#9 Lamma Island

Asia » Hong Kong
May 11th 2005

Published: December 12th 2005

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dancywalden

Ferry to Lamma

Turbo ferry on it's way back from one of the islands

April 3
It’s Sunday and we’re going to Lamma Island today.

The usual late start gets us to the ferry pier off of Man Kwong St in Central by the early afternoon. The piers are all clearly marked so there is not a problem getting to the right one. However, there is plenty of construction going on by the harbor that makes it hard to find your way sometimes. Construction is the biz to be in here - it’s unusual to see a street without something being repaired, renovated, or razed.

And we pay for the trip with our _______ card (fill in the blank). A rather large crowd of families and tourists is forming in the waiting area, so it’s going to be full boat. Piling in, we head to the top deck and grab two seats - not easy because we hesitated a moment. Remember this, do not hesitate with anything in HK or you lose.

Weather’s a bit grumpy today as it has been for a while - cloudy, windy and a tad brisk. But, if we waited for perfectly nice weather to do something we would be at home a lot.

Underway, the ride

Ferry to Lamma

Coming in to port at Yung Shue Wan

is quite swift. Tony wants to go on the open deck at the back, very windy there but not at all uncomfortable. Some weirdo elbows me out of my railing spot - everyone’s sort of giving him a wide berth because his coughing and hacking. That’s a BIG no no here…people are still very leery of a SARS outbreak.

Off at the pier at Yung Shue Wan, the main town, we find that the rumors of Lamma being a peaceful, idyllic island are greatly exaggerated. Maybe that’s just because it’s Sunday. There is one main “road” through the town, all foot and bicycle traffic, as there are no cars here. It has an old ex-pat hippie, barefoot with lots of dogs feel to it, though there is certainly a mix of locals too. Small roadside food stalls, restaurants, shops line the main street all the way out of town. The road turns into a paved pathway and is clogged with boatloads of people and dogs - not much different than trying to make your way through the crowds in Central.

We sample a few wares on the way out - a little Thai barbeque and try to make

Lamma Island

Disembarking at the pier - bikes ready for renting

our way to the head of the crowd. It is just impossible. We have to kind of go with the flow and if you have ever walked with Tony there is no such thing - he is compelled to race ahead. Southward, the paved path takes us to the first beach area, Hung Shing Yeh. Surprisingly there are very few people, just a few families, and no one doing any sunbathing or swimming. Very clean & well kept, with changing rooms and toilet facilities.

Onward, we keep to the same path, though it does branch off here & there to villages and homes. We climb a moderate hill where we find we can make some progress past the slower hikers. By the time we reach the summit, the popsicle stand at the top is a welcome sight. Watermelon and lemon. Mmmm good. It becomes less crowded the further we go, but now we see signs indicating there is a hiking club race going on today. We start to see large groups of people “racing”, really just chatting with their friends, hanging on their cell phones, and slowly meandering to their next checkpoint, Lo So Shing beach. But they all

Lamma Island

Fishing boats

seem into the race and happy to be there. I don’t see a lot of exercise being had though.

The views are getting very nice the higher we go and we catch the quaint look of Lamma Island in the seaside villages below us. Tony wants to climb the highest peak on the island, Shan Tei Tong 353m (Mt. Stenhouse 1165ft), but we don’t have a detailed trail map so we attempt to follow what look like trails from the LP guide. One of them leads out of the next village, Sok Kwu Wan. We shoot off in the opposite direction of where everyone else is going and head up towards the mountain. The first fork in the path we see a scrawled on a sign “Tourists No Entry to Peak” or some such thing. So we take the other fork. We walk up a hill past houses on a path that gets narrower and narrower till finally it seems like the path just ends at a group of houses. Who knows, it might continue but it just feels wrong - almost like we are trespassing. Besides every house has 2 or 3 dogs and they are all yapping

Lamma Island

"The Tingler"

at us. We decide to go back down and head into the village.

Sok Kwu Wan is quieter than Yung Shue Wan having more of a fishing village feel. There is a very small temple, and roadside vendors, but the main attraction is the seafood restaurants - one after the other through the town, each displaying the fresh catch of the day. Wow - what a lot of fish. And some monstrous lobsters! I attempt to get Tony’s interest in food, having only the bbq snack and popsicle in me. He’s not buying it yet because he has not fulfilled his quest of reaching that peak. So, on we go out of the village of food.

Good thing we did. Finally we have the path, paved as it is, to ourselves. From this point on we only see a few people. It follows the coast, winding to the beach Mo Tat Wan, but we don’t stop there and instead keep moving on and pass through a quiet, teeny village. Even here we see new construction of apartment buildings, albeit, only 4 stories and not 40. This area is marshy with a jungle atmosphere, but quickly changes as we

Lamma Island

Yung Shue Wan

start going up in elevation to a breezy coastal scape. A marked path branches off to our right, and since it goes up, up must we go.

This turns out to be about 10 million steps up to the top of Ling Kok Shan 250m (825ft). Tony is so far ahead of me he is out of sight. I stop and take pics, that’s my excuse, but I didn’t do too badly, I made it didn’t I? At the summit is a jumble of granite boulders and a clear view of Shan Tei Tong. By now it is starting to get late (per usual) and we are not sure that it’s even possible to get there and back down before sunset. Wherever the sun is. Trekking on we head down the side of the hill towards a Chinese pavilion we see in the distance. On the way down we meet a western couple coming up & ask them if they know where the trail to Shan Tei Tong might be. They aren’t sure, so we exchange pleasantries and go on our ways. At the pavilion, we spot a map and one of the resting Chinese hikers there helps us

Lamma Island

Croweded main street in Yung Shue Wan

figure out where we are and how to get to the peak. His group had taken a more level route, and were surprised that we tackled the steps.

Looking up at Shan Tei Tong, we decide to leave it for another jaunt to Lamma and check to see if the trail to our right will take us down. In fact it will - and back to Sok Kwu Wan, the seafood village! The wonders of maps.

Heading down, it was quiet, no other hikers - a peaceful island jungle, with scattered abandoned shacks. We passed a cemetery that had recently been “swept” - meaning it was a mess of burned gifts, food and trash. It is the eve of Qing Ming, a holiday where the Chinese traditionally honor the dead. Culturally opposite of how westerners treat their cemeteries, but much more fun & colorful! See the HK Government's view.

Reaching the end of the trail, we see the same small temple that we passed on the long way around the island. Oh well, now we know the direct route to the peak. This time I’m single-minded and head to restaurant row. Hard to tell where one leaves off and the

Lamma Island

Hung Shing Yeh Beach

other begins. The walkway divides the seating areas from the wells of unfortunate crustaceans, some of whom attempt to claw their way out.
We pick one (not a crustacean, a restaurant), stand there & wait for someone to notice how pitifully helpless and tired we look - voilá! we are seated.

It is dusk now, we are hot and tired, I have to pee but can’t handle the thought of going on a squatter. As if I haven't already, let me digress here. Hello Asia! Get rid of the squat pots - it just doesn’t work with pants. Look, I’ve done yoga for 25 years and I CANNOT get the hang of this. Do you just de-pants, then squat, or do you balance precariously and try to aim away from your pant legs and shoes? Which way do I face?

So we order a cold Tsing Tao and I forget the latrine. Ordering the food is yet another dining quandary to add to our quandary list - what is what, how much do we order, what do we get with the steamed garoupa? It will all be a mystery till it arrives. Ahhh, we sip our frosty beer

Lamma Island

Lots of hikers!

and stare out at the harbor full of fishing boats, sinking into the darkening day.

It's just the garupa and a bowl of rice. We see that other diners are ordering multiple items, some who sit at the large round tables are spinning several delicious looking dishes on a lazy susan. The garupa is excellent but not quite enough, we go for it and order a lobster. Tony wants them to combine the garlic and butter options, but his request just doesn’t translate and it’s one or the other. Funny, but they were able to combine them on the fish?? Another waiter, a separate language barrier. The lobster arrives; it was not one of the 50 pounders we saw on our way in - just a petit bite. Nice but no awards, the steamed fish is best.

We are told (again) the time that the next boat is leaving - 5 minutes - and handed a card with a timetable. Hmmm, is there something we are missing here? We did read that anyone having a reservation can expect a free ride back to HK Island, but we don’t have a reservation. Yikes! The boats are timed about 40

Lamma Island

Resting hikers

minutes apart - if we don’t catch this next one, which they have been strongly hinting at for the last 15 minutes, we’ll have to wait. Dense westerners.

Waiter and hostess to the rescue, they race over with the bill, I hand over my credit card, waiter runs to the register far, far away, and in a minute he’s back, I sign, we thank them profusely and take off running the 50 yard dash (my specialty and the one thing that I can beat Tony at) to the boat dock. We hear them behind us radioing ahead to hold the boat and probably inserting other commentary... And there we are last ones on board, it takes off before we even sit.

Seated in front of us is the silliest young couple. They are beside themselves with giggling and playing tricks on each other - actual hitting too! The ride back to the harbor is fun, everyone on board has had a great day on Lamma and excellent food at the Rainbow Seafood Restaurant, and a free ride back to boot. The water is choppy and the ferry pitches like an amusement park ride. Weeeeee!!!

Bladder alert. This is something

Lamma Island

Preparing for the hiking club race at Lo So Shing beach

I thought I would handle at my leisure on the way out. Now I have to navigate a rocking boat to the “I sure hope there is a bathroom on board this bucket”. After glancing back I figure out where it might be. Like a pregnant lady just after an ultrasound, I can’t wait any longer. Thank god it’s a seater, not a squatter.

Do you think this is the end of our day? Ha! We must squeeze every bit of entertainment out of Tony’s one day off. At the Central pier, we head to Lan Kwai Fong where we stop to catch the band that plays at the Cavern when Sixtiesmania is off. We indulge in a martini. Now we are done.

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