One of the many things I'll miss about Hong Kong is riding the escalator up and down.
When I worked, I used to take the escalator down the mountain to the ferry pier to work. The escalators only run down the hill during the morning commute hours before 10AM. All other times until it closes at Midnight, it runs up the hill. We usually end our ride on Caine Rd or on Mosque St but the escalators will actually take you all the way up to Conduit Rd before you're faced with the mountain side of Victoria's peak.
Its tracks start on Queen's Rd and Shelley St, right in the middle of the Central district. We've often hopped on the escalator after getting off the Hong Kong tram (also known familiarly as the "ding ding"), the MTR (Hong Kong's extremely punctual, clean and speedy subway system), and the ferry. In addition to being an extremely convenient, time-saving and sweat-saving thing, you can also enjoy some great people watching and window shopping while on it.
Below is a clip of a time-lapse video (taken every 7s) of our 15-minute ride up the mid-levels escalator to Mosque St.
Other fond memories of the escalator that I'll have are:
* Stumbling up its steps after midnight trying to get home after having too much fun in Lan Kwai Fong
* Getting a sense of how great the escalators are when a section is in repairs and we had to take the steps up on a hot humid Hong Kong summer
* Following the escalator etiquette of "Stand on the right or get mowed down by those rushing past on the lef't." We started as one of those tourists that would dilly dally up the escalator into one of the locals that'll mow down those tourists :-)
* Rolling our eyes and mad-mouthing at the tourists that'll stop right at the exit of one of the escalators to... a) ponder about where to go, b) to take pictures, c) take in the scene, and d) all of the above
* The people handing out fliers by the entrances and exits of the escalators. These tend to be for massages, property rental/sale listings, or restaurants
It's been great to have this great convenience here in Hong Kong and it will definitely be dearly missed.
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