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SCMP Pays Up (Finally)

A few of you might remember this SCMP "The LoDown" lead story about Chow Yun-Fat planting trees up in Tai Yuen.

HELP!

Our 8-year-old forum is throwing a major tantrum! It doesn't allow forum members to attach pictures to their messages anymore.

Electronic Mistress & DJ Wash

Congrats to Lammaites "Elemiz" & "Bitchie" for being featured amongst the very best DJs in...

Yu Lan Festival

One of the many advantages of having 8+ years of fully searchable Lamma-zine stories (2,500+) is that I can...

Free Wine Tasting

Chateau Lamma is a brand-new and cozy little place located in Tai Yuen, just after the Yan Yan store,...

Weekday Lamma Main Street

Photos by Rambo Lai from his Photos and the Days photo blog. For more of Rambo's amazing and unusual photos, see...

Aug 27:  Lamma Calendar 2011 -- Calling All Photographers!

Debbie Lindsay - Publisher of Lamma Calendar 2011:

I will be publishing the calendar for a second year.

This year, I'd like to open it up and offer the Lamma community the chance to publish their photos in it. 10 photos will be chosen for the calendar. For the fee of $50 per photo (which will be donated to Child Welfare Scheme), anyone can enter, and you can send in as many photos as you like for the competition. Please click here to find out how to enter.

The popular 'Lamma faces' page will also be published as the December page again this year. The fee is HK$30 for each face and all proceeds will be donated to the Child Welfare Scheme. Space will be limited this year, so get your photos in early. Click here to find out more.

To find out more about the Child Welfare Scheme, please visit www.cwshk.org.


Photo competition – Calendar pages

To Enter

Please copy your photos on a disk, and put in an envelope containing your full contact details and $50 per photo ($100 for 3) entry fee. A donation box will be placed at the following outlets:

  o  Diesel's Bar and Cath's Bar

Photo Specs

Photos must be submitted by 5th October 2010 and must be:

  -  Lamma themed (see categories below)
  -  Landscape
  -  Minimum of 280mm x 215mm
  -  Minimum 300 dpi
  -  Maximum 5MB

Categories

The publisher will be looking for subjects that fit into the following categories:

Seascape/Landscape, On the beach, Up in the hills, Flora/Fauna, Lamma life, Architecture, Food & Drink, Local culture/events, Only on Lamma!, People
(note that close up face shots will not be used without written permission from the owner), Lamma Miscellaneous.

Please Note

By submitting photos to this competition, entrants are agreeing to give permission to the Publisher to publish their photograph and name in the Lamma Calendar 2011.

The Publisher reserves the right to make the final decision on which photos will be published in the calendar.

Copyright of all photos submitted remains with the photographers.

The Publisher will not use or distribute the photographs for anything other than the Lamma Calendar 2011.


Lamma Faces Page

To have your photo in this year's collage page, please submit your photos to Debbie_lindsay@hotmail.com by the 5th October 2010. Please title your email cws_calendar_YOURNAME and send only one photo per email.

Please state your payment method in the email text.

Alternatively, if you're not that technically minded, I will be carrying my camera around again this year and will be arranging a couple of dates/times I will be around in the village to take photos. Watch this space!

Photo Specs

  -  1 face shot
  -  Minimum 300 dpi
  -  Maximum 1MB

Payment Methods

  • Transfer the money ($30 per face, $100 for 4) to CWS directly. HSBC acc no 083 465724 001.

  • Send a cheque made out to 'Child Welfare Scheme' and either drop it in one of the donation boxes, or send directly to CWS at Rm 303, St George's Bldg, 2 Ice House St, Central.

  • Put your cash/cheque donation in an envelope with your name and contact details on it, and drop off at one of the donation boxes in the village:
       o  Diesel's Bar and Cath's Bar

Please don't forget to mark your payment method clearly in the email when you send your photo!

Please Note

By submitting their photos for the collage, entrants are agreeing to give permission to the publisher to publish their photograph in the Lamma Calendar 2011.

Copyright of all photos submitted remains with the photographers.

The publisher will not use or distribute the photographs for anything other than the Lamma Calendar 2011.

Click above to enlarge, or learn more about last year's Lamma Calendar 2010:

The Generous Spirit of Lamma Residents

Aug 25:  510 Not Extended HTTP Error Code

This error message has confused many visitors to this website in the last few days. The entire website went down occasionally, with both forum and Lamma-zine pages unavailable. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

After a lot of struggling with our US webhosting tech support, resulting in almost no really helpful advice, I figured it out myself in the end: a spam attack from a single Mainland website on our Chinese Discussions forum!

This attack overloaded our shared server when our website was "using more than 250kb/s and/or 100 simultaneous connections at once." These spam attacks have been happening occasionally for years on a smaller scale, but I've closed all potential forum loopholes long ago. They (almost) never succeed in spamming our forum anymore, due to our daily, constant vigilance; plus I'm manually approving every forum member registration. But the spammers keep on trying, usually via quite stupid but extremely stubborn Spambot programs.

This temporary server overloading triggered the US webhost to shut down the entire site automatically, without informing me at all what they did and why they did it. This happened last Tue, this Mon and Tue mornings (that I'm aware off); it took me one week to hear what had actually occurred.

I've changed some the forum's PHP programs by hand today (if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] == "220...) and blocked the offending Mainland IP Address. After uploading the new program...WOW, amazing success! Within minutes, I could watch in real time all the spam connections simply dying away, only leaving legitimate users.

We've finally got a peaceful, quiet forum, not under constant attack anymore. What a big relief for this forum administrator, aaahhhh! Well, at least till the next spam attack originating from another website...

If you see any more 501 Not Extended error codes, or any other website/forum problems, please email me immediately at info@lamma.com.hk. Thanks!

P.S. for more technical details, plus updates on the still unsolved picture attachments problem, or, even better, to offer YOUR advice and help (still desperately seeking a phpBB expert!), see:

Announcement: Attachment problems!

Aug 19:  The Creative Vortex of Bric-a-Bracs

Most blogs mentioning Lamma are fairly standard. Usually something like, "We took the ferry, hiked the Family Trail, ate seafood, went home." But occasionally you come across a gem of a story, or at least something very unusual or plain weird. Let me highlight a few recent blog stories about Lamma in the next few days. First and maybe best, a blog listing 10 Things to Do in Lamma.
The article opens with:

"more than just a sleepy fishing village and a weekend destination for city dwellers, lamma island is the glastonbury of hong kong. there is an unspoken allure to the island and as soon as you step foot on it, you can immediately feel its essence.

if discovery bay is the sterile suburb, lamma is the creative vortex of bric-a- bracs. it is a refuge for artists, spiritual healers, writers seeking inspiration and the bohemian dwelling quarter."

Yes, the writer's Shift key doesn't seem to be working, or he's inflicted with some mysterious phobia or dislike of uppercase letters. But, amazingly, this was actually composed by an inhabitant of our "friendly rival", the "so different from Lamma!" enclave of Discovery Bay, smalltroubleinhk! He told me so on his blog, when I asked for permission to republish his story and photos here: "Haha no I live in sterile land- discovery bay. Please feel free. I love to promote HK…"

Will they ban him for calling his own home a "sterile suburb"? Oh well, some of my friends living there are saying the same thing...

Thanks, smalltroubleink, no trouble at all! Instead of republishing the story, I'll simply link to it from here, a lot less effort and trouble from my side, hehe!

10 Things to Do in Lamma

Aug 18:  SCMP Pays Up (Finally)

A few of you might remember this SCMP "The LoDown" lead story about Chow Yun-Fat planting trees up in Tai Yuen Village on April 21? Alex Lo asked me to use one my world-exclusive pictures, see above, even promising to pay for it. This is most unusual for the SCMP; from over a dozen of my pictures they've published over the years, they've only ever agreed to pay me once before.

Well, it took only 3 months (!) and several follow-up emails to their Accounts Dept., but I finally got paid their standard rate of the amazing amount of... HK$500 for this half-day photo shoot, see below!

See how extremely cheap I am as a photographer!  ;-)
You could definitely afford to hire me for your next photo shoot, anywhere, anytime in Hong Kong!  Contact me!

Aug 17:  HELP!

Our 8-year-old forum is throwing a major tantrum! It doesn't allow forum members to attach pictures to their messages anymore and can't even display the old pictures anymore. Don't worry, the old pictures and messages are all safe and backed up on several hard disks, all part of the regular, daily maintenance I perform for our local community forum.

But to get the forum fixed I need help from somebody who knows how to restore a SQL database table with phpMyAdmin, or something similar. If you're a bit familiar with our phpBB forum Shareware, even better. Contact me urgently, please.

Here's the last message from our webhosting co.'s tech support, for your info:

"The phpbb_attachments_desc table in your database is corrupt and cannot be repaired.

A) I assume you take regular backups of your database as we are not responsible for backing up your data, restore that table from your backup.

B) Ask on the developers forum how you can recreate the table in its original form using phpMyAdmin which is available via Plesk.

After either A or B is complete your site will start working again."

Aug 16:  Electronic Mistress & DJ Wash

Congrats to Lammaites "Elemiz" & "Bitchie" for being featured amongst the very best DJs in all of HK in HK Magazine, July 22:

Catch their blog, remixes, upcoming shows (Sonic Step Sisters and others) plus their famous Kongkast podcasts at KongkreteBass.com.
 

Aug 15:  Yu Lan Festival

One of the many advantages of having 8+ years of fully searchable Lamma-zine stories (2,500+) is that I can occasionally republish former stories and photos.
This comes in especially handy for yearly recurring festivals, like the traditional Yu Lan "Hungry Ghosts" Festival happening today at our Tin Hau Temple and the Cargo Pier:

Aug 3, 2003:  Photo Gallery: Yu Lan Festival

Aug 18, 2005:  Beware of Hungry Ghosts!

Aug 1, 2006:  Hungry Ghosts Roam the Island Again

Aug 14:  Free Wine Tasting

Wayne of Chateau Lamma has been offering free red wines today. Wine tastings are still a very rare occasion on Lamma, even though many wine lovers live here, myself included. Bringing a bottle to any party is almost standard practice. But Main Street shops usually offer only a very limited selection of bottles, all well below $100. They also offer no good advice, like describing the taste and which wine will complement which foods.

Chateau Lamma is a brand-new and cozy little place located in Tai Yuen, just after the Yan Yan store, where Selling Point workshop was located before their move. This is the only shop selling a wide selection of standard and premium wines on Lamma, ranging from $40 to well over $1,000. Check out the next free wine tasting on Sat afternoon, Aug 28, 4-6pm.

And no, this story is NOT an advertorial, just a little free promotion for a new shop from an occasional customer who's been happy with what he's bought so far, after very friendly and knowledgeable consulting by bilingual Wayne. He's a former accountant in town who's followed his passion and moved to Lamma just a few months back. Drop by during afternoons or evenings just for a chat about making his dream a reality and his hobby into a business. We Lammaites love people like that, let's welcome Wayne with open arms!

Aug 13:  Weekday Lamma Main Street

Photos by Rambo Lai from his Photos and the Days photo blog.

For more of Rambo's amazing and unusual photos, see his Lamma Life section.

Aug 9:  Alien Quiz Night @ The Waterfront

Summer season is slow, cozy and leisurely on Lamma Island, even more so than the rest of the year. Very few events are happening locally while so many residents are vacationing overseas and our Lamma Events Calendar is pretty barren these weeks. So the few remaining events can get a lot of free publicity on this website. All you need to do is ask, especially if you have an unusual and eye- catching poster to show! For example this striking poster below, for an (almost) regular, monthly community event in the Waterfront Bar & Rest.:

But I've got a number of questions about this poster:

  1. Is this the famous Quizmeister Jason, veteran of so many former quiz nights; or is it a contestant suffering a brain freeze from a really tough quiz question or just getting really big-headed after finding the correct answer?

  2. It's a dinner quiz, but looking at the expression on Jason's face below, I wonder what or who's for dinner?

  3. Curry Night is happening there as well, like every Wednesday, and it looks like yellowish Jason is a really serious curry lover?

  4. Did he land on our circular UFO Landing Pad, cleverly disguised as a helipad?

  5. What are the prizes? Mars Attacks! DVDs? Jason lets you live if you win?

Alien Quizmeister Jason replies:

"Ha Ha - very funny!! Thanks for the publicity. To answer your questions:

1. Yes that is me. -- 2. and 3. Kumar has the secret recipe.
4. No, came in the swanky new ferry. -- 5. Come along and see."

This cute poster above is just the last one in a series all created by Jason:


While we're talking about the very popular The Waterfront - our frequent dinner place and a loyal Lamma-zine advertiser - here are a few more photos of our recent candle light dinners in this friendly, cheerful and relaxed place. Yes, I've STILL got this bad habit of annoying Lamma-Por by taking pictures of the food as soon as it arrives, delaying her from tucking in immediately.

But I'm not the only one, as you can see below. Lamma-zine reader/contributor, (food) photographer and digital artist Swapan Mukherjee from Bombay is enjoying his huge plate of fish & chips while contemplating seriously to become a Lammaite a few days ago. The Waterfront is also just a fantastic spot for sunset- and people-watching:

Some of our personal favourites: Chicken Dijon and pork w/apple gravy

P.S. By the way, warm congratulations to Kumar for having been promoted to Associate Director of the Waterfront and Island Bar. Well-deserved and long-overdue, IMHO!

Aug 6:  New Ferry, Sea Superb 

(First 2 photos by Cédric Sam, other photos by L-G.
More Sea Superb photos by Cedric Sam)

Cédric Sam writes:

"Lamma Island has a new ferry ship! HKKF, the company that runs the ferry service between Central and Lamma Island has a new ship on this route. I don’t know when it first sailed (it could have been off rush hour), but I took it on both Thursday and Friday mornings at 8:20AM from Yung Shue Wan pier.

"According to the ship’s manufacturer Cheoy Lee Shipwards, the Sea Superb (or 海永 / Hoi Yong / "Sea Forever" in Chinese) is different from other catamarans operated by HKKF on the Central-Yung Shue Wan route and also built by Cheoy Lee. It is 32m long instead of the 28m basic models, like I think the Sea Superior and Sea Smooth are. The rear deck of the Superb is indeed noticeably longer.

"Now I wonder what they will do when the second boat arrives too. Is HKKF going to reassign the other boats to different routes from Central, or are we going to see the reappearance of a night ferry…"

Let's hope so, Cédric Sam, but do not hold your breath...
More pictures in Cédric Sam's blog.

HKKF, as usual, did not reply to my request for comments and more info; their rarely updated website doesn't even mention the new ferry.

But there's some very good, detailed info on this new ferry on the website of the company who built this ferry, Cheoy Lee Shipyards.

Aug 5:  Wow!

A first in Lamma.com.hk's 8-year history, a  most unusual photo of a light show above our much-photographed Yung Shue Wan ferry pier.
Lightning on Aug 5 by Kevin, 7:56pm
(Nikon D300, 18mm, f/4.5, -0.7 EV, ISO 400, shutter speed 3 seconds.)

Kevin writes: "Thanks so much for your encouragement. I had to wait until the rain stopped and the wind died down. Lightning strikes last night were so frequent and bright. I took quite a number of photos with an all-bright blue sky but without any lightning. This was completely shot by coincidence. All my other photos had just a tiny fragment of the lightning.

All the photos were taken under the cement ceiling. I missed quite a few great shots. All I heard were the "Wow!"s from the neighbours but I could not even see them (too busy taking care of my camera)."

After seeing this story, I got one more amazing photo of the same lightning storm, from JT in Pak Kok:

Click for more Lamma Photos of the Day and submit your own!

Aug 1:  Swiss National Day Lunch

Yung Shue Wan has almost 20 restaurants offering "Western", Italian, Indian, Thai, Turkish, Vegetarian and various Chinese cuisines. But no Swiss food! So Lamma-Por and I had to venture to Kowloon-side for our yearly National Day fix of Swiss dishes, to the Swiss Chalet in Tsim Sha Tsui East, one of only two authentic Swiss restaurants in all of HK (Chesa in the Peninsula Hotel is the other one). What an absolute delight these guys are offering, at only $152 for a weekday lunch, everything below was included, even a glass of wine. We'll definitely return to this cozy place in Tsim Sha Tsui well before next Swiss National Day!

July 29:  HK's Largest Solar Power System Launched

Solar power photovoltaic panels have been erected on several Power Station rooftops and were officially announced and launched today.

Managing Director of HK Electric, Mr. Tso Kai-sum (left), Secretary for the Environment, Mr. Edward Yau and Chief Executive Officer of Du Pont Apollo Limited, Dr. David Chu (right) officiate at the ceremony.

Press release -- PowerPoint presentation (3MB) -- Video (20MB)

(All photos, video and presentation courtesy of HK Electric.)

My own launch photos and my "Above & Inside the Lamma Power Station" photo gallery are in progress, to follow this weekend....

July 24:  Lamma, Unfavourable for Humans?

These 2 quotes come courtesy of yesterday's The Standard daily newspaper, from a story titled Luck of the islands:

"Lamma, of all the outlying islands, is poorly formed in terms of auspicious natural fung shui features, with a sha that is uneven and a waterfront that lacks focus....

"Lamma is an island that has no meridian dragon point, making it unfavorable for humans. But Lantau has one."

We Lammaites are kind of used by now to all the many lazy and ancient clichés about our home island, but this must surely be the most...shall we say...unfavourable description of Lamma we've seen in a long time. Unfavourable for humans! Stay away! Unfit for any human to live on or even visit! Just because a self-proclaimed fung shui master says so, The Standard prints it without any comment, even adding contact info for the guy to find more suckers, eh, clients.

Well, at least it triggered a few interesting comments from our forum members:

Luck of the islands

July 22:  YMCA Taking Over the Lamma Quarry

It's been rumoured for a few months, but it's now official, as I've just been informed today. See this email from Lands Dept., forwarded to me by Sally of Lamma's HK Dog Rescue, living near the Quarry and walking her dogs in there almost daily. I love to hike and bike in that area myself, similar to some of Lamma's mountain bikers. It's a quiet, open and beautiful area now, featured many times in the Lamma-zine over the last 8 years.

It's fully accessible by anybody right now, but will be turned into a private area where the YMCA will have full and exclusive control. They have been all quiet about it so far, but I've contacted them as well. This silent takeover was announced so low-key that I know nobody personally who has ever seen a notice or announcement of any kind, so no objections could be lodged within the usual 14 days; except Ms Chan below, but she was too late:

KK HO - District Lands Officer/Islands Lands Dept.:

(Photo above by Sally Andersen, HKDogRescue)

Dear Ms. Chan,

Thank you for your email of 17.4.2010 bringing our attention to your concerns about the use of the ex-Lamma quarry site by the YMCA.

I would like to advise that the ex-Lamma quarry site is a piece of government land which is not intended for the use or access for the general public. Further, the site was not formed for activities such as hiking, walking the dogs, fishing, cycling and etc.. Hence, such activities are not encouraged.

After the submission from YMCA for the use of the site, we have made consultations to the locals and posted notices in the nearby areas with respect to the use of site by YMCA. No objection was received and the locals supported the proposal. In principal approval was then given to YMCA.

For your information, YMCA advised that the general public in groups or individuals would be allowed to join the programmes organized by YMCA within the site or apply to YMCA for use of the site for their intended programmes (subject to charge of fees). In this connection, the public can still have the chance to enjoy the site.

Hope the above can provide you a better picture of the YMCA's proposal and you would consider to withdraw your objection.

Should you have any further enquiries, please contact the subject Officer Mr. KK HO at 2852 4998.

Hardly anybody would object to the YMCA using the area occasionally for their great outdoor, sports and nature activities, but they've been granted EXCLUSIVE USE! Nobody else will be permitted in there, except with the YMCA's explicit permission and they could even charge you for entering. It's a huge area of public land, much bigger than all of Sok Kwu Wan, restored to a "natural state" over a decade from the former cement factory with many millions of taxpayers' cash.

After restoration, it was left idle for a decade and it's now being handed over for free for the exclusive use of a private charity, the Young Men's Christian Association, who is "committed to building a civil and compassionate Hong Kong through uniting people with the same spirit to extend the Kingdom of God." They do great and wonderful work all over HK and in many countries, but why do they need and get EXCLUSIVE USE of this entire huge area?

In the Planning Dept.'s Outline Zoning Plan for all of Lamma, it was described as "potential for development of temporary tourism and recreational activities." But that has all changed without notice now. In the future, "hiking, walking the dogs, fishing, cycling and such activities are not encouraged" and the Lamma Quarry has suddenly become "not intended for the use or access for the general public"?!

Sally is organising a petition and we hope to get a clarification of the YMCA's intent and plans for this huge, beautiful and currently almost undisturbed area with the only local sweet water lake and large flocks of seabirds and kites. For a personal perspective, see Sally's blog today:
Wed 21st July: Some bad news for me

Below are a two of my large collection of Lamma Quarry photos. Will I have to pay a fee to the YMCA soon to enter and take any more photos in there?

July 21:  LammaFlat in 3D

Have you ever seen a Lamma flat in 3D, see above? As a 3D computer artist and animator in a former life (pre-HK), I was quite intrigued when I got access to the 3D Floorplanner design of a totally renovated flat for sale, by Lamma-zine advertiser LammaFlats.com. I played around with the different 3D angles and pasted together the little collage above in Photoshop. For the more technically minded amongst our readers, here's the 2D drawing, so you can check out if your furniture and stuff would fit into these 350sqft; click to enlarge:

Carole of LammaFlats writes about this "Flat for sale":

"It would make a great investment flat if you want to buy to rent.
It would be maintenance free after all the work that has been put into the plumbing and electrical. People often overlook this aspect, but its really important when buying so that you don't end up with problems that are expensive to fix.
Also the bay window is a unique feature that adds to the bright and spacious feel of the place."

July 20:  The Socialist Utopia

Wes - Contributing Blogger - The Libertines Pub, Hong Kong

(republished with friendly permission by Wes, photo by Michael Wolf)

Extreme Hong Kong

My daily commute is an exercise in extremes. In the morning, I wake up in the socialist utopia of Lamma Island. Lamma is the least commercialized place I've ever lived: there is no advertising on Lamma, and the only corporate chain of any kind on the island is the tiny little branch of HSBC in Yung Shue Wan. Lamma is also the most egalitarian place I've ever lived: all the houses are roughly the same size, nearly all the apartments are around 700 square feet, and people don't advertise their wealth by the way they dress, since everyone wears shorts, a t-shirt and sandals all day everyday.

Then I get on the ferry, and arrive in Central. I go up an escalator, and I'm in the IFC mall. There I'm bombarded by images designed to make me feel bad about who I am, bad about the clothes I wear, and bad about where I am in life. I make it through the mall, and head to Sheung Wan on the pedestrian walkway. Once I come down to ground level, I'm reminded how this city isn't designed for me, it's designed to use me as a tool for corporate profits. Taxis honk their horns at me for getting in the way of their next fare, people on the street don't show the slightest kindness toward one-another, there's hardly any room to walk with all the money-making going on. I look up at the thousands of anonymous apartment and office windows containing the tools of the corporatocracy. I work, I eat, I get back on the ferry.

When I get off the ferry on the Lamma side, I remember why I'm willing to put up with that ferry ride everyday. Lamma is on a human scale. I feel like I fit. I'm a person, not a consumer. Every place I've ever lived has been designed by corporations for cars. For the first time in my life, I live in a place designed by people for people. And I found that place in the Hi-Tech Village, the world's greatest capitalist theme-park. Go figure.

July 19:  Elderlies Happy Day

After my recent experience with getting a Senior (over 60) discount offered in a cinema - without asking for it! - I thought of checking out what my fellow Elderlies on Lamma are up to in their ample spare time. So Lamma-Por and I joined this tour organised and subsidised by the District Council. Fortunately, the age limit was much lower - they consider people as Elderlies at only 50 years old! - and it only cost $75, including "Korean B.B.Q. lunch buffet". As Lamma-Por and I are too well-known in the local Yung Shue Wan community we joined the only half-full Sok Kwu Wan bus kind of incognito, keeping a low profile.

Photo gallery in progress...

July 18:  Ground Investigation Works

A new govt. notice has appeared on some YSW noticeboards, alerting some of our Alert Readers to alert me about another potentially huge govt. construction project. It could affect the entire hillside behind the North Lamma Clinic and the Playground all the way over to the second, small Tin Hau temple below Tai Shan, affecting much of Tai Shan Village and some of Sha Po Old Village, basically the entire forested two hills, from bottom to the very top, see my photo above (see also detailed map).

CEDD Dept. is applying for a permit from Lands Dept. for Ground Investigation Works in this entire area. They'll be drilling about 10 deep holes to test the stability and potential danger of these slopes, taking 6 months starting next month. This is in preparation for potential further "Slope Improvement Works" later on. This is govt. speak for pouring concrete and building walls to make slopes safer, especially in the typhoon season. See photos (from Jill and myself) of the current, old "Slope Improvements" behind the houses behind the Playground:

The 14-day objection period is ending next Friday, July 23, so if you have questions or concerns about this project, File Ref. (5) in DLO/IS 04/4/2010/NL, contact Mr. CHAN Sui-lok at 2852-4261, email Lands Dept., or, much better, write an Objection Letter on paper to Lands Dept. with your questions and concerns about these Ground Investigation Works to:
District Lands Office, Islands, 19/F., Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong, quoting the File Ref. Or fax 2850 5104.

It won't stop the useful slope investigations, but it'll hopefully make them more aware and considerate about how to plan and execute any potentially necessary "Landslip Prevention Measures" later on in an environmentally friendly way, hopefully preserving almost all of the slope-stabilising forest on this beautiful forest hillside, visible from most of Yung Shue Wan and North Lamma.

For a current example of similar "Ground Investigation Works" and "Landslip Prevention Measures" in progress, see the current CEDD works above the Tai Peng Community Garden, accessible directly from the First Cable Route up in Tai Peng Village:

For further info on this and other local projects, consider joining the very active Living Lamma group, or discuss this project in our free-speech, uncensored Environment, Politics and Development forum, including some sample Objection Letters already sent to govt. by several Lammaites.

July 17:  Lamma-Gung the Elderly?

I was going for yet another 3D movie (my latest passion) in the IFC shopping mall, vis-a-vis the Lamma ferry pier in Central. I selected my favourite seat and was ready to fork out the excessive regular price for the 3D movie ticket. The cashier girl took a quick glance at me and offered me the Senior discount, without asking for my age or id and without me asking for the discount at all!

I was so surprised that I forgot to protest, accepting it, especially after I realised that this was a saving of $35, almost the price of a regular movie ticket on low-price Tuesdays in the same cinema. This is the very first time something like this has happened to me and I wonder if I now have entered the 3rd Age of my hopefully long life? Becoming a Senior, over 60 years old, I'd become entitled to a wide range of Senior benefits and privileges. Should I feel depressed or happy about this? Not sure.

I enjoyed the movie tremendously (3D Toy Story 3), but I might have been one of the oldest movie-goers in the theatre. But it'll still be MANY years before I become officially a Senior, an Elderly in govt.-speak. Well, do I really look that old right now, after my massive weight-loss made my face droop a bit? Do I need to consider very expensive plastic surgery, stretching my cheeks behind my ears, to transform and Botox my face into a perma-grin, like some celebrities? Nah!

Hey, what other discounts could I get with my newly-discovered Elderly looks? Who's offering Elderly discounts on Lamma? Certainly not the bars, as that would be a big drain on their business. Well, I don't really mind being considered an Elderly in some people's eyes as long as my health and fitness keep up so well; L-G the Elderly is hiking/biking to the top of Lamma's hills and attending Bootcamp. Hey, a big hooray to being elderly and healthy! Lamma's a great place for retiring!

The cinema even let me keep their Real D 3D glasses for free, probably hoping that I'll return for another expensive 3D movie soon. They're even offering $10 concession discounts if you return with your 3D glasses next time. I wonder if they'll offer me a Senior discount again next time? In the meantime, you might spot me with this big, all-black, stylish (not!) 3D sunglasses gallivanting down Main Street, making me marvel at Lamma Life in spectacular 3D!

July 16:  India Dog Dispute Engulfs Ex-Lamma Woman

Jay Scott Kanes - Official Court Pet Correspondent:

(Pictures by Lisa Warden, ex-Lammaite)

AHMEDABAD, India – Does a city that routinely batters and abuses its street dogs, and then takes exception to criticism of its brutish behavior, deserve international respect? Certainly not, says former Lamma Islander Lisa Warden, who finds herself engulfed in controversy for staunchly defending some of the most poorly treated among India's canines.

Since leaving Lamma in 2008 (after a 15-month stay), Lisa has lived mostly in Ahmedabad where her husband works. It's a six-century-old metropolis and home to six million people in Gujarat state. One of India's leading cities, it remains crude on animal welfare.

There, 45-year-old Lisa, a dog-lover originally from Canada, has devoted much of her attention to promoting canine spay-neuter procedures and anti-rabies vaccinations. (When on Lamma, she had no dog of her own, but constantly borrowed those of friends.)

Dumped at the landfill: does this puppy look like he belongs amid the rubbish?

In Ahmedabad, one thing that haunted Lisa was how the local dog-catchers consistently used iron tongs to grip screaming animals by their necks or torsos and manhandle them, pick them up to load into vans or even drag along streets. (For video evidence, see: YouTube).

The pincer-like tongs crush or pierce internal organs. Abdominal cavities tear open. Up to half the "caught" dogs die from internal bleeding.

To worsen matters, the dog-catchers have been dumping their captives, scores of them each day, at a huge landfill on the city's outskirts where the animals face thirst, starvation and scorching heat. (See: http://vimeo.com/11261417). As dogs collapse and die there, others survive a little longer by gnawing on the remains.

Both the tongs and relocations violate national laws that say street dogs should be sterilized, vaccinated and returned to where they were found. As animal-rights activists explain, Ahmedabad's actions "serve no practical results. When dogs are removed from their locations, other dogs move into the vacated areas and fight to establish dominance. People inevitably get bitten in the crossfire. The practice of dislocating dogs actually puts humans at increased risk of dog bites and rabies." Sterilizing and immunizing would better manage the street-dog population and prevent rabies.

Outspoken Lisa gave media interviews and confronted city officials. Bluntly, she told them that unless they reformed, she'd campaign vigorously against Ahmedabad's bid for UNESCO status as a World Heritage City.

Lisa also visited the dog-catchers' headquarters and took away all the tongs she could find for destruction. She insists this was done in consultation and with agreement from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. The AMC says otherwise.

Despite being the daughter of William Warden, a former Canadian high commissioner to India, Lisa became the target of a nasty backlash. Her brother Scott grimly explains: "Unfortunately, Lisa is being viciously targeted by a despotic, rogue municipal authority. She inadvertently crossed them by exposing their illegal and unconscionable cruelty to the city's street dogs."

As a result of challenging the municipality, Lisa has been charged with the likes of theft, misleading the public, obstructing public servants and slapped with a US$2 million defamation suit. If convicted, she may face a long prison stay.

"The same municipal authority is trying to get her India visa revoked…," Scott said. "Lisa has a legal team and will fight the charges, but it will be a long battle."

Lisa's supporters urge people to assist her and the street dogs by signing an signing the online petition. Facebook fans can join a group, "In Support of Lisa Warden".

In recent days, Ahmedabad dog-catchers have switched from using tongs (presumably because Lisa removed them) in favor of nets. But the "dog-dumping" continues.

Could this be a world-heritage city? Or is it more like a "world-horrific city"?

Defender of dogs Lisa Warden now faces a nasty backlash.

A puppy tries to cope. Dumped outside town, he faces thirst, starvation and heat.

Street dogs: 'ruff, ruff' lives.

Dog-catchers use iron tongs on a terrified animal. The pincer-like tongs crush organs and cause internal bleeding.

Harsh handling by Ahmedabad's dog-catchers leads to dead dogs.

Once taken away by the canine-catchers, most dogs never return, at least not in this lifetime.

Unrepentant Lisa emails her many friends worldwide:

"The Wall Street Journal article from two days ago about the dog debacle in Ahmedabad and the evil tongs of doom generated such vigorous debate that the reporter ran another story today -- about the response. He's asking for the public to comment on the online forum. Chime in, folks. This is a great chance to get your say, and to educate the public at large about compassion, street dog ecology, and the need for large-scale sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination."  Link: How you feel about dog tongs?

Wall Street Journal story: Dog tongs in Gujarat attract activist ire.

July 15:  Want to Learn Organic Gardening?

In other gardening news:

Passing by the wonderful Tai Peng Community Garden frequently during my bike-hikes, I noticed the first lily blooming in the Jenks Memorial Pond. This group has set it up in an old watering hole a few months back in remembrance of the late Jenkin Hiles, a valiant, long-time defender of the former, beloved Lily Pond in the Yung Shue Long Valley, filled in last year with construction waste. The group even paid for the two benches, open to anybody. Lily supplied by Herboland.

Jenks the Gentleman Eco-Warrior's beloved memory and his environmental spirit lives on in this new Lily Pond, reminding us to be more mindful of our mostly still beautiful environment on Lamma and working on maintaining and preserving it!

July 14:  Yung Shue Wan in the Summertime

Today, it's just a mixed bag of photos I took very recently and didn't quite know where to put them, neither a themed story nor a photo gallery. Click to enlarge:

View from inside the pavilion above the wind turbine

View from Mt. Panorama, pavilion on the opposite hill -- Burning dry leaves

View from First Cable Route over Yung Shue Wan

Kayakers entering YSW harbour -- Perfect visibility these weeks

Ferry leaving YSW; Lamma-1, Po Wah Yuen and Lamma Winds in the background

The end of the Democracy Wall; no more posters! -- Umbrella INSIDE the ferry

Junk on the way to HK Island -- Woodland Spider, missing two legs

Lamma Ferry Pier in Central -- Another stunning sunset

Ferry arriving at Yung Shue Wan ferry pier (long exposure)

Another delicious, shared dinner in The Waterfront (Duck Breast)

July 13:  Fun For Fit Kids

Click above for details of this local fitness camp, starting this week,
run by Donna the Herbalicious, my tough-but-fun Bootcamp Sergeant.

July 6:  'Woodman, Spare That Tree!'

This poster has just been emailed to the Lamma-zine by Lammadonna, one of our District Councilors, asking to put it on this website, "to remind our residents to pay attention to any unsafe trees." Done. Some of her local constituents have expressed how afraid they've become of trees and branches falling on them, after the recent, widely publicised news of a falling tree hurting people, but fortunately not on Lamma so far.

The usual govt. over-reaction can't be far behind, so we can expect more local trees near paths to be declared as dangerous and public notices gazetted about felling them. This photo is all that remains of a beloved tree just below the YSW Catholic Kindergarten at the crossroad of the Snake Path with the path up to Tai Ling and the windturbine, part of my own occasional hill hikes. Liz Gower, Tree Hugger Extraordinaire, had been skillfully negotiating with the Lands Dept. for over a year to save it, but finally and sadly had to concede defeat recently.

If you'd like to learn more about preserving damaged trees and making them safe, instead of felling them, and about International Tree Care Practices in general, there'll be a Tree Talk by expert Kevin Eckert, on Sat, July 10, Museum of Medical Sciences, 3-5pm. This broad topic covers everything ranging from tree selection, installation, pruning and protection to tree risk assessment, etc. Q&A after the presentation, plus refreshments, $150, plus another free wine tasting by Brad the Wine Baron, who seems to be eminently astute of getting himself mentioned again and again in this Lamma-zine since our April Fool's story.   ;-)

Register your name ASAP by e-mail or simply show up for the Tree Talk. The Museum of Medical Sciences is just below the University of HK, easy to reach, see map, plus more details (also about that tree poem quote in this story's title).

July 4:  'No Any Ball Games'

Today, just a few random shots from my Sunday morning hike along the deserted Snake Trail, returning via the crowded Family Trail and Hung Shing Yeh beach:

View over Luk Chau (Dog) Island, Lo Tik Wan ferry pier and Luk Chau Village,
South HK Island and the East Lamma shipping channel in the background.

Seen from the start of the Snake Trail, a few minutes from the wind turbine in direction of the Youth Hostel, close to the Trig Point, highest point of N. Lamma.

But who carried that chair up there? A most thoughtful gesture for any weary hiker in dire need of a little rest stop, while enjoying the amazing view :-)

Size comparison: the mighty Power Station and all of our smallish Yung Shue Wan.

Sorry, another Fruit of Weaver Maid shot, but I just can't resist these beautifully bright, scarlet seed pods, opening all over the island right now. I still don't know if they're actually edible. Some birds and bugs seem to love them, though.

 

Zooming in on YSW from the Snake Trail -- Snake Trail to Youth Hostel

BBQ area on Hung Shing Yeh Beach -- Blooming all over the hills

Open Space Studio in Tai Ling -- Woodland Spider web -- Ledge along Family Trail

Teenage hikers exploring the pond below the Youth Hostel -- Splashing fun

View from Family Trail, just above Hung Shing Yeh beach, the All-Fun-Prohibited public beach, including "No Any Ball Games"

Black-eared Kite and helicopter playing tag above the Power Station for hours --
Learning Scuba diving fundamentals on Hung Shing Yeh beach

Hung Shing Yeh Beach -- a relaxed lifeguard watching the hard-working beach cleaners in full gear in the scorching mid-day sun

'Warning...do not enter the water', the guard looking on while father & son are entering the water - Not everybody on the beach is there for fun

July 3:  60th Graduation Ceremony

I liked this poster so much - design, colours, students featured as "fruits" on an artsy tree, school grounds photos - that I'm giving it some prime exposure on this home page, hopefully attracting a few more parents to attend this ceremony on Monday morning.

Are you considering enrolling your own children in the local primary school? It'll be a great opportunity to check it it all out and talk to the principal, teachers and students on their happy day, the 60th year of graduating students. The students graduating from P6 will be leaving our little, happy, rural primary school to continue their education mostly in the big town's secondary schools, a real milestone in the life of so many Lamma children.

Most famous alumni of this school: Chow Yun-fat! See how well he's turned out after graduating from this school, becoming a local TV and international movie star, billionaire, philanthropist and widely popular! Here's a little photo gallery of my pictures from last year's graduation ceremony:

July 2:  Animating a Sunset

Another fine sunset was just starting to get interesting, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and used a ladder to climb atop the little room on my rooftop. I set up the tripod while holding myself steady on the antennas up there. It's a long way down to the pavement and there's no enclosure up there. Shooting a long series of photos while admiring my panoramic, 360-degree sunset view of Yung Shue Wan, I was wondering if somebody was taking pictures of me perched precariously on the highest point of my building, my favourite sightseeing spot.

Animating a few of the shots into the slide show below, I hope you agree it was worth the (small) risk:

July 1 - HK SAR Establishment Day:  LammaFlat for Sale

Our classifieds have become THE place to sell stuff between Lammaites and to find a flat to rent or buy, more successful than AsiaXpat or GeoExpat for Lamma properties, according to private landlords I've talked to who've all found good tenants - often in record time - via our classifieds. But our all-free classifieds do not allow property agents to advertise their client's flats on commission basis, who'd be happily encouraged to place paid ads or advertorials on this home page.

Let's see how long it'll take this beautiful flat to find a buyer. It's just been fully renovated by very well-known Senior Lammaite (30 years!) Chris the Carpenter. This advertorial is a kind of freebie as LammaFlats.com is also advertising their several mid-term rental flats at the very top of this page.

Click for LammaFlats.com website...


Another occasional freelance job of mine, trying hard to complement the very modest income from this website, is doing property photo shoots. Here's part of a little photo shoot I did for a Lamma-based client on a Sunday morning. Click below for the entire photo gallery of this amazing property, an entire, separate 2-storey house, the very top end of what's currently available on Lamma:

 
 

Read last month's stories...

Lamma-zine Blog started on Sep 1, 2004, and will be updated (almost) daily with anything vaguely related to Lamma Island or its residents, be it news, stories, events, photos, videos, etc.

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