Sydney Chinese Garden Of Friendship Photo Diary - Part 1

I’ve lived in Pyrmont, a suburb in Sydney within walking distance to Darling Harbour for 10+ years. And walked past Sydney Chinese Garden of Friendship in Darling Harbour countless times. However I only finally went into that garden the very first time this year.

Its beauty and tranquility deeply surprised me and I realised how wrong I was before.

Sydney Chinese Garden of Friendship is located right in the busy Sydney CBD. From outside, it looks tiny. It costs $6 for the ticket. The ticket is not expensive but I always thought it’s not worth it to go in. After all, I’ve seen the most famous oriental gardens in China and Japan, how good this one could be? I thought it’ll be just a bad copy cat and one won’t have an authentic experience in it.

It was until my mum mentioned that she’d really want to go and have a good look inside when I took both my parents there, very reluctantly. It was one scorching summer day at 35 degrees with no flowing of air. By the time we arrived, all of us were sweating and puffing.

But wait. As soon as we stepped inside the garden, it felt as if we were in a whole different world. I immediately forgot all about traffic and tall buildings surrounding it. It’s green, beautiful, well planed and oh so pleasant to be in.

Sydney Chinese Garden Of Friendship has a 9 dragon wall, a gorgeous man made lake, a large tea house offering drinks and food, a small hill to climb, ancient treasures and authentic art pieces and many other features. Not to mention the cool breeze of air inside the garden. Temperature seemed to have dropped to a comfortable 25 degrees with lots of shades everywhere. I saw a few people reading and working on the laptops. What a remarkably cool office! No artificial light, air-conditioning to dry your skin and nobody to disturb you. I fell in love.

Whoever built this garden did some a marvellous job – it’s not only authentic but very well maintained.

Guess what? I’m going again this coming Summer. 🙂