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June 18
June 15
June 13
June 12
June 11
May 21
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Alternate Internet Options: Speeds, Hardware,
Plans
Bar & Restaurant News
Janet Gilson Murder Trial
Lamma Dragons: Ladies Champions
TVB
Pearl Report: Drug Rehab Centre
Bike Park construction to start in Aug
Power Station tour on Aug 7, 2013
MORE NEWS...
Email me
your news, photos, stories; contact or follow
Lamma Gung on Facebook;
or call/text/WhatsApp me
at 6151 5408. |
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Wed, Jun 19
Thu, Jun 20
Fri, Jun 21
Jun 29/30
Sun, Jun 30 |
 Temples & Turtles
@ Banyan Bay Cafe
Quiz Night @ The Waterfront
Lamma planning consultation @
HSBC
Tax Avoidance Philosophy Cafe @ Just Green
Interconnected and Intertwined
@ Part-of Gallery, Wanchai (feat. Lamma artists/musicians)
Sewerage Mini-exhibition @ Rural Committee Bldg.
YMCA Camp Grand Opening & Open House
@ YMCA Outdoor Centre, ex-Lamma Quarry
MORE EVENTS...
Email me your event and get a free
listing on this page and in Events Calendar! |
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"Is Lamma Island open whole year?"
Jun 7 - I've just received this email below. What do YOU suggest I should reply? |
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Home...
Jun 3 - June weather over Yung Shue Wan, taken from the ferry pier, this is the view greeting ferry passengers arriving! |
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Dog Poo Castles
Jun 2 - Has ANYBODY EVER seen a dog use one of these Dog Latrines? |
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Soccer Tots & Champs
Jun 1 - "Premier Junior Soccer.
Saturday and Sunday.
Boys and Girls welcome!" |
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20 Years of YSW Canto Opera
May 16 - Congratulations to the Hing Fung Ming Cantonese Opera Troupe: 20th Tin Hau Festival! |
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Solar Power Boost
May 15 - Where's HK's largest solar power installation located? Just over the hill from Yung Shue Wan, in the Power Station. |
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Canto Opera -
Behind the Stage
May 10 - "Fascinated to be at backstage of a Cantonese Opera for the first time." |
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Above the Lamma 500
May 6 - Video by Joe the Quadrocopter Aviator -
Results and winner photos of the Lamma 500 dragonboat races. |
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Zooming in on Lamma 500
May 5 - View from the Trig Point above Lamma windturbine, the highest point of N. Lamma. |
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Lamma Day 2013
May 2 - Yung Shue Wan Tin Hau festival & dragonboat/sampan races & Cantonese opera. |
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(C)
SCMP, June 16, 1996, from Backbites (Courtesy of Scott Fink)
This wasn't the only time a Lamma Dragons boat went diving, see April 2011,
also in YSW harbour:
Photo by Lydia C. She titled it "Loch Ness Monster visits Lamma".
Practice session for the future Olympic discipline of Submarine Dragon
Boating?
Lamma Dragons checking out the seabed for the announced YSW Harbour
Reclamation, Phase II?
Click for more photos and my full review...
Click for the latest news of the sewerage pipe works and
the N. and S. Lamma Sewage Treatment Plants...
So many Lammaites have been selling & buying stuff, advertising their
services and finding & letting flats via our free classifieds over the
years, it would be great to make them community-supported.
Our forum is totally advertising-free and I'd prefer to keep
it this way. I've been paying all the running costs myself,
mainly the yearly webhosting of HK$1,440, but also
various other smaller expenses. This forum is the most labour-intensive
and by far the most troublesome part of this entire website
(spam attacks, registrations, hosting problems, backups,
maintenance, etc.), but it generates absolutely no revenue...
Read more...
Lamma Dragons, Ladies team, champions once again!
#1 in Discovery Bay on Dragonboating holiday
today,
June 12, 2013! Congratulations!
Frazer & The McGilvrays in The Island Bar, Apr 13, '13
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Kelly Morgan:
Groupie, err, ardent fan of this band:
(Photos by Lamma-Gung) |
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"I don't care if it rains or freezes
'Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through my trials and tribulations
And my travels through the nations
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far…"
 How
far, through how many nations?
One day a few years back in St Kilda, Australia, I happened upon a piece
of plastic statuary in a gift shop. 16,383 kilometres away, in Washington
DC, was the desk of Frazer McGilvray. There the little Lord duly arrived,
packaged up with some Vegemite and Tim Tams.
Fast forward a few years, and an uncannily familiar spring-mounted savior
appeared on the bookshelf in my spare room on Lamma, 13,128 kilometres from
DC. Under questioning, Leigh Eggins admitted to ownership, and told him
Frazer had given him the dashboard deity, little suspecting it would make
its way back into my world, as Leigh and I had yet to even meet at that
point.
In the intervening years the frequently airborne Almighty had made the
journey from DC to Hawaii, a mere 8,954 kilometres, before journeying the
8,923 k's between Hong Kong and Honolulu.
And now, our back-packing bobble head is homeward bound again, returned
to Frazer's tender mercies, and a home on the dashboard of an electric car
in Honolulu. (Or is he?) Frazer's currently en-route to Bali 3,248
kilometres in the wrong direction. So I have to wonder, did the Lord
actually make it into the luggage?
A quick addendum...
The blasted thing is now back at my flat, having enjoyed a brief sojourn
behind the bar in the Island Bar. Its journey will, however, continue. Just
trying to figure out which Cur gets it next.
Maybe Harry. We're awaiting the day when it makes a cameo appearance in
the background of a Harry cartoon somewhere... |
 
 
There are a small, but growing number of Lamma-specific groups on Facebook
these days. For example the new open group above, with some of these
members, so far mostly fine specimens of the endangered species Homo
Lammapiens, with Living Lamma Legend
Harry Harrison as their valiant
and fearless (to embarrass himself) (cheer)leader, or should we call him
their cute'n'cuddly mascot?
Wouldn't you want to belong to a great group that describes itself this way:
"Members are encouraged to post videos of themselves mastering or
murdering their favourite songs to the strum of a ukulele."
Click here to check it out (ukulele optional)
Click for story and more pictures...
 Smile,
the in-flight magazine of Cebu Pacific Airline, The
Philippines
(recommended by Honourary Lammaite Andy Maluche):
"Ferry
Tales
In search of an escape from the high-energy exuding city, Mark Parren
Taylor hops on a boat for a welcoming change of pace, and explores Hong
Kong's rustic islands....
Yung Shue Wan is a busy little village. Its muddle of harborfront
restaurants, expat pubs and an assortment of shops and stalls selling
everything from local crafts to kitchen sinks, line Main Street. As it's a
car-free island, the awkward meeting of a waiter carrying a basket of fish
and an elderly lady with a shopping trolley is considered a traffic jam.
Other than that, the odd tinkling of a bicycle bell is the nearest thing to
road rage...
Many of the village's eateries have terraces that overlook Banyan Bay.
Andy's Seafood Sau Kee, for instance, prepares some fine dishes,
including steamed garlic prawns that go well alongside the ginger fried
rice...
Hidden from the beach by shrubs and grasses, Herboland is a
tranquil herb-stuffed garden with a shady cafe serving refreshing teas and
snacks made from homegrown fruit and veggies. Owners Gary and Gavin moved
here in 2003 to escape the rat race on Hong Kong Island, joining the
island's small but active organic scene...
Back in Yung Shue Wan, for instance, there's a handy
everything-under-one-roof organic store called Just Green and nearby
Bookworm Cafe serves a good cappuccino alongside an eclectic
vegetarian and vegan menu..."
Lamma Gung
on Facebook:
"May I know if Lamma Island is open whole year?"
I've just received this email at
info@Lamma.com.hk. What do YOU suggest I should reply? —
feeling amused
at Lamma Island, Hong Kong.
This post on my Timeline received over 20 replies from my Friends within a
few hours, with some
really funny and very creative replies! I'll forward most of them to this
future Lamma visitor!
It closes daily at 12:30 at
night...
It's closed for a month in
October to allow for the breeding season.
Any time is possible, but you
need a written invitation from a resident.
 Currently closed for
renovations.
Only accessible to the public
during off-peak hours.
Was it from a mainland tour
guide?
Did she apply for a Lamma visa?
Maybe, what did you have in
mind?
May I know if you will remember
to pack your brain with your sandals?
Ask someone to slap your...
Only open during February.
Feb 29th...
Members only, pls.
Open to all nationalities.
Just reply 'No' and hope she
doesn't pursue further information.
My three favourite replies:
Yes, definitely
open all year round; and did you know about our many lethal
snakes?
Non-residents must ring the
bell in The Island Bar to signify their arrival.
Mandatory donation of $100 per visitor to the Lamma
website.
I'd be very happy with
$1 per visitor! Maybe my HK-Chinese wife and I should set up a
multilingual Lamma Visitors Info Centre, charging for
answers, or be financed through the local authorities or local
businesses relying on visitors?
Just another crazy dream...
But I've been doing part
of this job for free for years already, replying to almost all
visitor enquiries received on this website. Being the top search
result for "Lamma Island" on most major search engines, curious
visitors find this site very easily...
P.S.
Poster by
Julie Hannaford and HK Memes, a very poisonous cobra
in her front yard.
The "Cheap rent" line is totally out-of-date. It still applies
to some remote parts of Lamma, but not at all anymore to Yung
Shue Wan and neighbouring villages.
June weather over Yung Shue Wan, taken from the ferry pier, this is the view
greeting ferry passengers arriving. This might be my most Liked and Shared
photo on Facebook so far...
Same day, a 180-degree from the center of the first photo, showing the ferry
pier in the very center.
Has ANYBODY EVER seen a dog use one of these Dog Latrines?
These faux-wood & broken-tiles designer sandboxes have been pooping, err,
popping up all over Lamma Island. There must be several dozens of them by
now, even in some of the most remote locations. But I've never seen a dog
use one, or even saw a poop in there. So I posted this question above in the
active
Lamma Dog Owners Facebook group, getting some great, "Typically
Lamma!" replies:
I think they're used by non-dogs late at night
I put my kids in them. They love it.
Lamma Gung:
Your kids do their business in there? ;-)))
Are they wearing some of these China-style, open-at-the-bottom pants, so
they can do their business anywhere?
They make poo castles.
No self-respecting dog would use such thing. Dog experts advise against
training your dog to use one as they can be a source of infection (if used
by other dogs!)
Lamma Gung:
They look a bit like Poo Castles, with the walls around them and the towers
and turrets. Let's nickname these overdesigned latrines "Dog Poo Castles".
I saw one dog use one!! Once.
They are just another excuse for 'jobs for the boys' i.e. they give the
local contractors something to do.
My little dog pees on the faux wood railing sometimes...
I was once caught short!
My poppy managed to balance a very large pile of poo on the very
decorative mosaic tile edge. She thought that the sand
 means
beach and she knows that she can't poo on the beach.
Never.
A human concept for dogs - it's never going to work.
Maybe the dogs are so impressed, they don't want to mess them up.
My last dog used one once out of the blue, there was a very impressed
gaggle of tourists. I didn't tell them it was her one and only time. I think
that was before they added the fences and tiles, though.
My Laisee likes to use the one near us, because it's nice clean sand,
untouched by dog.
This photo from today doesn't show a human caught short, using the wrong
public toilet, but one of our wonderful FEHD cleaning ladies raking the
sandbox.
Finally, after 3 days of searching, I found 3, only 3 people who admitted to
their dogs using these fancy, expensive, public conveniences more than once!
New Dog Latrines: Any dog ever use them?
 
 
Newsletter from
Living Lamma:
Read more... also about the Govt.'s new
Clean Shorelines Campaign...
SCMP Story, May 26:
Team Lamma show paddle power
Up for auction this Sat night in The Island Bar, an original by
Harry Harrison!
P.S. Harry's drawing went for $9,000 in the fundraising
auction, an all-time record, I think. In case you wonder who the people
portrayed in the dragonboat are, Harry writes:
"Margaret Thatcher, Sid Vicious, Mick Talbot, Boy George, Kevin Rowland,
Wattie Buchan, Martin Fry, Mensi, Robert Smith, Morrissey, David Sylvian,
Roddy Frame, Adam Ant...etc..."
 
Passengers stop overloaded ferry from sailing - SCMP, May 11,
2013
Once upon a time, 5 years ago, there was just a standard, empty, tiled
rooftop when we moved in. The initially cute little veggie & flower garden
has by now transmogrified into a subtropical jungle with mostly indigenous
plants,
bushes and
creepers, surrounding most of my rooftop, its walls and much of the floor.
There's (almost) no
weeding or pruning in this garden, err, jungle (except Mikania) and no pest
control of any kind. Whatever is able to grow and survive naturally is welcome to do
so freely, including bugs, birds, insects and assorted critters. No
chemicals used at all, just occasional plant feedings. Surprisingly, there
seem to be hardly any mosquitoes and other bothersome bugs?
  
Most of what's growing so abundantly right now, I didn't plant myself. It's
been seeded to my rooftop by wind, insects and birds from the semi-wilderness and
forests close to our home, or seedlings I plucked from the forest years ago.
It's mostly HK native plants by now, adapted to HK's climate and surviving
well on our exposed rooftop; plus a few decorative
flowers and plants multiplying for 5 years now. Watering with a spray hose 3
times a week is fun and all the
maintenance and gardening my personal rooftop jungle really needs to prosper.
It's so relaxing to sit up there in my ancient rocking chair, watching the
welcome visitors - mostly birds, bees and butterflies - and admiring the daily
changing flowers blooming. All the while, I'm reading and streaming music by 4G LTE from
the millions of songs in Spotify's Cloud-based jukebox to my wireless
headphones.
At the same time, I might handle some of the daily work for this website on
my Samsung Note II in my "Rooftop Jungle
Home Office", for example snapping and uploading the first photo above
straight from my rocking chair. It's the Lamma Life and I'm still loving
it...
20th Anniversary of the Hing Fung Ming Cantonese Opera Troupe,
performing during every Tin Hau Festival in the YSW Football Pitch.
Congratulations!
Photos of the closing celebration on May 5,
courtesy of the Lamma (North) Rural Committee:
HK
Electric's solar power system now comprises 8662 PV modules
which are mainly installed on the rooftops and open area of
various locations
at Lamma Power Station.
 Where's Hong Kong's largest solar power installation
located? Yes, just over the hill from Yung Shue Wan, atop
and around the Lamma Power Station. Good news from our
"friendly neighbour" HK Electric today, it's getting a major
upgrade:
Hong Kong's Largest Solar Power System Gets Capacity Boost
to 1MW
[15 May 2013]
By the way, anybody up for my yearly
Lamma Power Station
tour this summer, including the Solar Power System?
Email me, if you're provisionally interested. Date
is Wed morning, Aug 7, 2013.
Minimum age 15, maximum number for the tour bus: 35;
details.
Talking of Renewable Energy, you've probably heard about HK
Electric's planned windfarm 3.5km off Lamma's SW coast, or
noticed the windmonitoring tower out there already? This has
been discussed since 2006 in our forum in a number of
topics. Here's the latest info, plus a map of the plans:
Marine Wind Farm off Lamma.
There's no reclamation involved, just around 35+ large wind
turbines in the sea, directly connected to the Lamma Power
Station. EIA approved, construction to start in 2015.
The Green Hong Kong Green campaign (HK Electric &
Conservancy Association) has launched new eco-tours a few
months back. Guided by 150 well-trained eco-volunteers, 5 of
these
 almost
free, public, Cantonese-only tours are happening on Lamma
every month.
I joined one of 3 "Night Safari" tours on Sat, May 4, in Sok
Kwu Wan. But first I helped cleaning up a beach in the SKW
estuary in the morning, hiked the Southern Family Trail (Mo
Tat Wan, Tung O Wan, SKW), and hung out in SKW's restaurant
strip (mostly in my new local favourite, LoSo Kitchen),
waiting for the safari.
If you can understand Cantonese and would like to go on a
safari, check out this new
Lamma Eco-tour map first. Here's
how to enrol.
The other 4 Lamma-based tours have been introduced in the
Lamma-zine, Mar 1:
Windy Wonder, Rock Ramble & Night Safari
Yes, South Lamma is becoming an even better and more fun
place to experience for nature lovers! Here are a few of my
photos:
  
  
  
  
  
 Google
has released fascinating timelapse image of how the Earth's
surface has changed since 1984. In the HK map, you can zoom
in and watch as Victoria Harbour shrinks through
reclamation.
Explore the
interactive timelapse Google world map.
Closer to our home, how has the map of Lamma Island changed
since the 80s?
I've zoomed in on Lamma and created a little animation by
cutting and pasting the yearly frames. Focus on the Power
Station expansions and the greening of the ex-Lamma Quarry.
View my animated Google satellite map (too large for this home
page):
Lamma 1987 - 2012
Feral dogs with large litter of puppies @ Lo So Shing beach
Rent-free for Chinese-speaking gardeners! Contact me!
On the way to the top of Ling Kok Shan, the 250-metre tall hill behind Sok
Kwu Wan, topped by Lamma's Telecom Tower, still under construction.
Trig Point atop Ling Kok Shan - Sitting-out area
Through the bamboo forests - Descending to Mo Tat Wan on
Lamma's longest staircase, for another lunch with friends in
The Bay.
All photos above by Alain Guilloux. My own photo gallery is still in
progress...
Do you recognise this beaming couple? A picture published in 1985, it shows
the well-known-on-Lamma Allan and his partner Linda, seen frequently around
Yung Shue Wan. He was found dead at their home on May 7, cause yet unknown. R.I.P.
Your memories of Allan, especially if you've known him for a long time,
during his former better days, please post them here:
R.I.P. Allan Ferguson.
Tin Hau Festival '13 - Cantonese Opera @ YSW Football Pitch - Apr
30-May 5:
All photos & captions by Debi Yeung-Salansy with her "Baby Fuji"
(Click to enlarge. Her website:
www.debiyeungdesign.com):
"Fascinated to be at backstage of a Cantonese Opera for the first time":
 
"Hing Fung Ming Cantonese-Opera Troupe, the 20th year playing at Lamma
Tin Hau Festival" - Opera star
Mui Suet See
(click for her website)
"Beautiful costumes being hung everywhere"
  
"Private cubicle dressing area for senior performers"
Aftermath - by Robert Hope-Jones:
"Remains of the opera theatre - singing the final devastating high note C
and a crash cymbal did this."
Video by Joe the Quadrocopter Aviator
Results and winner
photos of the Lamma
500 dragonboat races
Facebook photos of the
winners, incl. the victorious Lamma Dragon teams
who celebrated their 25th anniversary! Congratulations!!
P.S. Tue, May 7: Just in, the
"official" Lamma 500 video from Donna the Videographer. She
even wore a "Lamma 500 Official" T-shirt while filming.
View from the Trig Point above Lamma windturbine, the highest point of N.
Lamma
   
  
 
More and larger photos:
Lamma Gung @
Facebook. Race
results.
Yung Shue Wan Tin Hau festival & dragonboat/sampan races & Cantonese opera:
  
 
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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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see below.
All materials and photos © 2013 Lamma-Gung.
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