Hong Kong #3: Lamma Island and Art Lane

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It was a fairly early start as we wanted to take the 8:35 am ferry from Central to Sok Kwu Wan. Also since it was a public holiday I wanted to get there with plenty of time to spare in case the ferry was busy. The subway and walk from the station to the pier were painless, we had been on the lookout for somewhere to grab some breakfast from, but there was nothing about. I ended up with a can of coffee and a ham and egg sandwich from some shops in the ferry terminal building. Not amazing, but they filled the hole. I shouldn't have worried about the ferry as although there were quite a few people queuing there were still plenty of seats left. I love how the boards tell you how many seats are still available. We boarded the ferry when it arrived and after the initial rush of people, who all seemed to head upstairs, we were left with our pick of the seats downstairs. We found a spot and then watched in dismay as a trio of friends got on and with all the space to choose from chose the row in front of us and then talked really loudly. We moved to the other side of the boat and it stayed quiet. The journey from Central to Sok Kwu Wan didn't take too long at all, I think only about thirty minutes. I'm sure it took longer last time or my memory is just terrible, probably the latter.

We disembarked the ferry and took some pictures from the jetty. It felt good to be back in Lamma. I had been on my previous trip and loved the place. My friend had went home so missed out on it and I had really wanted her to visit as I thought she would like the island. We wandered through the restaurants that line the waterfront, there seemed to be more restaurants than last time and even some western ones now. Since we were there so early none were open. There were a few kitties wandering about so we spent a while taking some photos of them. There was also some street art, which I don't remember from my last visit. The piece with the cats was very apt. We made a quick stop at Tin Hau temple and read up on the history of the village. Sok Kwu Wan dates back over 300 years and the early settlers made their livings as fishermen. Since they didn't have many boats they used long ropes and nets to force the fish onto the shore side. ‘Sok Kwu' means bringing in the net. During the Japanese occupation in World War II, the seaside cave was used to store arms and ammunition and this gained it the name of 'Kamikaze Cave'. We headed along over a bridge and saw quite a few dogs lying on the beach. They must have a nice life. We followed the path past the beachy area, taking in the views of the harbour area. The sky was rather cloudy and it was a good temperature not too hot for walking/hiking. We got some great views back over the main drag of Sok Kwu Wan. Then we headed down to the little beach. The beach was okay, but nothing special and there was quite a bit of rubbish on it, which was a real shame. We continued on and passed the 'Kamikaze Cave' stopping for a quick look inside. Then we made our way inland a little and passed more houses. Some were set up selling drinks and snacks, which I hadn't seen last time.

After a short walk, we arrived at Lo So Shing village. The village seemed busier than last time I'd been there as there were quite a few old people out in the kind if square at the front of the village chilling. Lo So Shing village is also over three hundred years old. The first residents were farmers, but now not many residents remain as most have moved to the city. The name 'Lo So' means Pandanus, a coastal plant and 'Shing' means city or in this case more of a town. The village is also known as the 'Chans Village' as all the male residents descended from Chan Tsz Fat. We walked through the village, I was more impressed with it last time and there wasn't really much to photograph. We headed along the path that led to Lo So Shing Beach. Since it was still pretty early the beach was quite quiet when we arrived. I really like this beach as it is cute and compact, and well maintained, no rubbish about. Although you can see the power station poking around the curve of the bay, it doesn't detract too much from the beauty of the place. We sent a while just relaxing and taking in the view. We had a walk along to the edge of the beach, where there were a load of BBQ pits set up. I don't know if they were there last time, but we got some nice views of the beach from a different angle there too. We made our way back through the village passed some vendors selling icy treats and headed upwards. We got more great views back over Sok Kwu Wan village and made our way to the pavilion that juts out over the coast. I like the views back over to Hong Kong Island too. It's so close but the vibe here is just so different, so much more relaxed.

We headed to another pavilion that was hidden in the bushes so didn't offer any views but we had a quick sit down since we were there. Continuing on, we got some great views of the other side of the island. I love the little coves tucked away and saw some boats coming up to them. It must be nice and feel like you have your own private beach. We also got more views of the power station. It's a bit of a beast. We made our way down to Hung Shing Yeh beach. Since it is so close to Yung Shue Wan and its ferry terminal and it was a national holiday, the beach was buy. There were big group of families and friends making the most of the day off. We took a walk along the beach but didn't stay. As we headed towards Yung Shue Wan, we came across some stalls selling food and they had plenty of seating so we decided to grab a snack. My friend got some fish balls in a kind of curry sauce, which were really nice. The sauce added a bit of flavour and kick to the rather bland fish balls. I got some tofu, which I think is a famous snack in these parts. The woman asked if I wanted it hot or cold, I wasn't prepared for that kind of decision, since most people seemed to be getting the hot one, I opted for that. The tofu was splashed with honey. It was like a sweet pudding. I don't recall if I have had tofu done like this before, as I think of it as a savoury dish. Anyway, I am now a convert. Tofu and honey is a great combination and I was glad that there was extra honey on the table so I could keep adding more sweetness to each mouthful of tofu.

We walked through a couple of small villages to reach Yung Shue Wan. I could totally imagine myself living on Lamma Island if money and work were not an issue. We had a wander through the village and had a look in some of the shops, before making our way along to the port. We were looking for somewhere to have a proper meal and there are no shortage of places to eat in Yung Shue Wan. After looking at all the places on offer, we decided to go with the very busy Indian restaurant, . Luckily, we didn't have to wait long for a table and once seated we sat and perused the menu. We ordered some mixed vegetable pakora, palak paneer, fish tikka, and of course some naan breads. Since the restaurant was so busy, we did have to wait quite a long time for the food, it wasn't too bad though as we had some lassis to drink. The food was really good. The pakora were nice and I enjoyed them, but even with the different vegetables they were a bit samey and sometimes I wasn't exactly sure what vegetable I was eating. I love palak paneer and it never fails as a solid choice. The fish tikka was beautiful, nicely spiced and big meaty lumps of fish. And of course, you can't go wrong with naan bread. When we were done, we headed to the ferry terminal and didn't have to wait long for a ferry to take us back to Hong Kong Island.

While on the ferry, we planned what we wanted to do next. On our various trips to Hong Kong, my friend and I had never been on a tram so we decided to rectify this. We headed from the pier to the nearest tram stop and once there tried to figure out which tram we needed as we wanted to go to the Sai Ying Pun area as my friend had found out online about the Art Lane area and it looked pretty good. After studying the tram map, we hopped on what we thought would be the correct one and headed to Eastern Street Station as that was close to Sai Ying Pun MTR station. I enjoyed our ride on the tram. We sat downstairs for a couple of stops, before heading upstairs to get a better view. I liked watching the city go by at a slow pace. One thing I didn't like about the tram was all the guesswork needed as nothing was announced and we had to make sure we got off in the right place. When we alighted the tram, we didn't know where to go as the thing my friend had read online had no directions. She asked someone, who in hindsight didn't know either, as her directions were rather vague and didn't take us to the right place. However, we wandered the streets and I liked the feel of them. They were a bit less gentrified than the area around Central and Admiralty, and there was quite a bit of street art. I liked the street art here as it felt quite authentic and it felt like the artists had done it for themselves expressing their own beliefs and interests. However, my friend didn't think this was the right place as none of the street art match the pictures she'd seen online. She ended u stopping a random bloke coming out of his apartment building and he googled Art Lane for us and sent us in the right direction. We were roughly in the right vicinity but needed to go through the subway station to find 'Art Lane' proper.

The walk through the subway station took us a good ten minutes. This station is a sprawling beast. We knew we were heading in the right direction when we saw lots of murals in the station depicting Hong Kong life. If only all stations had such good artwork. When we stepped out of the station we immediately knew we were in the right place. Art Lane only comprises of three streets or so, but we had fun wandering around the alleyways looking at and taking pictures of the murals on display. The little girl with her fingers to her lips was my favourite mural here. They were definitely a lot more polished that the early ones we'd seen, but I liked both areas. Once we were done, we decided to have a coffee at a cute café/restaurant in the area and relax for a while. Then it onto the subway with a quick stop and Marks and Spencer's so I could get some dinner. A nice can of lager and a hummus and falafel wrap rounded the day off nicely.

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