Shing Mun Reservoir/ Shing Mun Country Park – Easy

Come Saturday and the hubby and I decided to go to the New Territories with our friend and try a new hike there. And Shing Mun Reservoir Country Park it was. A Saturday well spent at this beautiful, serene place filled with majestic trees, exotic flora and red bummed monkeys 😁.

Difficulty: 3/10 there’s only a 260 meter elevation gain.

Duration: 3 hours ( only walking time)

How to get there: We took the MTR to Tsuen Wan ( red line) . DO NOT CONFUSE IT WITH THE OTHER TSUEN WAN WEST.

We exited at B1 and walked towards Shiu Wo road to the green minibus stop for the number 82 bus. The fare was only HKD 5.60 and it dropped us at the Shing Mun country park.

We decided to start with the nature trail.

For a hike, I normally wear hiking shoes either my Columbia hiking shoes #columbiashoes , I carry my Camelbak filled with at least two litres water #camelbak, sanitiser, wet wipes or a sports towel, an energy bar or a banana preferably.

This was an extremely easy trail to follow.

The views were lovely. It was cool and air was fresh.

There were loads of sitting areas where you could have a little snack or a cup of hot tea. We kept walking on this trail.

We came to a flight of steps going down and this was the best part. We got to walk in a forest filled with paper trees. It was beautiful.

Check the paper tree bark.

We carried on this path till we came to the concrete path near a public toilet.

We walked downwards and here we got to see loads of monkeys. Red bummed monkeys 🐒.

We got to see a bride and groom getting ready for a photo shoot, a very common sight in Hong Kong.

We took a left and walked down the steps to the reservoir where the Chinese Banyans with humongous roots stood.

We got back on the concrete path and walked back to the toilets and followed the route upwards.

We took the path towards the main dam and walked up towards the viewing point.

We got to see fantastic views which these photographs don’t justify.

We were hungry so we decided to stop at the picnic site for lunch which was monkey free.

Post lunch we walked towards the dam. We passed by signs pointing towards the Wilson trail and the Maclehose trail but we were not here to do a strenuous hike, we were here to enjoy our weekend in nature.

Finally we reached the dam. It was lovely. Sadly people flouted the rules and climbed down to click photos and we also people down below which could be dangerous if the dam was opened.

We saw Lion’s rock from a distance and continued towards the minibus stop. It was the same place where we had started our hike. We had done a loop.

Sadly, cars were parked causing a bit of a jam and polluting the crisp clean air we experienced earlier.

If you see the map, we had done the Shing Mun Reservoir loop anf a bit more as we had taken a detour when we did the Shing Mun- Lung Mun walk.

People have stated that the monkeys are aggressive but we didn’t come across any such thing. In fact, I saw s boy throwing stones at a monkey and shouted at him whereas the parents just sat there not reprimanding the imp.

If you irk the monkeys they will attack, but if you let them be, they are a delight to watch as you can see my photos above.

This hike was very picturesque and a good long 11 kilometer walk.

It is very child friendly and stroller friendly too ( stick to concrete path). It is also dog friendly however, keep your canine kids on a leash when you come face to face with the monkeys.

All in all, a fantastic place to spend a day in nature with family and friends.