Now that we are travelling with kids, we are always looking for ways to keep them entertained and the Lou Lim Loc Garden in the northern part of Macau was just great for everyone.
It is enclosed by a high wall, so the kids can run around the park safely – you just have to be careful of the large pond in the middle, which is filled with carp fish and turtles. Luckily we had some stale bagels with us, so we fed them some bread (after we had seen some locals feeding the fish, we figured it was ok to do so too).
The garden was built in 1906 by local merchant Lou Kau as part of his residence, and its design follows the well-known Suzhou Gardens. It is like a mini landscape, with narrow paths winding through groves of bamboo and flowering bushes, stones piled up into mountains and archways (which you can walk through), a nine-turn bridge zigzags across the pond (according to legend, evil spirits can only move in straight lines) and a beautiful waterside pavilion.
Other features include a quaint moon gate, towering banyan tress and winding corridors with beautiful red columns and archways, in which our kids liked to play and hide and seek. Apart from the red columns, which are painted in China’s favourite colour, the external wall is painted in beige, a favourite colour of Portugal – so it is a nice fusion of East and West.
The garden is open from 6am to 9pm and there is a nearby tea museum, which we have not yet visited. We will keep some things for a future visit!
Lou Lim Loc Garden
No. 10 Estrada de Adolfo Loureiro, Macau
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