A few more answers for Lamma Newbies and visitors, from my recent interview with the editor of the touristy CityLife Magazine. The article should come out Aug 1, together with a few of my photos:
CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
Where are you from?
Switzerland, moved to HK 21 years ago to visit my HK-Chinese girlfriend I had met on the Internet 2 years earlier. I stayed and married her…
CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
What is your profession? Do you work from home?
Web publisher, online marketing and photography, working from my home office. More about me and the website:
HK’s Fuzziest & Warmest Community, based on an RTHK interview last year:
http://www.compunicate.com/Lamma-zine/Blog/Blog-2006-03.html#Mar31 CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
How did you end up settling on Lamma Island?
Semi-retiring after the end of the dotcom boom, after running a startup co. as General Manager, financed by Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison. Seeking lower rent and living costs, better quality of life, leaving the rat race behind, fostering my personal life, creating art, being my own boss again.
CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
How long have you been living on Lamma Island?
2001, moving to the main village, Yung Shue Wan (90+% of Lammaites live around here),
relaxing for the first year and then starting Lamma.com.hk with a Chinese friend, just as a hobby with zero revenue for the first two years.
CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
What is it like living on Lamma Island? What’s great about it? Any downsides?
One word: community! Very unusual in HK to have a neighbourhood community where people know each other, care for each other and help out if needed.
Cleaner air than on HK Island and Kowloon (despite the Power Station whose pollution goes way above our heads and gets blown off-island before it can come down on us.)
No cars and no motor-driven traffic at all! Just bikes, strollers and the occasional small, one-person, open goods transportation vehicle. Safe environment for pets and children to grow up in a semi-rural environment where none of the mod cons are missing: aircon, Broadband Internet, TV, mobile connections, highly reliable electricity and fine infrastructure, clean drinking water.
And the public beach is just down the path. No high-rises, not a single building higher than 3 floors. 1/3 of us have G/F flats, often with gardens and 1/3 have 2/F flats with a flat rooftop of equal size to the flat, room for BBQ, sunset watching, relaxing, reading, parties, rooftop gardens or all of these, like myself.
Quality of life is just incomparable to living in town, sitting outdoors in one of the many beachside cafes, a cool drink, a snack, friends around, watching the sun going down over Yung Shue Wan Bay, laptop (free Wifi all along Main Street) ready for the occasional spot of work,…
Something I wrote in the Lamma-zine a while back:
What makes Lamma such a special place?Mainly, it's the "live and let live" attitude. Nobody really cares how you dress and behave as long as you don't bother other people. There's no pressure, no high expectations, no need to show off, no pressure to look rich or important, no shame in being poor, old and ugly, like myself
It's a car-free, green island just 25 minutes from Central HK, a major tourist attraction with beaches, forests, miles of scenic hikes and lots of international restaurants. A relaxed, safe, green place with still acceptable air quality, suitable for young people, families with children & pets, and retirees alike. There's an easy-going, friendly, fun-loving atmosphere and a helpful attitude of most people, plus an amazingly multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic community unique in HK. Low rents and low living costs top off the attraction of Lamma Island to local Chinese, other Asians and expats alike.
All nationalities, religions and races are welcome!
Downsides? Well, living on an island in general, no supermarkets or chain stores of any kind (which many of us consider an advantage), taking the ferry to town (30 minutes to Central) to do serious shopping, go for a movie or eating out. Last ferry from Central at 12:30am, a major inconvenience for party animals, a major reason for Lamma’s population remaining stable and not doubling like the govt., expected 10+ years ago. Getting home before a typhoon hits…
Having lived on HK Island for 14 years before Lamma, I don’t miss much, frankly. The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages and even my wife, a HK city girl all her life before, has adapted very well.
CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
What are the best places to eat?
Multi-national restaurants in YSW: From Indian, Thai, Turkish, Japanese to Vegetarian, Western and various Chinese cuisines.
My personal recommendations: Deli Lamma, The Waterfront, Lamcombe,
CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
Any suggestions for visitors?
Walking the Family Trail, one of the best and most diverse hikes in HK:
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/attraction/at_most_lama.jhtmlhttp://www.ferry.com.hk/eng/lamma.htm http://www.hkkf.com.hk/en/lamma/index.htmlCityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
Anything else you’d like to add?
This forum:
http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3596CityLife Magazine {L_WROTE}:
How do you feel about the reputation of Lamma Island residents being hippies?
An ancient, outdated and wholly inappropriate cliché, perpetuated ad infinitum and ad nauseam by the SCMP, HK Magazine and a wide range of Chinese dailies and weeklies, despite the huge number of journalists, editors and photographers living here, or maybe BECAUSE of it.
The cliché is still so wide-spread that people living here get serious prejudice and gentle (or not so gentle) discrimination from colleagues, friends, employers and recruiters in town. Some Lammaites even use HK Island postal addresses for their Lamma-based businesses.
The handful of remaining hippies from pre-Handover days has either already quietly retired or has become very successful as publishers (HolisticHK, Good News HK), New Age ecopreneurs, restaurateurs (Life Café, SOHO), holistic event organizers and lifestyle gurus. Walk through Main Street and count the hippies, hard to find one these days.
But writing and publishing daily about the quirky and “interesting” aspects of Lamma life, I might contribute unintentionally to this cliché, despite being irked by it occasionally.
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