I remembered when I was a little girl growing up in the 80s, my family and I would visit the Chinese Garden (裕华园) on Mid-Autumn Festival to see the many majestic lanterns on display. Huge ones of mythical characters and dainty ones of Chinese folklore. Spectacular colourful lights that looked magical at night. It wasn’t just about taking pictures with these lanterns as a keepsake but it was also a very enriching experience for me as I got to read about the story behind every lantern made. Most importantly, it was one of the rare happier moments during my childhood days when I could hold hands with Granny and the folks as we skipped down the path with beaming faces. That was probably just me, lol.
The CGJG (abbrev.) was once a popular tourist attraction but today it is now a recreational park that people go to for picnics, runs or after-meal walks. When PM Lee announced that the Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden would be merged with the Jurong Lake Park to form the Jurong Lake Gardens, I thought I’d bring the husband here to have a look before refurbishment works start end of the year.
As this is an image-intensive post, I will be splitting it into 2 parts.
Located near the Chinese Garden MRT Station. Very convenient to get to. This is the path that leads you from the station to the garden.
Just when we entered the garden, I was really surprised with how well kept the place was even though I hadn’t been here for like 2 decades. In fact, I was telling the husband not to have too high expectations of this place because it’d probably be old, messy with nothing much to see. However, I was so wrong. Landscape was kept neatly trimmed. Water was free of litter. Environment was clean. Structures were well maintained too. Unlike the Haw Par Villa that’s in quite a dilapidated state now.
Admission is free. And yes, it’s good that this is a smoke-free garden too. Ideal spot for a morning walk or run since it opens at 6am.
The majestic 7-storey Pagoda
The iconic pagoda is still here and still looking good as before.
Stone Lion guarding the Pagoda tower
We sprinted up this spiral staircase. Oh man, I was a little breathless when I reached the top.
But the views from up there were just spectacular. And though it was a pretty hot day, it was still breezy and cool.
The garden is built around the concept of Chinese gardening art so from above, it really looks like a piece of Chinese style landscape. For a moment, we thought we were sightseeing in China.
A short distance from the pagoda, we spotted sculptures of notable figures in Chinese history. Most names would probably ring a bell.
The Pagoda Twins
Main Arch Building
I remembered this was the fish pond where we could feed the kois. Too bad we couldn’t do this anymore or else it’d be fun.
Fishes Paradise
A new addition to the garden is this Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum (admission charge applies) which is home to more than 800 turtles & tortoises over 50 different species
Stone Boat
To be continued…
Beautiful park, however I visited the park yesterday and it was cull of foreign workers men. The walk from the MRT was really crowded, the men where having picnic there and there was litter everywhere before you enter the Chinese garden, such a shame. I shall only visit during the week, never on a Sunday again