By Lynley Capon
Editor's Note -- Originally from New Zealand, the writer lives and teaches in Thailand. Recently, she and her husband Peter visited Hong Kong for the first time, staying with friends on Lamma Island.
LAMMA ISLAND, Hong Kong -- Everyone has heard of Hong Kong, but not many people know about Lamma Island. Until a few years ago, I too fell into the category of ignorance of this little island paradise.
Measuring 13.5 square kilometres, Lamma is Hong Kong's third-largest island, but has only about 6,000 residents, many of them non-Chinese. Low-rise housing, small settlements, bush-clad hills and sandy beaches make Lamma a stark contrast to the towering skyscrapers, bustling harbor and pushy crowds of nearby urban Hong Kong. What a pleasure to board a ferry at Central on Hong Kong Island and then sit back to enjoy a 25-minute ride to Yung Shue Wan, the main town on Lamma!
After disembarking, you hear birds sing, smell the fresh sea-air, see greater distances without smog and notice the absence of motorized vehicles. Hundreds of bicycles are tethered along the pier, waiting for their owners to return from the city and bike along the very narrow paths to modest homes. If you don't want to bike, then walking is the only other option to get around.
On the Main Street, you can't miss the sight of happy dogs. Many large, free-ranging dogs roam the streets, mostly without fear of dog-snatchers. Many dogs live happily here after being adopted from dog shelters. One beach is designated as “for dogs”. Lamma's dogs must think they're in paradise.
Yung Shue Wan's Main Street is lined with seafood restaurants, cafés, souvenir shops, fruit stalls and bars. A library and post office also provide services. It doesn't take long to walk through the town and over a small rise to the beaches. Keen walkers can cross the hills to a small community called Pak Kok and there take a ferry to Aberdeen on southern Hong Kong Island.
Lamma lies to the southwest of Hong Kong Island and is visible from Aberdeen on clear days. Unfortunately, pollution, much of it from the Chinese mainland, often obscures good views of the outlying islands, even Lantau with its high hills. When on the ferry crossing the small strait to Lamma, it's sometimes hard to see far at all. Three big smokestacks at the Lamma Power Station, the one blot on an otherwise perfect landscape, often loom out of the haze. These chimneys give Lamma a rather unique landmark, a dubious cause for celebrity.
It's possible to walk all over Lamma within a day. Little more than an hour away from Yung Shue Wan, beyond low hills, awaits Sok Kwu Wan, a quaint fishing village resting ribbon-like along the shoreline. Like Yung Shue Wan, this community gets overrun by Sunday visitors from the city eager to taste Lamma's rather-expensive seafood delights.
We visited Sok Kwu Wan on a Monday, and the town looked very quiet. Not wanting to spend a small fortune on seafood, we wandered along the one street until we came to a small snack bar. We went in, examined a menu and decided that the fare and prices suited us perfectly.
Several people played mahjong, and no one seemed interested to serve us. Finally, we asked if we could eat and were lead to a table beside the harbor. We placed our orders, and the waiter went off for a moment, talking on his phone. Moments later, he returned, and we wondered what on the menu was unavailable that day. To our surprise, he informed us there was no one to do the cooking, so no food for us at all.
I suspect the mahjong game may have involved high stakes so that serving customers on a Monday took a very low priority. Needing a little sustenance before hiking back to Yung Shue Wan, I bought an ice cream that cost about as much as a good lunch should have.
Near Sok Kwu Wan, a pathway leads to Mount Stenhouse, the highest point on Lamma. The sides look steep, and although I'm sure the view from the top is worth the climb, I felt too lazy and unfit to make the effort. My excuse was that Gail, the dog who would have guided us, had died suddenly a month earlier and I lacked the heart to ascend without her. Instead, I enjoyed a dip in the sea at the “dog beach” and felt the joy of watching some local dogs romp in and out of the water.
Having friends on Lamma, I have followed some recent events there and had looked forward to an ice-cream cone at Emily Ho's famous ice-cream shop. Unfortunately, her business fell victim to escalating rents and closed a week before we arrived. Still, it was good to have coffee with Emily, “the ice-cream lady”, and to hear her tales and plans.
Our visit to Lamma gave us a wonderful experience. We met so many interesting people and learned about the cultural and social events (like basketball games and Chinese operas) that keep the community humming. We watched a bamboo opera-house take shape, but had to leave before its completion and the ensuing festival.
I hope we can visit Lamma again and reacquaint ourselves with its people, places and pets. By the end of our one-week stay, the six pet cats at the home of our friends, with whom we stayed, had accepted us as family. We said goodbye to each of them with sadness.
Of course, once back in Thailand, we received a joyful welcome home from our own two dogs and two cats. Even so, Lamma Island now holds a very special place in our hearts.
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