We hired a couple of basic bikes from the shop next to the hotel — nothing fancy, and nothing electric, because e-bikes are effectively banned in Hong Kong — and set off along the Shing Mun River, which runs the length of Sha Tin and out to the sea.
The path has more to it than you expect. You follow the river, cross a bridge, drop through tunnels, pass a ferry pier, then thread your way around the edges of the Chinese University, whose buildings run right down to the water. You come out again on the waterfront, where a small cluster of cafés and restaurants makes the obvious place to stop — for us, a coffee and a very good piece of carrot cake before turning back.
What we didn’t do, but could have, is keep going. This is part of the New Territories cycle-track network, and the full run traces the Shing Mun River and Tolo Harbour all the way from Sha Tin through Tai Po to Tai Mei Tuk — around 22 kilometres — finishing at the main dam of the Plover Cove Reservoir. It is largely separated from traffic the whole way, which in Hong Kong is close to a miracle.
The strangest sight is across the water. Look over Tolo Harbour from around the university and, rising out of the far hills, there’s an enormous pale figure — easy to take for a giant Buddha. It’s actually Guan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion: a 76-metre bronze statue, finished in 2013, that stands over Tsz Shan Monastery at Tung Tsz in Tai Po. (Not to be confused with the Big Buddha on Lantau — a different statue entirely, on the other side of the territory.)
All of which points to something worth saying plainly: Hong Kong is two different countries for a cyclist. On Hong Kong Island it is next to impossible — so hemmed in that, as we’d seen, the boldest riders resort to the tram tracks. Out here in the New Territories it is a genuine pleasure, on a proper network built for it. The one thing that would open it up to more people — an electric bike, for the hills and the heat — is exactly the thing the law forbids: e-bikes are unregistrable and banned from roads and most cycle tracks, with fines that can reach HK$10,000. The government has said it may finally regulate them; for now, you pedal under your own steam or not at all.
We only did the near stretch, and turned back at the carrot cake. Next time, the dam.
More on riding here, and where it’s allowed: Cycling in Hong Kong