Skating - Hong Kong Return
Hong
Kong may be the worst
location in Asia
to Rollerblade
in. Cars will not even try to avoid you. It is
weird, a car can be sitting on a sidewalk blocking all pedestrian
traffic, a van can block most of the road and no one bats an eye,
but politely skate on the side of the road and you throw half of
the SAR into blinding road rage.
Suitable places
to skate are difficult to find, even the best of places in
Hong
Kong may have poor
surfaces, poor lighting, or may be difficult to get to. Even some
of the most use jogging lanes have to be shared with cars, blading down a small jogging path, turning
a corner, do not be surprised to find
a car coming towards you. Finding good places to skate in
Locations in Hong Kong
Sha
Tin
Just south of
the Sha Tin Sports Ground is a Nice
Bike Jogging/Rollerblade Path. It goes next to the River, across
the bridge and back around in a complete circle. For the most
part, very nice path, but parts of it always seem to be affected
by near-by construction. No Cars on this path.
MongKok
This was a
challenge. MongKok is one of the most
congested areas on planet earth. RollerBlading here ranges from
difficult to almost impossible. But certainly most always it is
dangerous and frustrating. Have we done it, yes, we even went shopping in all the vertical shops, but
our advice is to visit without blades.
YMCA Roller Rink
At 22 Gascoinge Road, Yau Ma Tei,
Kowloon, Tel 27826682
is a very nice roller rink, not really an indoor rink, buy nicely
covered. Which means if it rains you won’t get wet, but if
it is hot and humid you will be hotter and more humid than it is
out of the rink.
They offer
Inline Hockey Leagues. Just Completed is a aggressive Inline skating area. Lessons and
training are available. Call for Rink times (they change
frequently)
Tsim
Sha Tsui
Ok we have done
it. We have Bladed on the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong
Kong. My Advice forget that. Cars consider avoiding
you a major sin. Road Surfaces are in poor conditions. Vans on a
sidewalk, Blocking all access. Blading quietly, politely down a street in
HK, means hunting season is open on you.
I was on the
SIDEWALK in Tsim Sha Tsui, and a taxi
looking straight at me pull up across the sidewalk right in front
of me, down I went. (I was wearing pads – no
blood).
In front of the
harbour is a “path" heading east from the Star
Ferry Terminal which though not meant for skating, in fact I have
been told skating is banned there, provides a bumpy ride with a
great view. We were polite and no one bothered us, but who knows
about next time. Good view, hard on the skates, and
feet.
Hong Kong, Central
I have skated
here many times, ok, I admit it, I love the danger, and dangerous
it is. Forget it, do not skate here. Check out this avi file (if you have the bandwidth)
Skating in
Central
Bowen Road
Just recently
I have been back to Bowen road a couple more times, and it is still being
upgraded by being layered with a thick red/orange something or other. The
orange goo upgrade is still a long way from being done. The sections that
were dry were easier to skate on than the original asphalt, but the sections
that were wet from humidity seemed to be very slick. Also vehicle traffic
seemed quite heavy. There were a lot of construction guys on the road. They
were standing around talking, one holding a sheet of tin or some metal,
just as I went by, he turned and almost got me. I was focusing on him, so
when he turned at least I was ready and slide around the metal (into him).
Anyway I guess we will have to try it a few more times before we know if
the "upgrade" is for the better or not. The parts of the road
they chiseled to look like bricks is not better, it is much worse, but I
am still hoping that when the orange stuff sets it will not be so slick
when wet. Right now when wet it is pretty dangerous to skate on.
First
Update: Bowen
Road is being "upgraded" parts of the road have been chiseled
to look that it is a brick road, why I do not know, it sure is tough to
skate on now. Other parts of it are being "resurfaced". That means
painted/layered with a thick red/orange clay "stuff". Maybe it
is just not set properly yet, but having skated on it when it was damp from
humidity, it was very slick. Our buddy Derek, skating with me this morning,
who has skated here many times without incident (unlike me) slipped
and went down. It is very slick when damp, BE CAREFUL. Especially with cars
and trucks using the lane, skating around a corner, here comes a car, and
parts of it the lane are so slick "you can not stop", BANG!!.
Other parts of the road are in areas that are under construction, oily and
broken up. BE CAREFUL!
Bowen
Road may be the most
popular lane for Blading in HK. I
have seen more rollerbladers here
than anywhere else in HK. But BeWare!! The surface leaves much to be desired.
It has oil and concrete spills, rough spots, cracks, and holes.
It has some lighting, but skating there at night is an
adventure.
Even though it
is barely wide enough for 2 strollers, it is used by cars as
well. There are even new flats being built along its narrow
lane!!
Wear a helmet and pads, the rough surface means
crash potential is high, and there are lots of obstacles to bump
into.
To get there
either take the stairs from McDonnell Road (Near the Lane for #80
McDonnell road) – this is how I get there, but then I am
practicing going up and down stairs in my blades. And then at the
top of the stairs go west (left) or take a taxi to Bowen
Road
Park
(go up
Bowen Drive).
There are few spots where the view is excellent. Just take care
of the walkers, joggers, bicycles, scooters, dogs (lots of dogs)
motorcycles, and of course the cars. In HK cars rule every road
and lane.
CyberPort (HongKong
south-west side)
Ok this is kind
of fun – for now anyway. It is a new area in the southwest
of HK Island. Not too many cars (Yet), big hill to work out on,
lots of space.
Now I have done
the route from Cyberport to Central
along Victoria
road a few
times, but please do not try it. You have to skate on the Road,
and many cars in HK just will NOT give you a foot of space. At all.
My last time
going down the hill I had a Salomon Wheel come apart on me, down
I went. I was padded up, so only a bit of blood and skin loss.
Salomon Wheels, I have had a lot of trouble with
those.
Anyway Cyberport is fun and fairly empty (for HK)
to skate on, stay off of Victoria
Road.
Tai Tam (South-East Hong Kong)
Tai Tam
Reservoir Road at Tai Tam
Country Park is probably the best
outdoor location in Hong
Kong. The only
problem is getting out of the area. If you have to take a taxi
you may have a bit of trouble finding one – it is a bit out
of the way.
Other than that
this is a great lane, Cars prohibited (Except for country
vehicles – which do appear). Nice views,
“reasonable” surface, not for night skating
though.
The Lane goes
around the reservoir until it comes to a big hill. Trust on me on
this, turn around there and go back. Only really silly people
would try to skate to the top, and then have to take off there
skates to get back down. – Very Very Steep and very fast surface for the hill
part of the lane.
Pak Pat (South-East Hong Kong)
Pak Pat Shan
road Near Tai Tam Country Road is in a residential area. So you
do need share it with cars, trucks, taxis, etc.. Come time to leave, getting Taxi’s out of
there can be a bit of problem on occasion.
But in
Hong
Kong terms this is a
good road for us. Traffic is fairly low. The road loops around in
a Big Circle,
Beginning and ending at red hill plaza. The road has some slopes,
good for practice, and a good surface. I like skating
here.
My only
complaint is that Tai Tam park is
really close to here, but you can not skate from one to the
other. The short stretch of road is way too narrow and has a
couple of sharp curves, so even if a car would like to miss
hitting you, coming around the corner it probably could not miss
you. And if there is an oncoming car there is no room for a
skater. You have to drive or take a taxi between the two
sites.
Shek
O Road
Shek
O Road runs from Tai Tam Road (in the south
west corner of Hong Kong), just north a bit
from Red Hill. On Tai Tam road there is a sign
at the intersection pointing to Shek O. (You
can get there using No. 9 bus heading for Shek O from the bus station outside Shau Kei Wan MTR
station)
This
road does have vehicle traffic on it, and on
Sundays it can be a bit heavy. However as its
destination is Shek O beach, a destination for
relaxing and that the road has a history of
being used by bicyclists, it seems to be one
of the few roads in Hong Kong Most cars are
willing to share. The scenery along the road
is very good (See picture section). Road Surface
is not bad. We generally take Shek O Road from
Tai Tam road a few K to the small parking
area (south side of the road) and do a few laps
back and forth, we stop there as from that point
on it is a fairly steep down hill. Then for
the final lap we go down the hill to Cape
D'Aguilar Road. Due to the traffic and the bus
stopping and cars stopping to check out the
view we can not go to fast, so it is a bit tiring
keeping the brake on a bit down the hill. Except
for the cars, and the expense of a taxi from
central (120HK$) to get to the intersection,
it is one of one my favorite places to
skate.
Picture Gallery
|
Category |
Category Description |
Graph |
Explanation |
|
Road Surface |
Describes road surface conditions |
 |
The road surfaces here we experienced were, let me say, challenging. There are good spots, but staying focused all the time was important. |
|
Road Conditions |
Is there enough room for skating on the road? Are intersections crossable? |
|
The roads were busy all the time!, Most roads do not have room
to share. Even the most popular
road for skating, jogging, etc has
cars on it, and they come first. |
|
Traffic Conditions |
Describes level and condition of traffic. Is the traffic heavy, fast or erratic. |
|
Traffic was HEAVY, Heavy. No Fun. |
|
Driver Attitudes |
Describes how drivers react to and treat skaters |
|
Drivers here are terrible. They seem to hate us. Honking, swerving,
you name it. |
|
Danger Level |
Describes overall danger of skating in this location. Everyplace is dangerous to street skate. Street skating means crumbling roads, bad drivers (or worse), air pollution and even nature. But some places are more dangerous than others |
|
Roads are in bad condition. Cracks, rocks, rough spots, oil,
spilled concrete.. |
|
Criminal Factor |
How serious is crime in this location. |
|
Never had or heard of a real problem, |
|
Cool Factor |
Is this a cool place to skate. |
|
No.
You Skate here because you are here
and want to skate, not because you
want to skate here. |
|
Fun Factor |
Is this a fun place to skate. |
|
No.
You Skate here because you are here
and want to skate, not because you
want to skate here. |
|
Sidewalks |
Are there sidewalks, and if there are what are they like? Often having sidewalks can be worse than not having them. With a bad sidewalk drivers may assume you should be using it - no matter how dangerous it is to use, and react very badly when they see you on the road instead of the sidewalk. |
|
They are here and they are either A. Too narrow to skate,B.
Too crapped up to skate, C. Too
crowed to skate, D Or have cars
parked all over them. |
|
Misc |
Any other conditions or issues that were found while skating here |
|
All Factors here are against a good day of street skating |
|
Summary |
A summarization of the skating experience at this location. |
|
You
Skate here because you are here
and want to skate, not because you
want to skate here. |
|
Desire to Return - Overall Rating |
The bottom line. Is the place good enough that we want to return here to skate it more. With all the above taken into consideration how much are we looking forward return and skate this location further. |
|
No. |
|
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Hong Kong Photo Gallery |
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Disclaimer |
