Long Ride Home!

Dear Jesse,

You would not believe what I did this afternoon. Do you want to guess? Okay, I’ll tell you.

Today I visited Hong Kong and rode the world’s longest escalator! It is called the Mid-Levels escalator and is almost one mile long. Would you believe that 27,000 people ride it every day to get to and from their homes? That’s a lot of people!

In the mornings, the open-air escalator runs downhill so that people who live in a steep section of Hong Kong called the Mid-Levels can go down to Central, one of the main business districts. In the evenings, the escalator moves uphill to take those same people back home. But I must tell you that the escalator is not continuous. Actually it is a series of escalators connected by short walks and a few stairs. So my friends and I had to get off and on several times.

It took us 15 minutes to get from the bottom all the way to the top. On the way we saw restaurants and shops and homes that were so close that we could almost reach out and touch them. And about halfway up, we began to wonder what we would do if the escalator broke down. It sure would be a steep climb to the top!

The ride was so long that we could have read a newspaper on the way. Many of the Hong Kong people spend the time talking to someone on their cell phones. But we decided to just look around and enjoy the ride. After all, how many people do you know who have ridden the world’s longest escalator?

Love from China,

Auntie D

This is the beginning of the longest escalator in the world!!

This is a busy time of day, with many people heading home from work.

The escalator keeps going and going and going....

This is a view from the ride to the top!!