The crazy ride to Hong Kong

The are roads (like this one to Hong Kong) you do not want to cycle again. However, telling a story about that road is great to tell. Reaching Hong Kong was such a road. And honestly, I will never do that again. It was crazy.   Guangzhou will never be my favorite Chinese city. In fact, apart of Shamian Island in the middle of the city there's little that makes you stay longer. Unless you love spending money in shopping. And yes, there are a few good bookstores too.

I had come from Yangshuo through the upgraded road to Guangzhou because I had to get a new Chinese visa. The easiest way to do that was of course to take the bus from Yangshuo but I preferred to cycle. I calculated it would take about 5 or 6 days to Hong Kong. It was indeed 4 days to Guangzhou, were I took some rest. Now I was at the point of going to Hong Kong. Little did I know about the road I had to cycle.

Early in the morning I left Guangzhou. It took ages before I finally came in areas where it seemed I had left the city. It was still urban areas but at least I seemed to have left the city center behind. That was 50 km already on the way.

My goal was to stay in Dong Guan which is only 88 km from Shenzhen. This I expected to cycle in an easy day to Kowloon. How different it would be. The rain of the last days had made me no happier. In Dong Guan I found a quite lousy hotel for an exorbitant price. But I didn't want to search much. After all, I had to hurry up, my visa was ending.

In the morning I left Dong Guan. The road was big and busy. Hours in the rain on a busy road where everybody seemed to go wherever they wanted without looking if that was possible was not my kind of fun of cycling.

Later that day the rain stopped. I was reasonable quick in the vicinity of Shenzhen. Most of the road in between Guangzhou and Shenzhen had been urban areas. I found it hard to believe people would enjoy to live in this kind of urban jungles.

But I had not seen anything yet as it would turn around. My first problem was to find the border. That doesn't seem difficult as Shenzhen is the border city with Hong Kong. However, the road signs do not mention Hong Kong or Lo Wu, even though the signs are in English. So I started asking people but they had no clue what I asked as they had never heard of "Hong Kong". Once I figured out that the name I had to use was the Cantonese name for Hong Kong it became a lot easier. But by that time I had already crossed a lot through the city.

Hong Kong island at daytime

It was 4pm when I finally reached the border. The next obstacle became how I had to cross. Cycling was not allowed and I didn't have any Chinese Yuen left. I knew on the other side I would be able to get some money out of the ATM, so I had a problem. I had to take a bus but not enough money for the ticket. Finally the bus company decided they would take me for normal price to Lo Wu. I had no choice then to get the bike in the bus.

By now it was already 5pm but as Kowloon is only 40 km or so from Lo Wu I decided this was not really a big problem. I saw the directions for Kowloon so I got some Hong Kong dollars out of the ATM, bought some food and water and started cycling to Fanging. The idea now was to go to Tai Po where I knew there was a Youth hostel. I could do the last kilometers the next day. But I must have somewhere missed the road sign. And the road I was now heading to was a motorway. I had to go back.

Cycling in Hong Kong turned out to be a nightmare. It seemed all roads ended up on a motorway where I was not allowed to cycle. In the end I had to cycle along the mountains north of the New Territories to Kam Tin. There was a tunnel, but not for bicycles, I had to go further to Tuen Mun.

It was already dark by now so I had to find a hotel. However, I was not far from Kowloon, so I expected I could continue and be in an hour or so in Kowloon. And again I got lost. I went in the wrong direction and ended up in Tuen Mun.

I was told to follow Castle Peak Road and I would end up in Kowloon. That was true but the problem was Tsuen Wan. I must have looked lost because I heard a pleasant voice next to me: "Can I help you sir?" It was a young and very pretty girl who asked me this. She definitely could help me, that was for sure.

By now it was 9pm and I had no clue how far Kowloon would be. The girl told me there were no hotels (at least no cheaper ones) here in Tsuen Wan but she would help me to the MTR, the underground of Kowloon. It was only a few stops to Kowloon and the MTR would stop at Kowloon.

But now another problem showed up. I couldn't bring my bicycle in the MTR. The girl helped me again to get my bicycle back tot the mainroad and explained me how to cycle further.

Sharon was her name and she smiled when she saw how tired I was. I felt too tired to do anything by now but somehow her voice made me feel better and fresher. She gave me some water and then said goodbye.

The last hurdle now was a slight climb, nothing special but at this stage of the road it felt like a high mountain. Fortunately everywhere there was light so it wasn't dangerous to cycle. 45 minutes later I cycled into Kowloon, dead tired but satisfied. I had made it.

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