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May 31 - "I'm still
completely exhausted, but with a big smile on my face."
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May 30 - The Internet
is so slow on all of Lamma - 3Mbps max. for broadband on
the best days.
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May 29 - Walking
briskly through Aberdeen the other day, I was abruptly
stopped in my tracks.
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May 28 - What keeps
Lamma-Gung going, publishing stories & pictures day
after day, 7 days a week?
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May 27 - Lamma
Spotlights of the Week, May 23, '16.
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May 26 - Sok Kwu Wan
ferry piers yesterday!
More of my photos....
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May 25 - R.I.P. YSW
Library @ YSW Ferry Pier.
The Library will soon be torn down and rebuilt...
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May 24 - Full
questionnaire from District Councillor Yu Lai Fan, plus
a heated Facebook discussion.
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May 23 - Lamma's Uncle
Moon, a multi-talented guy, is biking most days from
Lamma to Kowloon City.
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May 22 - They'd been
night-paddling there from their home/office in Lo So
Shing via Yung Shue Wan.
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May 21 - Lamma Events
Calendar posters this month...
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May 18 - "I fear
that's not enough disinfectant to kill all that dreadful
scary 'nature stuff.'"
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May 17 - "Smile at
tourists, remember that we don't live in their built-up,
sky-rise flat."
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May 16 - Lamma
Spotlights of the Week, May 16, '16.
See former
Spotlights - Send me YOURS!
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May 15 - "Be on the
lookout for interactive arts, crafts workshops and games
inspired by the seabound surroundings."
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May 10 - "'Green
Hong Kong Green' Named Outstanding Partnership Priject."
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May 9 - Lamma
Spotlights of the Week, May 9, '16.
See former Spotlights -7 Send me YOURS!
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May 6 - A large group
of police arriving on the ferry and
strolling down the YSW ferry pier...
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May 5 - Great news for
the Tai Peng community: the only shop up in the hilltop
community...
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May 4 - Just some more
May Day pics today, a few from the 960 photos I shot
with 3 cameras...
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May 3 - Lamma.com.hk
has been asked to publicize this academic survey.
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May 2 - HK history
story on HK Free Press, by Hong Wrong
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May 1 - Photo by Nicky
Jones, taken this morning. More photos coming in.
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Lamma Book Club:
"All I can say is that the Rave was a big success. I'm still
completely exhausted, but with a big smile on my face. I'll try
to give some insight from an organizers point of view here.
We started with the initial 'rave' plan a month or 2 ago -
agreeing between the 5 of us that Lamma could use a decent Rave.
We've organized a number of other events and festivals in the
last year... but how exactly does one throw a rave?
"Well - first up was deciding on the location. We didn't want
to do it on Power Station Beach like we did we our previous
events, but wanted a more secluded 'special' location. We talked
about Coleman's Beach, somewhere around the windmill, somewhere on
Mt Stenhouse... but in the end decided on the end of Cable Road, the
most northern point of Lamma, on the big concrete slab overlooking
Hong Kong Island, with all the big container ships cruising by...
just very magical.
"Then we needed to decide on the name. We
coined it 'Lamma Rave' in the beginning, but we did some back
and forth messaging and agreed that we had to add some more
words to it, preferably words that rhymed with Rave. After
suggestions like Cave, Save, Microwave Rave - we somehow ended
up with Lamma Please Behave Rave... and that got twisted into Lamma Shave or Behave Rave. Well
- hardest thing done right? We got the location, we got
a name... The rest shouldn't be too hard.
 "One of the book clubbers rushed to design a beautiful event
flyer before leaving on a Laos backpacking trip, but got it done
the night before, and it looked awesome! So we created the
Facebook
Event
- and invited a bunch of our Hong Kong based friends. The event
started snowballing bigger and bigger as the days to the rave
came closer. Only heavy rain could stop the event from being a
great success -- or not?"
Read more & view pictures/videos...
The Internet is so slow all over Lamma - 3Mbps max. for broadband on the best days -
up to 100 times
slower than much of HK - it has become an online meme. It's
even just made it onto baseball caps, produced by
LAMMA BRAND,
spotted today strolling down our YSW Main Street catwalk,
worn by the designer himself.
Typically Lamma! humour, of course. Check out
Faster Broadband for Lamma for our sorry status quo and
the dim hope of improvements any soon...
"Necessities" T-shirts soon to be sold,
only locally or online...
 
Walking
briskly through Aberdeen the other day, I was abruptly stopped in my tracks
by seeing this poster above. It features a well-known, long-term Lammaite
and friend smiling at me from a huge wall poster. Not the usual celebrities,
but one of Lamma's many "ghost teachers" who seems to have become the star
of his school; like the famous tutorial school teachers who've become
veritable HK Celebrities and grinning down at prospective customers from
buses, trams, and huge posters all over town, some of them earning millions
of dollars/year!
I had absolutely no idea that he has become THE poster boy for this
language center. I've got to message him about this, featuring him here and
increasing his HK fame worldwide to 100+ countries who're hitting on this
website every month.
P.S. Please forgive my poor Inglish! Maybe I need to attend some
remedial classes in your esteemed establishment?
What keeps Lamma-Gung going, publishing stories & pictures day after day, 7
days a week? Easy to guess...
Copious amounts of this crucial, liquid sustenance above should be a
tax-deductible for my home office. Maybe it is?
It's well more expensive than my Internet connection which is my other
absolutely crucial lifeline and the source for many of these stories.
Lamma Spotlights of the Week, May 23, '16:
See former Spotlights -
Send me
YOURS!
 
 
More of my photos...
R.I.P. YSW Library @ YSW Ferry Pier.
Click above
for my large photo and a heated Facebook discussion I started.
 The Library will
soon be torn down and rebuilt as
3,000(?) sqft, $50 million glass-palace "Library cum Heritage
and Cultural Showroom" will start any day now, even though the
exact date (delayed several times already) remains a mystery,
even to our Rural and District Councils, it seems.
Another Home Affairs
project, starting this year, perhaps.
Expect massive impacts on the neighbouring,
already overflowing, new Bike Park for the long construction period. Library
rebuilding forum:
Pictures and the story so far...
Click for the full questionnaire from District Councillor Yu Lai Fan,
plus a heated Facebook discussion.
No email replies, fill in the paper questionnaire and hand-deliver it to her
office, or by fax (Internet is so slow on Lamma that we can't use email?),
by Friday, May 27.
Marcus suggests: "If you photocopy your fax letter four times,
sellotape them together then sellotape the last page to the first page as it
comes out of the fax you can have a continuous loop of the same message for
hours!"
Sarah adds: "How about everyone type out their feedback, print,
then deliver inside a large cardboard box.
Try to drop off while she's got her back turned dealing with a paper jam in
the fax machine [resulting from Marcus' idea?], so you have time to
build a decent structure and turn on phone camera.
Voila, new, looping Vine video to play at movies on the beach!"
P.S. Here's a comprehensive and accurate summary of Lamma's Internet
status,
by our
Senior Forum Moderator Alan.
Plus another heated
Facebook discussion.
Lamma's Uncle Moon is biking most days from Lamma (on our Cable Road above)
to Kowloon City. Here's an Apple Daily video about biking in the city,
featuring him and other intrepid commuters (Chin. only).
I love biking all over Lamma only. Biking into Kowloon... respect to Uncle
Moon!
He's a talented guy, teaching guitar and some musical instruments, and
traditional Chinese archery!
Sea kayakers are cleaning up Pebbles Beach in Pak Kok. They'd been
night-paddling there from their home/office in Lo So Shing via Yung Shue
Wan:
 Sea
Kayak writes: "The Night was dark & stormy - actually, the night
was amazing. Contrary to the forecast, which is becoming increasingly
consistently wrong, the forecast storms disappeared early in the day to a
bright sunny, calm afternoon - then evening.
6 brave souls decided to take the journey between Lo So Shing Village via
the East Lamma Channel to the north Lamma Island village of Yung Shue Wan,
under the light of the Blue Moon.
The moon greeted us as we headed into the channel, in all its magnificent
glory, showing us its full face for the second time this month. There is
something majestic about being on the ocean in a small boat under the light
of a full moon..."
Read more...
I was just passing by on another bike-hike on a Sunday morning, by sheer coincidence,
spotting the sea kayaks on Pebbles Beach. Great chats and first-ever F2F
meetings! More to follow soon...
(Picture by Daniel John-Housley)
New disinfectant vending machine appearing at Central Ferry Pier 4 to Lamma.
Nick Berriff writes:
"I fear that's probably not enough disinfectant to kill all that dreadful
scary "nature stuff" on Lamma, which - as we all know - is just dripping in
dangerous germs and dirt.
And at $59 for disinfectant and $47.40 for the ferry, it would be far
cheaper and safer to spend the day in a more relaxing, natural setting for
humans like the IFC or Festival Walk or Tai Koo Shing... with air con and
hourly sterilisation by professional cleaning crews and a proper level
floor."
by Sharon A. Birkett, Official Court Poet
Lamma is
amazing,
a great place for lazing.
Hiking,
swimming, sailing too,
Calming and beautiful, how delightful is this view.
Lamma with
your hills of green
Where there's no path, few men have been.
Enjoy this
place, enjoy your home
Get outdoors, explore and roam.
Smile at
tourists, remember that
We don't live in their built-up, sky-rise flat.
P.S. A record
205 Facebook Likes, 16 Shares & 20 Comments for this poem
which is
speaking from the hearts of most Lammaites.
PS. 2: That view is the Hung Shing Yeh beach, the
backside of the view from the Trig Point, from where this
website's
panoramic header, from Power Station to windturbine, has
been shot. Best view of N. Lamma!
P.S. 3: In the interest of an editorially balanced view,
here's a slightly different opinion: from a recent tourist, one
of only
15 Terrible ratings amongst these 1,000+ mostly positive
TripAdvisor reviews:
"There are no attractions, horrible local food, quite dull
ambience....
Don't go to Lamma, waste of your time; there is no fun,
no nice scenery, not-nice locals and just an abysmal area."
P.S. 4, May 23: Sharon
Birkett: "Thank you very very much all you Lamma lovers -
over 200 likes is so awesome.... :-)"
Lamma Spotlights of the Week,
May 16, '16:
See former Spotlights -
Send me YOURS!
 
 
The Bookazine shop closed down in the ifc mall (the so-called YSW
Shopping Mall, just off the Lamma ferry).
Reopening in Prince's Bldg.,
this former advertiser gets a free plug here and I might be attending,
making a rare trip off-island.
Dead-tree books, umm, who cares, meh? I just want to to find out what a
"Hair Tattoo" is and to meet the famous Gruffalo to share some
"Wine & Sweet Tasting", making him (and me?) less gruff and more
cheerful, I hope!
See you there?
Click on
Lamma Eco-Tour Map above for digital version.
See the
full press release & pictures.
Lamma Spotlights of the Week,
May 9, '16:
See former Spotlights -
Send me YOURS!
Lamma is such a low-crime area (0 burglaries in 2014, 1 so far this year, 1
murder in 10 years) with so little visible, but friendly policing. A large group of
obviously off-island police arriving on the ferry and strolling down the YSW
ferry pier can send our imaginations and local social media alight.
When our regular contributor Guy R.H. Miller spotted them with his
long lens this morning, the wild speculations began right away in our quite
new
Lamma Island Hong Kong Facebook group:
Who are these guys? What are they doing here?
-
Chasing more incense tree smugglers?
-
Reinforcements for even more restaurant/bar
license checks?
-
Providing security for a wild birthday bash?
-
Protecting our District Councilor from more
Tin Hau bamboo scaffolding ties dumped outside her office
(when she called the police)?
-
Trying to find the vile perpetrators stealing
chairs and tables from the Blue Goose recently?
-
Dunkin' Donuts opening on Lamma (a police
favourite in some countries overseas)?
Afterwards, the cadets were observed having a nice lunch in Andy's
Seafood rest., (where Chow Yun-fat has been spotted again quite
recently).
In the end, even our new police chief, Solid Kwan,
joined into the discussion and set our confused records straight,
throwing cold (YSW harbour) water at our overheating imaginations:
"This batch of young fellows have all just passed the Police College
after an intensive training. They chose to join the Marine Region rather
than the Land Divisions."
Awww, so after all this commotion, there was no major crime story here at
all, no big headline, no story at all??
But hey, wait a minute, maybe on such a low-crime island, the overheating
reactions of residents to a routine, standard police familiarisation visit
ARE actually a story! As I'm the sole editor of this daily Lamma news
magazine, I decide what's worthy of a story! And this is, IMHO! It tells a
lot about our peaceful
Life on Lamma...
Thanks to Annie Knibb for coming up with the perfect title for this
"breaking-news, headline" Lamma-zine story! I think she was making fun of our
over-eagerness and me chasing a non-story, but I loved and used her title
anyway!
Great news for the Tai Peng community: the only shop up in the remote,
verdant hilltop community of Tai Peng, a long, arduous, sweaty and
tiredness/fitness-inducing walk uphill from Yung Shue Wan has reopened,
after being closed by Mr. Chow & Family just a few months ago!
More photos and a talk with the new proprietors Nancy Kam & Ah-Kam
will be published soon! In the meantime, visit and shop till you drop (or
you might have dropped already after the uphill struggle to Tai Peng, in
severe need for your personal choice of refreshments which they'll provide
happily).
If you don't get today's headline, you're probably in good company, amongst
non-nerds. Read the headline aloud and you might get it, the meaning of
today's big, worldwide, special day for millions of nerds out there.
Just some more May Day pictures today, a few from the 960 photos I shot with
3 cameras during the Tin Hau Festival/Lamma500 last Sunday. First,
happenings in and around YSW Harbour:
 
More photos coming soon, including Lamma 500.
Lamma.com.hk has been asked to publicize this academic survey. I'm always happy to
oblige, if asked nicely (and if it's relevant to Lamma or Lammaites). ;~)
"This study is being conducted by researchers from the School of Hotel
and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the
Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) Macau, to gain a better
understanding of pleasure travel by westerners who live in Hong Kong.
We would be most grateful if you could spare a few minutes to answer the
questions to the best of your ability. Results will be aggregated, ensuring
anonymity and confidentiality. Thank you."
Survey of Pleasure Travel
(Photo by Wikicommons)
HK history story on HK Free Press, by Hong Wrong:
"The freighter was towed to the south of
Lamma Island where it was anchored several hundred yards
off-shore..."
"100 refugees jumped overboard and tried to
swim towards the shore. The 50 who made it to Lamma Island were
arrested, with the rest picked up by launches and returned to
the freighter..."
" ...when refugees
cut the anchor chain and the Skyluck drifted onto the rocks at
Lamma Island, causing it to sink."
Photo by Nicky Jones, taken this morning.
Here's one of my former Lamma 500 photos (I've photographed all 9 years
so far), just published on Localiiz:
More photos
& results coming in as Tweets!
 We're
proud to be again an official Event Partner and one of just 2
Media Partners of the Lamma500!
For new photos and up-to-date info, check Facebook's
#Lamma500, plus
Instagram's #Lamma500 and the
Photo Competition entries.
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Lamma-zine
started in 2002, and will be updated (almost) daily with anything
vaguely related to Lamma Island or its residents, be it news,
stories, events, links, photos, artworks, videos, etc.
Contact Lamma-Gung with
anything relevant to Lamma or Lammaites that you'd like to see
published in the Lamma-zine, Events Calendar, Photo Galleries, Links
or in our Eng. and Chin. forums!
 All
text, photos & graphics by Lamma-Gung, if not otherwise
credited. Click on button on left for
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All materials and photos © 2016 Lamma-Gung.
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