well you need to use your imagination!

There are bonsai tea plants everywhere.  The leaves are just coming out on this one.

If you get bored with the quietness of the gardens, you can always go shopping across the street at the
 Plaza  Hollywood.   Malls are never  far away.

The Nunnery is kind of an oval shape so the traffic has to go around it on many levels.  This walkway is one of about 5 that go over the streets and branch off in other directions.  We were trying to get across the traffic to the stadium on the other side

Heading home on the bus.   It costs about 50 cents to go from our place over to the Nunnery on the 3b bus!!