Up part 2 of 2

When Annika and Elise heard that we had been to the Midlevels, they were bummed out because the Midlevels lay claim to being home to the World’s Largest Escalator. So, this Sunday after church the four of us hopped the tram to the west side of The Island.

The girls were disappointed to discover that the World’s Longest Escalator is in fact not one long escalator, but rather a series of escalators. “Total rip off!” But it sure was fun going up and up and up.

(In the morning, the escalators run downwards so the residents can commute to work. At some point in the middle of the day, the escalators switch directions and run upwards until midnight.)

As we effortlessly rode the escalators up, we looked at all the shops and restaurants on either side. Since one escalator ended every few minutes and another one started, we could get off and have a look around whenever we wanted.

Because the Midlevel’s history goes back a hundred years, it is very easy to see the British influence on the architecture. Since we live in the New Territories where an apartment complex built in the mid-1980s is considered old, it was fun to see limestone buildings with arched windows and a green tile roofs.

Our goal was to take the elevators all the way up until they ended which would have taken us about half way up the mountain. But after fifteen minutes all the cool stores and shops were replaced by rather mundane apartment buildings. It also occurred to the girls that the further up we took the escalators, the further down they had to walk.

So we abandoned our endeavor, reversed directions, and walked back down to a little Middle Eastern restaurant we had seen on the way up.

One long, continuous elevator would have been really awesome; but the girls decided this had been pretty cool none-the-less.

-Jack