Xiao Nanshan

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Took the subway to Chiwan again, this place is becoming like a second home to me. However, from the subway I headed off in a different direction. It was about a twenty minute walk or so to my first destination. The only thing of interest that I passed on the way was Tianhou Palace. I had thought about visiting, but there were only two reviews online (in Chinese) one that gave it a 5* review and the other gave it 1*. To be honest, it didn't look very open or inviting, so I nixed that idea for my return journey to the subway station. I arrived at the entrance to the tomb of Zhao Bing, who was the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and it is the only royal tomb in Guangdong Province. Whilst the grounds are well kept, the tomb is a bit underwhelming. I stood and watched some people praying and making offerings to the tomb before leaving. I did like the statue of Lu Xiufu carrying the infant Song Bing on his back. Lu Xiufu had been a loyal minister to the emperor and drowned himself with the emperor in the sea after having been defeated by the Yuan armies.

From the tomb I continued on to the park. I passed some street art that was good. The murals showed a fisherman and woman, I presume that how people earned their money in this area back in the day and there was also a mural of the statue I'd just seen at the tomb. I headed up the stairs behind the murals and wandered up the small streets in the direction of Xiao Nanshan. The neighbourhood kind of reminded me of the hilliness of some of the Seoul neighbourhoods I had visited years ago. It only me about 5-10 minutes to reach the park. I didn't really have any plans for what to do at Xiao Nanshan apart from to take in the views. I followed the path through the park taking the steps upwards. These weren't too taxing and I soon came to a small viewing platform that gave me some nice views of the surrounding area and out to see. I kept going along the path and I could see a viewing platform higher up so headed up the stairs to that. There were quite a few people on the platform and on the stairs leading to it. I wasn't too happy when I got to the viewing platform to see that it was glass bottomed. These things give me the creeps. I don't like being able to look down and see how far the ground is beneath me and how far I would fall (undoubtedly to my death) if the platform cracks and breaks. At least I wasn't the only person up there that wasn't enjoying it, as there was a young girl who wasn't loving it either. I did like the views however and tried my best to not look down as I moved around. I could see the Linding Sea and Chiwan Port with a couple of ships coming and going.

After the viewing platform the trail continued so I headed along that. I only walked for about 5 minutes or so before coming to a clearing. There wasn't too much there, a toilet block and plenty of places to sit. There weren't any views of the coastline either as the trees were rather built up. I spotted the trail up the mountain, which I'd actually walked past. I didn't see it because there was a security guard sitting at a desk partially blocking the path. I think it's because of forest fires and he had a box on his desk to collect contraband like lighters. I started up the stairs on the trail to the peak. I was expecting the trail to be pretty easy as the mountain isn't that high, however it was pretty tough going. The weather was a lot hotter than I expected it to be and it was just up up up with little to see and not too much shade. I got a couple of glimpses of the port below. Eventually, I came to the top of the mountain, there was some kind of structure up there, but it didn't look too interesting so I didn't spend long there, only enough time to catch my breath.

The path divided into two and I took the left one as there seemed to be something to see in that direction on the map. The trail started going down which was good. The steps were also gradual and soon gave way to a paved road. The thing I had seen on my map was a pagoda, which had some good views of the port below. There were quite a few people there and since it was a nice spot I took a bit of a rest there. I was rather thirsty by this point and I wished that there had been a vending machine in front of the toilet block. After my rest I kept going down the road. There was a flight of stairs that cut across to make the route down shorter, but I opted for the longer route so I could see if there were any more nice views. After rounding the curve in the road, I got some great views of the city. All the high rises and skyscrapers near the coastline. The views were pretty impressive. I continued on down the road and soon came to the gates leading out of the park. I followed the road around and back to the subway station. I really enjoyed my hike up Xiao Nanshan. The viewing platform was great and I liked the city views on the other side of the mountain.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Glass bottom walkways and view points
I honestly don't get this architectural design choice when it's outside! The floor is usually so thick (thankfully) that you can't get a clear view through it anyway; plus the view is almost always better looking out than looking down. I think they do it more for effect than for an actual view :)

[Zephyr]

Thank you
Glad I am not the only who isn't a fan. Thanks for commenting :)