Leaving the Mid-Levels neighborhood of Hong Kong is easy. It’s basically a controlled fall.

To get to the nearest MTR (subway) station from the apartment we’re now staying at, I was given one bit of direction: Just keep going downhill.

So, down I go. And down and down. Literally one step at a time, because the hill is so steep and the housing so dense, that it has practically zero up-down streets. Just winding-up-the-side streets. The fastest way down is the steps, running down narrow corridors between buildings. A school on the right, a food stall on the left …

So, being a borderline obsessive-compulsive … I decided to count the number of steps I took down. And down and down.

The total? Three hundred and thirty-three. From the sidewalk outside the apartment to where the geography finally flattens out, near the Sheung Wan MTR station.

In the U.S., the rule of thumb is “10 steps equals one story.” That isn’t the case here … because HK steps are highly irregular. Even on the same flight. The first four might be six inches deep. The next four might be four and the final four might be two inches deep.

So those 333 steps … probably more like 25 stories. Still a steep decline, considering the horizontal distance covered was, maybe, a half-mile.

Oh, and Hong Kong steps also are dangerously shallow, front to back. This is almost universal for any stairway constructed earlier than the past few years. As if the steps were built with foot-bound Chinese women in mind. Like, Size 2 shoes.

So, I’m hurrying down these irregular steps, about five inches wide, trying to get to work asap. And also trying not to take the even quicker route down the steps, which would be a bruising tumble. (I’m thinking it almost inevitable that I’m going to hit a step wrong, while hurrying, and do a somersault down a half-dozen steps. I just hope I don’t break anything.)

I got to the station, and I decided to count more steps because the subway at Sheung Wan is way below the surface. I could have taken the escalators down, but I was in a hurry, and with crowds around, the stairs are faster.

All 177 steps of it.

So, from front door of the apartment building to the sliding door of the train … 510 steps downhill.

Of course, going back to Mid-Levels … that’s all UPhill, and I will be doing that later tonight. I have the famous moving escalator to help me (it runs between Mid-Levels and the Central station, not Sheung Wan), but I rush along that. It’s not as if I just stand there and let it move me along at about 1 mph.

Anyway, to help with your mental picture. If you are going east-west on Hong Kong Island, your path probably is flat. But the minute you start going north-south… you’re dealing with altitude. Down, to the north, up, to the south. It’s a hilly place. With lots and lots of steps.