When Up is Sideways

One of the “Top Ten” sites in Hong Kong is the view from the top the 1400ft Victoria Peak rising out of the harbor adjacent the downtown skyscrapers.  Now I will admit that the twinkling lights of the city at night viewed from above were quite nice, reasonably peaceful and worth the 30 minute wait to catch the tram but it was the tram ride itself that made the experience something to write home about.

Back in 1888, the Brits thought it would be a good idea to build a gravity-defying cable car that runs up the side of the peak.  Now for the last 127 years tourists have been braving the 48% incline up the side of the mountain.  For some perspective, the “steep” hills in San Francisco boast a whopping 32% incline (amatures!). 

But what does a 48% incline really mean?  What does it feel like to be stuffed in a cable car and hauled up the side of a mountain?  Weird.  Pretty dang weird.  Once we got on board and started the white-knuckle journey to the top (only about a ten minute ride) I glanced out the window and it felt as if I had stepped into and M.C. Escher painting.  While all around me everything was normal, the skyscraper outside the window appeared to be leaning at a rather precarious angle as if in a state of mid-tip over.  Going back down was even worse because we rode backwards (to prevent us from falling out of our seats) and we could look up through the skylights to see the buildings looming down on us as if they were in the process of falling to crush us like grapes at harvest time.

 

Needless to say getting there (and back) was definitely more that half of the fun.