For the past few years, I’ve been meaning to visit the Chinese Garden during the Mid-autumn or Mooncake festival but just never seemed to get around to doing so. Everytime I look at the photos of the various lanterns on display in the newspaper, I regretted not going. This year, I was determind to do so.

And so on Tuesday night, both hubby and I made a trip out to Jurong to the Chinese Garden to look at the lanterns on display.

It has been years since I went to the Chinese Garden. I think the last time must have been when I was in Primary or Secondary school, during one of those school outings. There just doesn’t seemed to be enough of a pull for me to want to travel all the way there. I have very hazy memories of this place..except for the pagoda.

There are 2 themes this year…. insects (????) and icons of the world. I gotta to admit that some of these ‘insects’ are pretty cute.

And some of the icons…I don’t think I need to say what they are.

Of course, the Chinese icon (The Great Wall, with a flapping dragon and phoenix) is one of the biggest and the most elaborate…. like all things Chinese.

There were various stalls set up… including one from Osim.. offering free massage. Hmmm…. There are the usual stuff.. like sparklers, lights, ice-cream etc being sold. They also had a sort of fun fair going on..mainly for the kids. There weren’t really many ‘traditional Chinese’ stalls. Maybe there are more during the weekend. The one stall that is traditional was this dough figure maker. Cute right?

The one thing that I did remember about the Chinese Garden was the 7 story pagoda. I don’t recall this pair of 3-story pagoda. They looked rather pretty though, especially with the reflection in the water. Of course there were lots of people taking photos. A group of teenagers was attempting to try to take a self-timer photo by placing the camera below, with them on the 2nd level!

I was just telling hubby, somehow in my distant memory, the 7-story pagoda seemed larger than it is now. I think it will look really pretty on Friday, with the full moon. We climbed to the top and looked at all the twinkling lights below us. It would have been rather romantic..except that you’re sharing this romantic view with about 20 people. That didn’t seemed to stop a young couple though, who was quite ‘busy’. I’m sure there are lots of dark bushes in the garden below. Must be the moonlight.

It was rather busy for a Tuesday night so I dread to think of the crowd during the weekend. I wish I had a lantern whilst I was there. I saw many in the crowd holding one but just couldn’t figure out where they were being sold. Although I must say most of them (especially the children) were holding a football lantern???!!! But really, I guess it was not so strange on hindsight now… as we used to have lanterns like ultraman, hello kitty, boat etc. That’s why we loved lanterns then because they came in so many shapes and sizes.

The pond here has lots of koi….all looking rather fat and plump. ^^

I think I would have enjoyed myself better if I could have walked around the place at a much slower pace and also visit the Japanese Garden, which was just next door. As it is, it felt just a tiny, tiny bit of a let-down. And it wasn’t cheap either. During this festive season, it’s $8 for adults during weekdays and $10 during weekends. Ouch!

One of the last photo before we left.. hehehe! How do you like my warrior? Yes, I was bored.

Just some information on the Chinese Garden:
Built in 1975 and designed by Prof. Yuen-chen Yu, a well-known architect from Taiwan, the Chinese Garden’s concept is based on Chinese gardening art. The main characteristic is the integration of splendid architectural features with the natural environment. The Chinese Garden is modelled along the northern Chinese imperial style of architecture and landscaping.

Taken from Asia-Planet.net. They have more information about the garden on their site.

You can see some photos from this site

What are you going to be doing this Friday night?

I’m all prepared already..

I’ve got my lanterns, my mooncake, my pomelo, my tea….and my hubby… hahaha!

Happy Mooncake festival everyone! ^^

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