Explore Sha Tin - a riverside town with many attractions

Sha Tin Station is the starting point of this walk. The station was built in 1910, was on the British section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) which ran from Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon to Canton (now Guangzhou) and originally operated by steam trains. Through trains ceased to operate in 1949, when during the communist revolution, the line was closed at the mainland border and did not resume until 1979. Although through trains do not stop at Sha Tin Station, the station is one of the busiest on Hong Kong's rail network and since late 2007, when KCR merged with Hong Kong's urban domestic operator MTR, the station has formed part of MTR's East Rail Line linking Hung Hom in Kowloon with Lo Wu at the mainland border.

Leave the station via exit B and follow the path to the left, in front of the bus terminus, to a ramp which leads down to street level, following the tourist direction signs towards Sha Tin Government Offices and Grand Central Plaza.

Note - there are not currently any tourist direction signs from Sha Tin Station to the first major point of interest on this walk, Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. A programme to install tourist direction signs was suspended in 2007, owing to major slope works taking place in the vicinity of the monastery following earlier landslides and floods, and will be recommence following completion of these works.

Follow the path ahead with Pai Tau Village on the left and in a short distance, the distinctive dark-tinted windowed, curved Grand Central Plaza is reached. This building is the location of Home Square mall, which contains Hong Kong's flagship IKEA store and several other home furnishing stores, cafes and restaurants.

Follow Pai Tau Street alongside Grand Central Plaza, for about 100-metres to Sha Tin Government Offices at the junction with Sheung Wo Che Road.

The 16-storey Sha Tin Government Offices, opened in 2001, stand at the junction of Pai Tau Street and Sheung Wo Che Road. Follow Sheung Wo Che Road alongside Shatin Government Offices, past a multi-storey car park, to its end where there is an old yellow direction sign for Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.

Follow the path at the end of Sheung Wo Che Road and the steps leading to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery are soon reached. There are 431 steps leading through bamboo forest to the lower level of the monastery, lined with 500 life-size gilded Arhan statues, each in a different pose and are a remarkable sight.

There is no alternative way of reaching the temple other than by climbing the steps although a pathway runs alongside the steps which allows motorised carts, used for transporting supplies etc to reach the monastery.

VISITORS SHOULD NOTE THAN FAKE MONKS BEGGING FOR MONEY SOMETIMES OPERATE IN THE VICINITY OF THE PATH AND STEPS. GENUINE MONKS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BEG IN HONG KONG AND THESE FAKE MONKS, WHO ARE FROM MAINLAND CHINA, SHOULD BE IGNORED.

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (Man Fat Tsz) is one of the most fascinating temples in Hong Kong. Located high on Po Fook Hill it was founded in 1949 by the Reverend Yuet Kai and completed in 1957. The Reverend, born in 1878 to a wealthy mainland family, was a skilled musician and poet who, at the age of 19, decided to devote his life to Buddhism. Having moved to Hong Kong is 1933 to preach in a local monastery, attracting a large number of followers, Yuet Kai, by now in old age founded the monastery and personally assisted in its construction, carrying materials up the hill. Yuet Kai died in 1965 at the age of 87 and after being buried for 8 months his body was exhumed and, in accordance with his wishes, embalmed, painted with gold leaf and put on display in a glass case in front of the altar in the main temple.

The "ten thousand" Buddhas actually number over 13,000, "ten thousand" in Cantonese tradition being a figurative term simply representing a very large number. The Ten Thousand Buddhas are miniature ceramic Buddhas, lining the walls of the main temple, which took over ten years to complete. Each is about twelve inches high and has a different pose and expression and also bears an inscription with the name of its owner. Also in the main temple are three large gilded Buddha statues and the glass case containing the founder's gilded body. Outside the main temple in the monastery's lower level courtyard are a Kwun Yam Pavilion with a large statue of this Goddess of Mercy and other pavilions with statues of other deities, Vitasoka, Manjusri and Samantabhadra and 18 Arhans Verandah but the courtyard is dominated by a 9-storey pagoda which is open to visitors and can be climbed by internal spiral staircase. There is also a vegetarian restaurant in the courtyard.

Another 69 steps lead to the upper terrace which has undergone reconstruction in recent years and contains four temples with statues of deities, a 2-storey columbarium with large gilded Amitabha Buddha statue and, set in front of a waterfall, a large Kwun Yam Statue and miniature gilded Buddhas statues seated on surrounding rocks.

The monastery is open daily from 9am to 5-30pm but may close in the event of rainstorm or when typhoon signal 8 or above is issued.

The vegetarian restaurant is open from 10-30am to 4pm or 5pm daily except Thursdays, when it is closed.

Admission is free.

After visiting the upper terrace return to the lower level courtyard and, instead of descending from the monastery via the path and steps used on the ascent, look for the steps leading down from the far corner of the courtyard, near the pavilion.

The steps down from the monastery courtyard lead through bamboo forest and families of monkeys (longtailed macaques) can often be seen playing here. These are part of Hong Kong's population of over 2,000 wild monkeys, thought to be the descendants of pets released into the wild.

Part-way down the steps a sign points to Starock Bookstore and Wing Wo Bee Farm. The bookstore, which opens irregular hours, is the private house of a mainlander who emigrated to Hong Kong in the 1970's and is a writer and calligraphist who has connections with Hong Kong Museum of Art. The books on sale are his own small booklets of thoughts and philosophies, written in Chinese, and the walls are lined with framed examples of his calligraphy work. The bee farm sells jars of honey from a stall on the path at near the foot of the steps down from the monastery at weekends.

From the foot of the steps a path winds its way through village house and emerges near the recreation ground alongside Pai Tau Street. The next point of interest, Po Fook Ancestral Halls is located at the end of Pai Tau Street.

Po Fook Ancestral Halls are often mistaken for the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery by visitors but is not as interesting. It is essentially, a large columbarium, opened in 1991, set in terraces on Po Fook Hill, below the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery with numerous halls containing niches with ashes of ancestors. There are temples, shrines and ponds and a pagoda which is not open to visitors.

The halls are served by both a covered escalator system and a funicular railway.

Admission is free and the halls are open 9am to 5pm daily.

From the ancestral halls follow the path which runs behind the fenced playground which leads to Pai Tau Village.

Pai Tau Village has survived whilst almost all around has been redeveloped or modernised and contains traditional Chinese houses and shophouses. It is inhabited by Lam Clansmen who originally settled at Wuhua County in Guangdong Province in Mainland China. Over a hundred years ago ancestors of the Lams moved south to Sham Tseng, near Tsuen Wan in Hong Kong. When their village houses were destroyed by rainstorms, Lam Shing-cheong took his wife and son to establish a family estate at Pai Tau Village. Shortly after resettling at Pai Tau, the founding ancestor, Lam Shing-cheong died and his wife remarried a man named Yau in order to foster two orphans and many villagers in Pai Tau now share the same surname of Yau.

There are some restaurants and Chinese paper offering shops in the village.

From Pau Tau Village follow the path back to Sha Tin Station Exit B.

Re-enter Sha Tin Station at exit B which leads to the concourse and a shopping area, Citylink Plaza. Do not pass through the station entry barriers, instead leave at exit A via Citylink Plaza and carry on straight ahead to New Town Plaza.

New Town Plaza is Hong Kong's second largest and one of its busiest shopping malls. It has been developed in two phases, Phase 1 with nine floors which is connected to Phase 3 with three floors. Phase 2 has not yet been developed. The mall has over 350 shops, most of which are well-known international brands, department stores, Marks & Spencer in Phase 1 and YATA in Phase 3 and over 50 Chinese, Asian and Western restaurants and cafes. Most of the dining outlets are located on Level 1 and Level 7 of Phase 1.

On the outdoor terrace of Level 7 is a musical fountain with performances at 1pm, 2pm, 2-45pm, 4-45pm, 7pm, 8pm and 9pm, every day with an additional performance at 3-45pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

There is also a hotel, the four-star 443-room Royal Park Hotel attached to the mall.

New Town Plaza is a pleasant mall in which to shop or browse and is a good place to stop for refreshment.

Shopping opening hours vary from shop to shop but are mainly from 10/11am until 10pm daily. Fast food restaurants and cafes open from as early as 7am until late.

Leave New Town Plaza at the Level 3 exit walkway which leads to Snoopy's World and Shatin Town Hall.

For visitors with children Snoopy's World is a small outdoor themed children's playground based on Charles Shulz Peanuts characters. Attractions include a yellow school bus, Snoopy House, Peanuts Dugout, Peanuts Pavilion and a boating canal with canoe ride.

Opening hours 10am to 8pm daily (last admission 7-45pm)

Admission is free but for entry to the boating canal canoe ride a receipt for a purchase from any of the shops in New Town Plaza is required. Certain purchases such as mobile phone top-ups are excluded - see details posted outside Snoopy's World entrance.

From Snoopy's World continue around the walkway and straight ahead is Shatin Town Hall.

The unmissable huge terracotta walls of Sha Tin Town Hall lie just ahead of Snoopy's World. It was opened in 1987 and is regarded as one of the finest performing arts centres in Hong Kong. It has a large auditorium with over 1300 seats, exhibition galleries and in the same building is a marriage registry. Newly-weds accompanied by guests are a common sight outside the town hall and in nearby Sha Tin Park.

Opening hours: 9am to 11pm daily

Directly opposite Sha Tin Town Hall is Sha Tin Public Library, opened at the same time as the town hall in 1987 and with matching terracotta walls. The library has internet terminals which visitors can use free of charge and also is a hotspot for Hong Kong's "GovWiFi" free wi-fi internet access.

Opening hours: Mon, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 9am to 8pm. Thursdays 12 noon to 8pm. Sundays and public holidays 9am to 5pm.

Between Sha Tin Town Hall and Shatin Public Library follow the steps down to Sha Tin Park.

Sha Tin Park was opened in 1988 and is an attractive urban park which stretches along the riverside for a distance of about 800-metres to Lion Bridge near Hong Kong Heritage Museum. The park has gardens with Chinese moon pavilion and bridges, fountains, waterfalls, rock garden, children's playgrounds, bird conservation area, a large amphitheatre, exercise area and refreshment kiosks. The scented garden makes a particularly pleasant spot to stop off and relax. There are often free live concerts and other performances in the amphitheatre, particularly on Sundays and the park is a popular gathering place for many of Hong Kong's Filipino and Indonesian foreign domestic helpers on their weekly day off (Sunday for most). The park is also a popular spot for locals to practise Tai Chi. Just outside the park on the riverside are bike hire kiosks which are visited later in this walk.

Opening hours: 6-30am to 11pm daily

Admission free.

From Sha Tin Park follow the riverside path/cycle track westwards. The river is the Shing Mun River which runs from the hills of Kowloon to the coast at Tolo Harbour and the channel alongside Sha Tin Park is an artificial extension, constructed when Sha Tin New Town was developed. The arched pedestrian bridge which connects Sha Tin Park to the opposite side of the river is Lek Yuen Bridge and is crossed at a later stage of this walk. The high-rise apartments on the opposite side of the river are dominated by the mountains of Lion Rock Country Park and Ma On Shan Country Park and the summit of Ma On Shan, one of Hong Kong's highest mountains visible to the east.

A popular cycle track runs alongside the riverside path and is part of network of cycle tracks throughout the New Territories. From Sha Tin Park the track extends along the river channel and around Tolo Harbour and past Tai Po as far as Tai Mei Tuk at Plover Cove, a distance of about 25km.

Follow the path by the river for about 500-metres and the large Hong Kong Heritage Museum soon becomes visible and is reached by pedestrian subway under a main road.

Opened in 2000, Hong Kong Heritage Museum is Hong Kong's largest museum, housed in a 5-storey building with Chinese-style roof and courtyard and has something of interest for everyone. Major permanent exhibitions include The New Territories Heritage Hall which has a replica fishing village with ancestral hall and village scenes, the Cantonese Opera Hall which includes a stage, costumes, make-up, musical instruments, programmes, posters, contracts, gramophone records and a representation of the famous Lee Theatre showing Cantonese Opera films. Visitors can also try their hand at applying "virtual" make-up. There is an art gallery and of particular interest to kids is the Children's Discovery Gallery which has "hands-on" exhibits in eight play zones and "Toy Story", which depicts the history of toys designed, manufactured and sold in Hong Kong.

Major temporary exhibitions are regularly held and have included subjects as diverse as "One Hundred Years of Railway Operations in Hong Kong" and "Pixar: 25 Years of Animation".

On Saturday afternoons from 3pm to 5-30pm there are live performances of extracts from Cantonese Opera in the museum's theatre. These are in 30-minute segments and are a good introduction to the colourful world of Cantonese Opera for visitors to Hong Kong, who can attend for either individual or all of the extracts. Whilst the music and singing may be an aquired taste for some, the artist's elaborate make-up and intricate costumes make a visit for at least one extract worthwhile.

Opening hours: 10am to 6pm Monday and Wednesday to Saturday. 10am to 7pm Sundays and public holidays. Closed on Tuesdays (except public holidays).

Admission fee: HK$10 (HK$5 for seniors age 60 and over, children under 4 free). Free admission for all on Wednesdays.

From the Heritage Museum continue walking along the riverside path until reaching the next pedestrian bridge and cross the river towards Che Kung Temple Station and follow the pink tourist direction signs to Che Kung Temple.

The temple courtyard is entered from Che Kung Miu Road through a large gateway with latticed arch. The existing temple was opened in 1994 to replace the original temple which dated back over 300 years to the Ming Dynasty, having become too small to serve increasing visitor numbers following the development of Sha Tin New Town. The tiny original temple still stands, behind the main hall of the new temple.

The temple honours "Che Kung" ("General Che") a great general of the Song Dynasty. He was honoured by the emperor for suppressing a rebellion in southern China and, following his death, he became worshipped for his loyalty and bravery. He was also said to have been renowned for clearing epidemics wherever he set foot and legend has it that the day the construction of the original temple was completed an epidemic subsided.

The main hall contains a large statue of a rather fierce looking Che Kung in the main hall. Worshippers make offerings at his feet and turn a wheel and bang a drum for good fortune. In the courtyard outside are fortune-tellers booths.

There are four Che Kung Festivals each year which fall on the 2nd day of the first lunar month, 27th day of the third lunar month, 6th day of the sixth lunar month and 16th day of the eighth lunar month. The temple is at its busiest on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year when thousands of worshippers visit the temple to turn the wheel and bang the drum to ensure good fortune for the coming year.

Opening hours 7am to 6pm daily

From the temple return to the Che Kung Miu Road and follow the pink tourist direction signs along this road, and its continuation, Tai Po Road, and through a pedestrian underpass system to emerge alongside tennis courts at Tsang Tai Uk Playground.

From Tsang Tai Uk Playground, the old walled village lies just ahead. The official name of Tsang Tai Uk is Shan Ha Wai, which means "walled village below the mountain". The village is one of the best preserved walled villages in Hong Kong, albeit nowadays surrounded by high-rise apartment blocks.

Built in 1847 and completed in 1867, Tsang Tai Uk was built between 1847 and 1867 by Tsang Koon-man, who was a wealthy businessman in the quarry industry in Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island. The village is a fine example of traditional Hakka walled village. During the Second World War, the village sheltered 500 refugees from the Chinese Mainland. The Ancestral Hall inside the walled
village was entitled �Tai Fu Tei�, meaning the residence of an official. In fact, the founder, Tsang Koon-man had purchased the title from the Qing Government. The village is fronted by a large courtyard and inside the walls are houses, alleyways and smaller courtyards with an ancestral hall in the middle and guard towers at each corner.

The village is private property. Visitors are only allowed to enter the outer courtyard and ancestral hall and are requested to respect the privacy of village residents.

Opening hours: Visitors are allowed in the village from 8am to 6pm daily.

From Tsang Tai Uk return to Che Kung Miu Road and take the pedestrian subway under the road to the riverside path and cycle track. From here there are views across the river to the Heritage Museum and Sha Tin Park with Sha Tin town centre and the green hills of Shing Mun Country Park beyond. Follow the riverside past a recreation ground to the arched Lek Yuen Bridge.

The Lek Yuen Bridge is an attractive decorative Chinese-style arched pedestrian footbridge with a span of about 200-metres, which links Sha Tin town centre with the mainly residential area of Sha Tin on the other side of the river channel. It was built in 1988 during the development the new town and its name "Lek Yuen" was the original name for the whole of the Sha Tin area. At each end of the bridge stands a pagoda with curved red-tiled roof. At night the bridge is lit and the reflection of the illuminated arches in the river below makes a spectacular sight. Cross the bridge and return the path and cycle track along the riverside.

After crossing Lek Yuen Bridge follow the riverside path in the opposite direction to the Heritage Museum. After a short distance the path diverts away from the river and into Sha Tin Park and around three bike hire kiosks (below) before rejoining the riverside, whilst the cycle track continues along the riverside. Bicycles, tricycles with canopies for protection from the sun can be hired here. Cyclists can use the excellent cycle track alongside the river which extends along the length of the river channel, around Tolo Harbour, through Tai Po Waterfront Park and along the shore to Tai Mei Tuk at Plover Cove, a distance of about 25km. There are bikes to suit everyone including children and rental fees are modest at about HK$20 per hour with deposit of HK$100. The cycle track is extremely popular at weekends and the kiosks can run out of bikes, particularly on Sundays. There are other bike hire kiosks along the route where cyclists can drop off bikes and return to Sha Tin by public transport if preferred. For visitors with enough time this is a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours or so.

City Art Square, located in the piazza between Sha Tin Town Hall and New Town Plaza was opened in 2008 in celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games, for which the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong. It contains 19 sculptures and art displays by both local and overseas artists and designers including fashion designer Vivienne Tam with "Peony Blossom". Other exhibits include "Red Horse" by Joaquin G Palencia (Philippines), "The Horse Keeps Running" by Xu Bing (China), "Zenith" by Mimmo Paladino (Italy), "The Red Box" by Barrie Ho (Hong Kong) and "Slice Chair" by Mathias Bengtsson (Denmark).

From the piazza re-enter New Town Plaza and return to Sha Tin Station where the walk concludes.