About Central–Mid-Levels Escalator
In 1993, Hong Kong solved its steep hill in the most Hong Kong way possible: it lined up 18 escalators and three covered walkways over some 800 meters up the hillside. That is 135 meters of elevation gained effortlessly, with shops, grocers and bar tables sliding past sideways like a moving shop window. The structure even appears in the 1994 film Chungking Express.
The system changed the neighborhood: restaurants and bars gradually filled the cross streets and helped form SoHo. Mind the direction: early in the morning the escalators run downhill and, for the rest of the day, uphill until midnight. Anyone who wants to go up during the downhill hours takes the ordinary stairs alongside, and quickly understands why the thing was built.
