No, I don't; I just think it would be really fun to be able to say that. So I can't, but thousands of people in Hong Kong can.  See, Shanghai is flat, flat, flat, but Hong Kong... Hong Kong has some steep hills.

To explain: the south side of Hong Kong Island features mountains, the most prominent (and developed) of which is Victoria Peak.  Some very rich people live at the top of the Peak.  A number of moderately rich people live about halfway down the Peak, in what's called Mid-Levels.  Many of these people work in downtown Hong Kong, on the north side of the island, near the harbor, meaning where things are flat.  The subway travels mostly east-west on this flat part, so the north-south (or high-low) commuters have a different mode of transportation:  escalator (that's it to the right of the guardrail in the photo below).

A handful of escalators -- some of them are actually inclined travellators (no stairs) -- cover major routes from Mid-Levels to downtown (they're not on every street, just a few).  The escalators have regular breaks at the cross streets, so you can get on or off at almost any intersection.  Stairs and/or sloped pavement run alongside, for people going the opposite direction or those who like to step off the electric path (or, as in at least one case that I saw, the extraordinarily fitness-crazed). In the morning, the escalators run downhill.  From about 10 or 11am on (I forget exactly), they run uphill.  Which basically means that if you have a reverse commute, you're getting some good exercise.

 


Comments

David WIshart

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:56:57

My favorite blog post so far.

 



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