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Lamma Island - Expatriates' Hong Kong Haven
By C. Schaper of NetMedia, LLC
Fourteen (14) years ago, I followed my then architect husband to join him in Hong Kong to live as expatriate along with my daughter who at the time was only a little over a year old. Little did I know, there's a place of the world where it offers comfort, serenity and life that I have not found in any other places I have ever been. To this, I'd welcome you to "Lamma Island." Lamma Island is an outlying territory which is part of Hong Kong. This place is about 45 minutes away by slow ferry or 20-25 minutes via fast ferry from Central pier. I couldn't imagine myself living in such a secluded place where the only transportation is a ferry boat, a golf cart type vehicle and a mountain bike. The island is literally a nature for nature loving people. Anything and everything is practically walkable. If you're not in a big hurry, you can stop by the nearest Irish and English pub and have a drink until you drop, walk to the market, grocery store, restaurant, have a quiet moment at the shore line or at the ferry pier, go to the beach, climb up the hill or bike across the mountain to get to the other side. Anything. Then I start to realize that we are not the only expatriate living in the island. More than half of the population are literally from other parts of the world. Most of them are journalists, architects, engineers, foreign household help, and so much more. A truly diverse culture one can place has to offer. On the weekdays, from 6-9 am, you will see lots and lots of people heading to the ferry pier to catch a ride heading to Hong Kong island. And because there are no cars, you have to be physically fit to be able to walk from 10-30 minutes depending on how close or far you live from the ferry pier. Most men are in dress shirts and ties, some in suit, women are in the usual corporate outfit. For women, some walk in their sneakers or any comfortable shoes without any make-up. As passengers get settled, they then head to a small breakfast corner where ferry crew serves hot breakfast. Normally, it is hot coffee or hot jasmine tea. Then a bowl of super delicious noodle you can order with or without egg and a luncheon meat. It's a regular scenery you will see everyday. After breakfast, the ladies then went on putting their make-ups on, fixing their hair, read their books, or sleep a little bit more. Same goes with the men. They'd fix their neckties, doing some paperwork, have a chit chat with colleagues and friends, take a nap or anything to kill the time. In the evening, the busiest is from 4-9 pm from Central pier heading to Lamma. Ferry stops running at midnight in both directions. But all of that doesn't seem to bother us. It's a routine. An enjoyable at that. On Friday nights, most bars are full until early morning. People gets drunk and have fun, but there's no news of anyone picking a fight. It is such a quiet and peaceful diverse community. On a weekends, tourists comes for delicious dimsum and head to the beach. The dimsum restaurants are all over Main St. They serve variety of dimsum in push carts from 7 am to about 11 in the morning. Then there's vendors who sells artworks, paintings, dried food and goodies, t-shirts, batik, sarongs, artisan jewelry and others. Then the restaurants are again busy serving Cantonese cuisine (which by the way, to me is the best Chinese food I ever had) for lunch and dinner to hungry tourists and residents who came to relax and enjoy the food, the fresh breath of air, and the scenery of the mountain and the sea. Lamma residents are also big in sports. We go hiking, mountain biking, swimming, playing soccer or ping pong. And because it's such a small community, most people knows each other. You borrow each others DVD movies on a weekends, have barbecue at night with friends and neighbors with matching karaoke, or guitar playing, or just do something for fun. Festivities are so much fun. Each year, Cantonese celebrates different kinds of festival and residents like us enjoy participating by watching and enjoying the fun. The Cantonese festival, Lantern and Lunar festivals are my favorites. It is so festive and fun. It truly shows the Chinese rich culture that exists for thousands of years. With so many good things and wonderful memories Lamma island have served me, I want to share this experience to you all and maybe someday, you get to visit that place of the world and share your own wonderful experience that you will treasure the way I did mine.
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Contributor's Note
Please feel free to add your comment or experience if you have been in this place. You are more than welcome!
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 |  | Grace liked this intel. May 10, 2011 |
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