Photo: Mid Levels Escalator, Central, Hong Kong

Much has been written about Hong Kong's escalator system, the longest covered stretch of moving walkway in the world, but it continues to fascinate and captivate me. Designed to relieve the steep streets of Victoria from executive-filled taxis making their way to and from exclusive mid-level apartments, the escalators instead created a whole new class of commuters – people making the trip up to the roads of SoHo – and in the process created a vibrant area of shops, bars and restaurants that remains an oasis of (mostly) relaxed calm within the mayhem of Hong Kong Island.