Mini Bike Tour of Hong Kong 3 (Sha Tin-Tai Po-Fanling)

That's me, Eugene and Charlie

And that's Diane with her green Brompton

On our second day in Hong Kong, the five of us, Diane, Val, Charlie, Eugene and I, assembled at University Station in Sha Tin, north of Kowloon. The weather outside was 13 degrees Celcius and there was an overcast just like the day before, so it was a cold day to go biking, but there we were. I did not bring any gloves with me and my hands were freezing. It's a good thing Val had an extra pair with him and lent them to me.

We first biked to the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Campus. Easily got impressed with the bikelane infrastructure in the area.

We biked south of the station and stopped at a jogging/biking bridge overlooking Sha Tin Hoi river and Mount Ma On Shan.

From there, we retraced our steps and headed back north via the Sha Tin-Tai Po bike network.

Got to use a couple of bike tunnels. Wished they had these here in Manila.

So cool to be biking in a bike dedicated tunnel

We reached Pak Shek Kok Promenade and continued biking. Reminded me of the Roxas Blvd./Manila Bay Baywalk.

Passed the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. We took a break in one of the buildings. Diane and Eugene had brunch.

Then we continued riding along the Tolo Harbor. It was just beautiful. I really enjoyed biking the miles and miles of bikeways. For the most part it was flat.

My mandatory "Day Off" Pose

We stopped at the Tai Po Lookout Tower. Took some photos of Yuen Chau Tsai Bay.

Then we continued riding until the end of the bike network. I computed 18 kilometers of uninterrupted bikelanes. Kung may ganito lang sa Manila, araw araw ako magba-bike commute. Ang swerte ng mga nagtatrabaho dito. May bikelane sila na maganda.

We biked along Ting Kok Road until we reached Tai Mei Tuk Water Sports Center. We stopped at the dam overlooking Plover Cove. Para siyang CCP/PICC noong araw--many bikes-for-rent. People there were also doing water-related activities like kayaking, sailing and swimming.

Plover Cove

After the break, we entered Pat Sin Leng Country Park via Bride's Pool Road. This section of the bike ride was very hilly. In fact, at some points, we were required (by a traffic sign no less) to get off our bikes and walk up the incline.

I really didn't cycle this. It was too steep for me. This was pure acting.

When there's an uphill, there is definitely a downhill. At one part of the road, from the peak to the bottom, I think I clocked in 40kmh!

We stopped at a roadside canteen in Luk Keng. We had spicy noodle soup for lunch. Enjoyed the view of Starling Inlet. Watched migratory birds float on the water. Val said that just across the bay where we were sitting was Shenzen, China!

After lunch, we pedaled a few meters to another roadside canteen, Chan Fung Kee, and had cold Taho with ginger.

Yummy Taho

We continued our bike tour of the Hong Kong countryside. Val took us through the sidestreets and we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. Charlie and Eugene said the place looked like we were in UP Los Banos--just because of all the greenery surrounding us.

Doesn't that remind you of UPLB and Mount Makiling?

We headed towards Fanling but stopped at Lau Shui Heung Reservoir. Beautiful man-made lake. It looked like we were in Switzerland.

With our host and ride leader, Val Roque

From the reservoir we pedaled to Fanling, where we finally ended our bike tour.

We folded our bikes and boarded the train to go back to Mongkok. We biked a total of 45 scenic kilometers that day.

I truly, truly enjoyed this bike tour. It was awesome. Thanks, Val, for planning and leading the ride.

PS: Special mention again to Diane Flaviano and Charlie Gaw for some of the photos in this post.