When I was in Hong Kong, one of the attractions that I went to visit was the Mid-Levels Escalators.  It is a series of escalators running up the hillside of Hong Kong Island, and the longest escalator ride you can ever take at 800 meters!  Now granted, there is some walking in between for certain areas where some turns had to be made, but for the most part you can enjoy standing on the belts and going down in the morning or up at night.  For those trying to go in the opposite direction of the escalators, there are stairs running alongside them the entire way so you can walk as needed.  What really threw me off in Hong Kong was that they stand to the right of the escalators, which is the opposite of what I had been doing in Singapore!  So the first few times, I’d stand on the left side only to find myself in the way.  How confusing!

When I first arrived at the Mid-Levels Escalators, it was around 9 PM and things were pretty quiet.  I began my journey upwards and started to count how many stretches of escalator I got on.  Along the way, I passed by restaurants, bars, pubs, massage parlors, beauty salons, random shops, and lots of homes.  After about 13-15 escalators, things really quieted down and became very residential.  Stubbornly, I continued on, even though it was dark and there were hardly any people around.  I wanted to make it to the end of strip!  After much dedication, I eventually made it (and lost count along the way).  I believe I totaled 18 or 19 escalators of varying lengths.

At the top, I was happy, tired, and really hungry.  I began my descent down, this time with a mission of finding some place that was still open for dinner.  I also started to count the number of stairs I took.  Down, down, down I went, counting to myself the whole time and rushing to get back to the livelier parts.  Eventually, I came across a Pizza Express that was still open and happily settled in for a meal.  As soon as I was happily full, I continued on my trek down the mountain, still counting the stairs I took in the process.  I can’t find where I wrote down the exact number I took, but it was something like 843.

Since there were so many things lining that area, I decided to return to it another night, when I wanted to get a manicure/pedicure and ear candling.  It took me awhile to find a place that actually did ear candling, but when I found it, I had a really interesting time and even got to keep my ear wax.  Ok, not the nicest thing, but hey, it was fascinating to see!  The lady also did something that I think she said was pressing on my lymph nodes to help drain them.  She told me to drink grape juice later at night and then have some orange juice right when I woke up, to help with my poor digestion or something like that.  I took her advice and really went out and bought juices!  After that, I managed to find a nail salon that was open past 9 and happily sat there to get my nails done.

Ear candling is this crazy thing where they take a special cloth tube thing and stick one end in your ear canal while lighting the other end on fire.  It burns gently and because of the air being sucked away at the top of the tube, your earwax is drawn up into the tube.  I heard a gentle crackling noise the entire time it was burning away and though I felt more refreshed and noises seemed crisper after that, I don’t know if that was just a psychological effect.  The result is this honeycomb-looking thing that is the earwax that was drawn from your ear canal!  I found it to be a surprisingly soothing experience and you could tell from what was taken out which ear was more clogged up.  Nifty!