Yantian Boardwalk

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A beautiful sunny day, so I headed to the coast. I have been meaning to visit Yantian Boardwalk for a while, but I've either been busy or the weather has been terrible. It was really easy to get to, taking line 2 to Haishan Station and then a straight walk down the road to the water. There were quite a few people at the entrance to the boardwalk and here the boardwalk juts out into the water more, so lots of people were there taking photos. There was even a wedding shoot going on. There was a cute looking café/restaurant there too. I could just imagine sitting in the shade of its terrace and enjoying an iced coffee there.

The entrance to the board walk was kind of in the middle, so I had to decide which direction to head in first. I chose to head left towards Yantian Port. As I walked along, I looked out to the sea and saw a couple of smallish boats, like day cruise type boats, go by. Beyond them were small hills covered with trees and small sandy beaches. I wondered if the beaches were easily accessible and if there were people relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather on them. Every so often on the concrete walls of the boardwalk, little murals had been painted. In this section, they were mainly fishy in nature with nice brightly painted fishes and other sea creatures. I liked looking at these and took some photos of them, but the position of the sun and the upper lip of the wall meant that they were partly in the shadows. Just beyond the boardwalk, there were some rather decrepit looking apartment buildings. I presume living so close to the water takes its toll on the buildings. I imagine that to rent or buy a place here would be pretty expensive, a colleague of mine used to live in Yantian and said rents were high, I dread to think what people were paying to live in these rather tatty looking buildings.

The boardwalk was also interspersed with sculptures/large pieces of artwork. This first one I came across was some silver babies sitting on silver balls with gold fish. It was a bit random and I would have loved to have known the artist's story behind it. The boardwalk was good for people watching, too. There were plenty of people about, but it wasn't too crowded, there was enough room for everyone. I enjoyed watching families, couples and groups of friends young and old making the most of their weekend. The port was getting closer and I could see more of it in detail; the large pieces of machinery (I don't know what they do), the containers piled up and some large ships with their decks also covered in containers. There were also a few bird flying around, their white feathers making a nice contrast to the blue sea and sky. I made it to the end of the boardwalk and spent a few minutes looking at the different boats that lined the outer wall of the port. I then turned around and headed back in the direction I came. I got some great views of the boardwalk with the apartment buildings behind it on one side of the water and the hills on the other side. It made a nice contrast the city and nature. There was also a fisherman out in a small boat, sailing by.

My walk took me back to where I started and then I headed down the other side of the boardwalk. I came across another sculpture that to me looked like blood vessels, I didn't hate it, but I wasn't sure if I liked it either. Looking back down the boardwalk, I saw a small white lighthouse type building. I must have been so engrossed in drinking my drink, that I had missed it on my way along. The next sculpture I came across, I really liked. It was three silver pillars with seashells etched on it and at the top it looked like the inside of an abalone shell. I saw a sign mentioning that this was the border area, I hadn't realised that I had been looking at Hong Kong over the way. I really am dim at times. I could see a temple up ahead, but when I got closer the boardwalk and the temple were closed off as construction work was going on. I sat on a bench in the shade of the palm trees for a while. Then I retraced my steps, watching a small fishing boat on the water. I really liked the walk along the boardwalk. It wasn't too long and was easy, plus simple to get to.

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