Lamma-zine Blog - December 2004

December 2004
by Lamma-Gung

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2004: Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2005: Jan, F, M, A, M, J, J, A, S, O, N, Dec

Fri, Dec 31: 'Delian and I were surfing...'

Quite few Lammaites were on Christmas/New Year vacations in the areas affected by the killer tsunami. Most seem to be OK, fortunately. But the most horrifying account came from Ran & Delian, who were in surfing class on the Sri Lanka coast when the waves hit. They both almost drowned, Ran being swept out to sea for two kilometres.

Ran & Delian moved from Hung Shing Yeh to Tung Chung a few months back. I've written about Ran (kickboxing pupil of Alain; 350 Rans photos) several times in the Lamma-zine this year. You can read Delian's account of the events in their blog. Scroll down to Dec 23, click on "Comments", scroll down to a very long, dense, heart-wrenching message with the heading "Dear all,": 350 Rans … Live from Sri Lanka.

For more news & updates on other Lammaites in the affected areas, click TALKBACK! If you know of any other stories, let us all know.

Fri, Dec 31: 'Party troopers bring in lots of lovely lucre'

The 5th annual Lamma Island Treasure Hunt, organised by the Island Bar, has been featured in the South China Morning Post yesterday, Dec 30, Page C3. Proud Laudable Lamma Luminary Dan (co-owner of the Island Bar) pointed it out to me today. They even used one of the pictures I took in this Operation Santa Claus update story.

But I shot the published photo for someone else (a co-organiser) using his camera. He might have submitted these photos to the SCMP who used that shot instead of any photo from in my own photo gallery, submitted by Dan.

I guess that's what happened, as the photo was almost identical to the group shots I took at the same time, switching back and forth between my own and the other camera. Well, who cares, another photo I took got published, so I'm happy!

Here, again, is my Treasure Hunt photo gallery. Former Treasure Hunt blog articles: Dec 19 and 23.

Operation Santa Claus has completed its fund-raising (over $7 million!) for this year successfully, being able to fulfill the wishes of the 12 charities they supported! They're continuing for the next 2 weeks to raise money for the tsunami victims in SE-Asia. Another fund-raiser is going on in Emily's Ice Cream Parlour.

Fri, Dec 31: 8.5 Degrees Celsius!

This was the temperature measured digitally on my balcony this morning! Unusually fresh & cool for Hong Kong, but for somebody used to serious minus temperatures (-20 degrees!) where I grew up, this is refreshing after all the months of HK's hot 'n sticky humidity. It's amusing to see people over-dress in fake fur coats, warm coats and shawls, while I'm still strolling through Main Street in just a shirt & sleeveless vest...

Blue sky & sunshine right now at lunchtime. What am I doing sitting here on my PC, writing this blog instead of going out and enjoying the crisp & fresh, but beautiful winter day right now? The last day of 2004, a year many of us might want to forget soon...

What were YOUR Lamma 2004 highlights & lowlights of the year? Click TALKBACK!

Thu, Dec 30: Lamma Cricket Club Website Is Open

Ian Harling & Kevin Bishop - Lamma Cricket Club:

Kevin & I are pleased and proud to announce that the Lamma CC web site is now open for your information and amusement at www.LammaCC.com.

A great deal of time, energy and care has gone into the site and we hope you like it.

You are welcome to send in stories and images, criticisms and acclaims to us where we will exercise our editorial right for posting it on our esteemed site.

If you have any favourites you'd like to see posted, please email them along with the photo caption to the link you'll find at the web site.

Some of you may still be in contact with other ex-Lamma CC players that are not addressed above so if you are, can you please send this message on to them. Thanks & belated Christmas greetings

Have a look at this brand-new, highly recommended website. It's a very nice, clean, clear, simple, easy-to-use site, full of information & photos:

Latest News, Results, Stats, League Table, History, Photo & Rogues Gallery, Merchandise,...

Browsing the very informative site, I found the history of "That lovely logo" (see above):

"The cricket club logo incorporates the map of Lamma Island and the chimneys of the Island’s chief landmark, the power station. Interestingly, there were only two chimneys when they were used as the inspiration for the stumps; whether HK Electric added a third to match our logo has not yet been confirmed.

The colours come from the green of the Island and the yellow from the stumps (beige was considered too wishy-washy)."

This website has also been added to my constantly updated and growing Lamma-zine Links page. Is YOUR website listed on there yet? Email me!

Having covered the Lamma CC's games, victories, adventures & exploits many times in the Lamma-zine and in this blog, I warmly welcome their overdue arrival on the internet. I'll continue to promote them, of course, like other sports played on Lamma or by Lammaites around the world.

We've got great sportsmen of all ages & many nationalities living on our fair isle, let's highlight their activities and celebrate their successes!

Wed, Dec 29: Tsunami Fund-Raising at City Hall

Walking by our "City Hall" (opposite HSBC, besides Policebox), Lammadonna & friends are doing "Fund-raising for Earthquake Victims in South Asia": tonight till 10:15pm and tomorrow, Thu, Dec 30, 7-10am. So you could donate on your way to work tomorrow morning!

Our City Hall is a most appropriate spot for this fund-raising activity. Just imagine what would happen to it & most of YSW, if we'd ever suffer a Tsunami like the one devastating so much of South Asia! Lamma-Por and I donated all the money in our pockets. Many generous Lammaites are helping to fill up the donations box!

Wed, Dec 29: Forums Are Up & Running Again!

FINALLY!!! Two days of pretty frustrating, lonely technical fiddling, reading numerous tech manuals and great tech support forums (see left), moving hundreds of files, I managed to update the forum software, restore the backup and re-install most forum modifications on our Unix-based server!

We've been lucky so far, as this was our first computer worm (Santy) attack for the 2.5 years of our forum's life so far. More details: click the TALKBACK button below.

All this tricky technical stuff reminded me why I've left hard-core IT & Telecom several years ago, focusing on something that's a lot more fun, e.g. web publishing and website building!

Check out our revived forums, which have been down since Christmas Eve!

Mon, Dec 27: Christmas Tree Huggers - The Next Generation

So, what's Lamma-Gung been up to over Christmas, besides stuffing himself with an amazing Christmas Day turkey lunch on a friend's rooftop and a humongous Boxing Day "Sunday lamb roast" in Diesel's? The forums are still down (Arrrgh!) and I really wanted to avoid actually doing anything "work-related".

So I went through another little burst of creativity, continuing the "Christmas Tree Huggers" series of computer graphics.

I had finished the first four graphics on Dec 24, sending them to the 1,700+ Lamma-zine subscribers as my Christmas card, together with a little update on what's new in this Blog in Dec.

I couldn't resist continuing the series, generating "children" from one of the four original graphics (above right), processing that single image to generate all these new graphics below. Click to enlarge. Fee free to use as wallpaper (800*600 pixels) to frighten and shoo away your family or co-workers:

Sun, Dec 26: Rooftop Lunch on Christmas Day

What could be better than spending Christmas Day with friends on a Lamma rooftop: a log fire, huge turkey w/all trimmings, wine, yummy desserts.

Many thanks, friends!

Sat, Dec 25: Santy has been very naughty!

Lamma.com.hk got a lump of coal for Christmas from Santy, together with many thousands of other internet forums around the world. The fast-spreading "Santy" worm infected our forum and caused it to attack servers of our webhosting company. The company shut down the forums, this blog and the entire website as a precaution!

This worm DOES NOT & CANNOT infect computers of website visitors! So there's NO PROBLEM on YOUR side and absolutely no need to be concerned in any way!

Here are some good links for more info on Santy (thanks to Alan), how it works and how it spread so rapidly. An explanation from our webhosting co.

Stephen Satchell, Abuse Investigations, American Internet, Inc.:

I shut down your site at 5:20 AM (Dec 24, US time) this morning when your forum software was used to launch a denial of service attack against our server. It took me over an hour to locate the entry point for a shell worm that was being injected into the Mustang server.

I needed to shut down the site so the evidence can be examined more closely during the day, and also preserve the evidence for further action.

We need to discuss how to close the loophole that allowed outsiders to launch shell commands from HTML requests. When the vulnerability has been identified and fixed, I can re-open your site.

With Stephen's fantastic help, working throughout much of Christmas Day, we could reopen the site and not a single page or message has been lost. This blog and all Lamma-zine and portal pages are fine and open again.

But the forums will have to remain down for the holidays, till we've upgraded the forum software (phpBB) to the newest release, which will protect the forum from this particular worm, till the next hacking attack...

Fri, Dec 24: Season's Greetings from the Christmas Tree Huggers!

I was taking a few digital pictures of an outdoor Lamma Christmas tree's colourful light bulbs, while moving my camera around slowly during exposure. I got the very streaky photo on the left.

After a few happy hours experimenting/tinkering in Photoshop the four cyber critters above emerged. Click to enlarge!

Dubbed Christmas Tree Huggers, they've been born from the light of a Christmas tree and exist only as pixels in Cyberspace. The Lamma-zine Blog is their new home, where they are today's stars and my Christmas e-card!

Fri, Dec 24: Organic Gingerbread Man & Japanese Violin Prodigy

Yes, Christmas is getting so close that it becomes unavoidable to feature it in this Blog, but with a Lamma twist, of course. Which local place manages to unite the largest Caffe Latte in the village, organic gingerbread men, a Japanese violin child prodigy and some YSWankers in the same place?

You've guessed wrong, it's the Green Cottage! The prodigy and the YSWankers are giving a Christmas concert tonight at 6pm! So unusually early, but the child prodigy needs her beauty sleep. Stop by on your way home from the ferry. Maybe they'll even have another delicious gingerbread man left...

Then, you can continue on to the nearby Island Bar, for "Kids Carols at 7ish" and Adults Carols from 10:30pm, "Featuring the Traditional Old ~~Soaks~~ Songs You Know and Love." The later the night, the more "festive" the Carols will probably sound...

Thu, Dec 23: Treasure Hunters Raised $13,851!

Message from Al, one of the Treasure Hunt organisers:

"We raised $13,851 for Operation Santa Claus. Not too bad! Please send my thanks to all the shops, bars and businesses who donated prizes!"

The Q & A of the Hunt has unfortunately not been made available yet for publication on this website by co-organiser Clive who wrote most of them.

If you'd like this quite fascinating, informative Q & A, please ask him in person. Many thanks to all the organisers for all their work!

By the way, my photo gallery of the Hunt has been online since Monday. In case you missed it, click on Al's triumphant grin above to view it!

Thu, Dec 23: Seasons Greetings... from Dogs?

This is the only really Lamma-related Seasons Greetings e-card I've received so far amongst all the usual junk e-cards from companies and suppliers with links to their latest products.

Seasons Greetings from Sheila and all the dogs? Shouldn't there be something a bit more... more... Christmassy in the photo? Like adding a bit of snow to the North Lamma hillside? Or wrapping some jingle bells around their neck? Or putting fake soft reindeer horns on the dogs? Or adding a sleigh to slide down from the hill in style? And where's Santa anyway? Well, never mind, it's the thought that counts!

Thanks for the e-card, Sheila of LAP, today's Lammaite of the Day! She's being honoured for recovering from the "irreconcilable differences" split-up of LAP a while ago. Their motto is "Fostering Harmony and Respect for Life". Sheila's been soldiering on with her LAP charity, while most of the other members left to set up the new, very active animal charity LAWC (see shop opening). Only on Lamma...

Thu, Dec 23: GOOD news, BAD news & the BURNING BUSH!

The Best Message of the Day in the Lamma.com.hk forums was posted by our new photo moderator Anonymous Guy, who'd like to remain anonymous (unsuccessfully, obviously). Welcome to this exclusive club!

Question: Which Lammaite is receiving the baton in this recent photo?

Anonymous Guy - new moderator of Pictures & Movies forum:

Well the GOOD NEWS is the baton has finally been passed.

Despite an overwhelming show of support in the poll (thank you Fortune Chan - your vote counted), I have only now been (un)named moderator of the "Pictures & Movies" Forum.
I can only assume my poor showing in "Twat of the Year & Moderator for Fight Club", there may have been some lingering doubts as to my suitability for the role.

However, after promises of home-made mince pies to L-B for Xmas, the transition is complete and I have officially joined the ranks of the much reviled. (And about time too)

However, because of the abuse I will undoubtedly receive I have requested anonymity.

The AIM of the forum will be:

1) to show PHOTOS that are Lamma related;
This is not just about slapping a few pictures on a forum wall, otherwise we might get some idiot posting photos all the time & taking trollism to a deeper level. The idea will be to not only offer critique but to give a greater understanding of the lengths that people go to to get that photo, also the equipment & method of obtaining that image (F-Levels, DOF, Aperature, Sensitivity, G-Strings, Flashlights, Lenses, etc, etc). There are plenty of renowned, accomplished, and professional photographers on Lamma, but we never get anything from them, so we'll have to go it alone & do as best we can.
But then again, any old pictures will be welcome (Lamma relative).

2) to highlight MOVIES written, produced and directed by Lamma residents and/ or their Mums, or at least had a walk on part. Up for first review & possible showing at a bar near you (if they'll allow it), will be movies from the effervescent Mr. Bruce Baron...., if I can get any copies from him. Also, anybody that's had an affair with a movie star, or a relative of theirs, & were they any good. Reviews, recommendations of any movie will also be welcome.

The BAD NEWS.............

I bought my first camera 4 months ago & I haven't been to the movies for about 5 years.

And then there's the BURNING BUSH and the immortal words of Moses - "Okay, whose dumb idea was this?"

Wed, Dec 22: Typhoon Shelter Pavilion Completed

When the ferry from Central or Aberdeen enters Yung Shue Wan harbour, what's the new landmark that every tourist will notice? Yes, the just completed new pavilion in front of the typhoon shelter!

The access is still blocked off (opening ceremony pending), but I sneaked in anyway. A historic photo gallery of the construction is... under construction....

Tue, Dec 21: Adopt Me, Pleeeease!

Can you look into the beautiful yellow eyes of this healthy but homeless small kitten and not be moved to rush to the newly opened LAWC Centre on Back Street (ex-Scorpio Biz Centre) to adopt her right away?
(click to enlarge)

There are kittens in various colours & patterns, aged from a few weeks to 5 months, up for adoption or fostering now.

Photo gallery of the new LAWC Centre opening last weekend, Dec 19, 2004 (click to view).

Dr John Wedderburn has also moved his doctor's practice for human animals into the adjoining premises. If you're tired of the Lamma Clinic's pill-popping or tired of the long voyage to QMH for a simple test, try his friendly & convenient private practice and get professional advice to recover from your tiredness...

Afterwards, you can have a look at those cutesy kitties in the same building. Taking care of one of these very active felines could make you very tired again. So you'll have to return for more advice to recover from your tiredness.

A never-ending cycle... and a really tired joke...

Tue, Dec 21: Mademoiselle Hapifiou's Adventures on Lamma

I've just been contacted by another Lamma blog, by Mademoiselle Hapifiou, a new arrival on Lamma! It's in French, but simple enough to follow if you've had to suffer through French classes in school. The subtitle of her blog - run & hosted by the highly recommended Blogger - translates as "Simply the life, impressions, ideas & questions of a French woman who left to live in Hong Kong to take a new chance in her life!"

Looking at her blog recently, she's already made it over to Hung Shing Yeh beach (see her photo, right) and has mentioned the Lamma-zine Blog in her own blog:

"J'ai decouvert qu'il existait un site internet et un blog sur Lamma www.lamma.com.hk cree et mis a jour par Lamma-Gung que je n'ai pas encore eu le plaisir de rencontrer meme si ca ne saurait tarder! Lamma-Gung est le reporter photographe chroniqueur de l'ile. Il rencontre les gens, leur parle, les fait parler et parle d'eux! Attention alors a ce que l'on dit.... ;-) "

Summarised translation:

"I've discovered a website and blog about Lamma, created & updated daily by Lamma-Gung who I haven't met yet but hopefully soon! Lamma-Gung is the reporter, photographer, chronicler of the island. He meets people, talks to them, makes them talk and talks about them! Be careful what you tell him..."

All very true, ma chère mademoiselle Hapifiou, and you're next to be interviewed!

But I'm generally much more interested in "positive news" than any negative rumours & gossip which I try hard to avoid writing about.

If you can read French, check out her frequently updated fun blog with pictures!

P.S. Hapifiou's reaction when seeing this Blog entry: ;-))))))))))))))))))))))

Mon, Dec 20: The Self-Styled Online Voice of Yung Shue Wan?

The Best Message of the Day in the Lamma.com.hk forums was posted by Mr "Fortune Chan", teasing Lamma and me in several ways. I loved it and would like to share it with you:

Fortune Chan ("Official Court Poet of Lamma.com.hk") wrote:

I found this on the French Press Agency AFP, but I don't believe half of it. And anyway, what do the French know about fighting?

HONGKONG-VIOLENCE - PIES – 19/20/2004 - AFP

LAMMA ISLAND, Hong Kong (AFP) – Violence broke out in Yung Shue Wan on Wednesday night after an unidentified man ate the entire stock of freshly-made lamb and mint pies from the village bakery.

A series of vicious incidents quickly spread along the village’s main street as youths, who had spent the afternoon and early evening consuming happy hour priced beer, became angry when they realised they would not be tasting tender chunks of juicy lamb encased in a delicate pie crust for at least two days.

Baker, Tom Current McBun, was shocked at the events. “I cannee believe it” said the Scotsman, as he drank a pint of medicinal rum and ice. “This big fella came in the shop at around six, waving round a digital camera. He said he had come for the pies. He sounded like big Arnie outta Terminator. ‘Hand them over or I write bad thing’ he kept saying. I knew there would be trouble when the lads had nee pies to eat. The whole experience has been horrible and I’ve had to have a couple of extra large ones just to steady my kneading hand.”

Businesses in this normally docile inter-racial community quickly closed their doors as the hungry mob smashed eggs and threw rice and other non-perishable food items onto Lamma’s normally spotless streets. One elderly resident’s dog was hit with a dried salted fish and in another seemingly related incident; someone picked up a medium-sized mango from Ivy’s shop and threw it onto the pavement, causing thousands of dollars damage (to the mango).

“We must warn the foreign community to be careful,” said Sergeant Zephaniah Wong Fuk-mee of the Hong Kong Police’s Outer Island Tea and Sticky Buns Division. “When pieless youths have been drinking and start throwing eggs and dried fish we advise the foreign people to go away.”

A witness to the disorder was Count Nicoli Lovatt, long-time village resident and well-known purveyor of antique books. “Altamont. Pigs. Vegan. Free Lamma, squashed mango” said a distressed Lovatt.

Another longtime resident, entrepreneur Bob Cratchit, drinking in the Y2K Bar and Grill spoke for many of the island’s foreign community when he said: “F*** off you f***ing c*** and give me some Charlie.”

Community workers, local politicians and Lamma’s fast-reaction paramedic unit worked tirelessly through the night to clear the devastation away from the village streets in time for the morning rush hour.

“We work only to serve the community that elected us” said Fung Bung-dosh, head of the Yung Shue Wan Self-Serving committee. “The events of the last few days have been shocking but we must learn from incidents like this. Indeed, we can show the world what words like 'community', 'care' and 'concrete' mean on Lamma. We have set up an emergency kitchen on the football pitch to make an extra 10,000 lamb pies a day and we will be distributing them to the bars and pubs throughout the Christmas period.”

Late last night, "Lamma-Gung", the self-styled online voice of Yung Shue Wan, was unavailable for comment.

ENDS.

This message has made me really hungry to try one of these lamb and mint pies in the Village Bakery! Never had one so far! Fortune Chan's promotional writings really work!

Sun, Dec 19: Successful Treasure Hunters

Fresh from my new 2nd-hand Nikon Coolpix 5400 digicam, the latest photos from the hugely successful Treasure Hunt today, starting/ending in the Island Bar.

17 teams entered and all got prizes. A considerable amount of cash has been raised for Operation Santa Claus, a lot more than in previous years!

Plus, Harry Harrison was signing his recently published books "The Dirty Story" and "Harry's View". He dedicated my copy to me, "who gets more abuse than Tung Chee Hwa. Well done!", referring to some Fight Club controversies, where I recently resigned as moderator.

The Treasure Hunt winners will get cartoons by Harry!

Click photos to enlarge. Photo gallery is ready as well!
Q & A of the Treasure Hunt will be posted here ASAP.

Sun, Dec 19: Another Busy Lamma Sunday

As an amateur Roving Reporter all over Lamma, weekends are my busiest time of the week. So many events to cover with photos shoots and interviews!

I have to be selective about what would be most interesting for the Lamma-zine Blog readers. 5 major event choices today, Lammaites are often spoilt for choice where to go on weekends! Click for details!

Treasure Hunt for Operation Santa Claus
Book signing by Harry Harrison (cartoonist)
LAWC Shop Opening
Sunday Roasts in Diesel's, Bookworm and the Lamma Bistro.
Carols under the Moonlight (Life restaurant, Bookworm offspring in Soho, Central)

Sat, Dec 18: Exhibition Opening Photo Shoot

The opening reception for Deirdre's paintings exhibition (see Dec 16) attracted a fascinating, mixed crowd of people, including a number of Lammaites.

Can you spot most of them?

Click here for my Photo Gallery of the Opening Reception in the Fringe Club!

If you need somebody to take pictures at your party or big event, for a very modest fee, contact me! If they can be published in the Lamma-zine, then the shoot will be free!

Fri, Dec 17: Malicious Wounding Incident

Ming Pao News, Thu Dec 16, wrote:

A Lamma man was fighting for his life after being attacked in a malicious wounding incident at Yung Shue Wan on Wednesday night. The man was apparently stabbed on his back with a screwdriver during the incident, and he was still receiving treatment at Queen Mary Hospital on Thursday morning.

The 27 year-old victim, surnamed Ko, received a severe wound on his back, a nosebleed probably caused by being punched as well as several wounds on his abdomen area and arms.

The incident happened at 9pm last night. According to witnesses’ accounts, Ko approached a Filipino male, who was using the ATM, at Yung Shue Wan Main Street, and a heated argument broke out between the two. The Filipino male was later seen fleeing the scene after throwing what is believed to be a screwdriver into the sea. Ko was found lying on the ground and bleeding seriously at the same time. He lost consciousness when he was sent to the North Lamma Clinic for emergency treatment, and was later transferred by helicopter to Hong Kong Island for further treatment.

The Police are looking for a fleshy Filipino man, about 5’5”, who is believed to be involved in the incident.

Ko was still receiving treatment at Queen Mary Hospital on Thursday morning.

Thu, Dec 16: 'from separation to individuation...'

The Lamma-zine Artist of the Month for December is opening her exhibition in the Fringe Club tonight. I've designed the poster (on the left), photographed the paintings, built the website for the exhibition, done e-marketing and will shoot the opening reception tonight. Yes, my company Compunicate! provides a wide range of design, photography, website & publishing services!

If you're interested in paintings, come tonight to the Fringe Club in Central and meet the artist, Deirdre Butler, who lives in Luk Chau. She's also organising the great Healing Art Workshops, featured recently in the Lamma-zine. Her highly recommended exhibition continues 'til Dec 30. Check out my little exhibition website: www.lamma.com.hk/deirdre.

Wed, Dec 15: C U N L Years?

Hand-written thank-you note from Nick to everybody who attended his Big 5-0 birthday party on Dec 11:

Nick the Bookman wrote:

Well, it was one "L" of a party last night. Big thanx to everyone who came. Special mentions to Prafull + The Gang at the Deli Lamma for being such wonderful hosts (What really happened with the cake?)

(Editor's note: Allegedly, it ended up in Prafull's face?).

Thanks to Parksy and Phil for the equipment and setting it all up. The joint was jumping (and people were dancing, too). A flip of the disc to Sam, Noi, Pat (?) and Phil for coming and playing. Good mix of tunes to keep everyone happy.

Thanks for the donations to LAWC. May help keep some randy bitches off the street!

C U N L Years?

(Editor's translation: "See You in 50 Years?"
L is the Roman numeral for 50).

Any offers for Nick's original hand-written note, as a donation to LAWC? Email me!

Tue, Dec 14: The Dog Lady of Luk Chau

Early morning walk from YSW to Luk Chau, via Hung Shing Yeh and the Youth Hostel, visiting a future Lamma Artist of the Month (this Blog: Dec 16).

I encountered a pack of big dogs running free, some of them muzzled, but all quite friendly, healthy & very active, all looking for adoption!

Quite a few steps behind, a white-haired lady with even more dogs on leashes entangling her all round: my first-ever in-person encounter with the famous, but quite reclusive Dog Lady of Luk Chau.

She's been featured in the SCMP Post Magazine just a few months ago: 24 Hours with Sally Andersen (click for interview).

She's so well-protected by so many dogs (only 16 this morning, but it can go as high as 30), all rescued from various shelters from being destroyed. She's trying to find homes for them via her charity HK Dog Rescue (which gets free Lamma-zine advertising, like all charities/worthy causes).

Sally is a true Laudable Lamma Luminary and my Lammaite of the Day!

Mon, Dec 13: Power Outage in Yung Shue Wan

If you live in Yung Shue Wan, you might have experienced the total power blackout in the evening of Dec 7? It hasn't happened in several years and having one of HK's main power stations just on the other side of the Kam Lo Hom hill, we're spoilt by an always reliable & stable power supply.

Most of us wouldn't be living here without reliable air cons, fridges, TVs, PCs and other mod cons. YSW only got connected to the power grid when the HK Electric Power Station was built in the 80s.

Similarly, our reliable, clean water supply, many new roads, tens of thousands of trees, shops, restaurants and a lot of the infrastructure we take for granted. Much of it was mainly set up to support the Power Station, but benefits everybody living here nowadays.

Some of us might not like a Power Station (click for info) in our backyard, but without it, YSW today would be a lot like other rural fishing villages on the Outlying Islands, not places where expats love to live in:

a quasi-rural idyll like YSW, but with all the mod cons of city living. We're actually very lucky to have some of the best of both worlds here.

But looking at my monthly electricity bill (soon to increase by 6.5 percent, pending govt. approval!), there's a high price to pay for all these mod cons!

OK, enough opinionated rambling for now, back to the topic:

So there I was, working on my Blog article for Dec 7 when - Zap! - it all went black!

I was lucky, only losing about half an hour's worth of work. Funnily enough, I was actually processing a beautiful sunset harbour panorama at the time, including the three landmark smokestacks of the Power Station! See Dec 7 article below.

I was wondering what had happened and asked HK Electric for a statement to the Lamma-zine. Their always friendly & helpful Public Affairs Dept. replied quickly:

Ms Esme Lau, Public Affairs Manager (Media & Community) - HK Electric Holdings, wrote:

Subject: Power outage in YSW

Some areas in Yung Shu Wan were affected by a power outage at 8.24 p.m. on 7 December which resulted from an equipment fault causing the switchgear at HEC's Tin Wan Zone Substation to trip.

Switching operations were immediately carried out and electricity supply to the affected areas was restored seven minutes later. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Interesting Factoid: The power generated by the Power Station actually flows to HK Island first (see left, click to enlarge) and then returns via submarine cables back to Lamma, for several technical reasons!

More factoids, insights & my photos from inside the Power Station to follow soon, as soon as I can get myself booked on an official "media sightseeing tour", after my great "private familiarisation visit" in there just a few months ago.

Sun, Dec 12: Beware of Pet Poisoning!

Exercise proper control of your dog(s) with leash and/or muzzle.

Bring along food and water for your pet when you go out.

Consult your veterinarian if your pet starts to behave abnormally.

Report to police (2982 0251) if you suspect that your pet has been poisoned.

Disclaimer: Another message brought to you by our friendly local police force. Click on TALKBACK! to learn more about recent pet poisoning cases.

Sat, Dec 11: Nick's Big 5-0 Party!

Can you believe it? Extremely popular local icon, Laudable Lamma Luminary and mascot of Lamma.com.hk (see left navigation menu) Nick the Bookman turning 50? Many of his friends have been turning 50 as well recently (Mr DickStock, for example). It's like a generation shift on Lamma, local celebrities officially entering the silver age of life.

Nick is playing DJ at his own birthday party in the Deli Lamma - tonight after 9pm. Always surrounded by his lively pack of dogs - most of them strays he's saved - he's asking people to donate to the LAWC pet charity instead of buying him drinks & presents!

Expect big crowds in the Deli tonight!

In the meantime, have a look at Nick's website I created & his Rogues' Gallery:

Credits: Title of this Blog entry is courtesy of Mr President. The photos are from various photographers in Nick's photo gallery: signature shot in the upper left from HK Magazine; up-your-beard photo was shot by Mr DickStock and entered into a FCC photo competition.

Fri, Dec 10: 11 Years of Deli-cious Lamma Food

Happy 11th Birthday to the Deli Lamma on Yung Shue Wan Main Street! They're celebrating tonight and will offer Happy Hour prices & free snacks all day & night.

Click on the banner above for my Deli photo gallery, showing their wine tasting on Feb 28 this year. Two local friends of mine met at that event for the first time and now they're engaged! The Deli has always been a great place for meeting new people, my friends are not the only lucky ones. The bar is especially popular late at night.

Owner Prafull and his friendly long-time staff are doing a fine job offering great Indian, French, Italian, English and American food, in-door or al fresco. Click the typical dishes above to enlarge. It's a quiet place for a big breakfast, a reasonably-priced long lunch, a romantic place for sunset watching and a good spot for a late-night snack.

It's also a popular birthday party venue, it seems! For example, tomorrow they'll celebrate the 50th birthday charity party of Nick the Bookman, Sat night, Dec 11!

Disclaimer: All photos shot by myself (Lamma-Gung), as usual for ALL non-credited photos.

The Deli Lamma is a long-time Lamma-zine advertiser, but the above reflects my honest opinions and is NOT a paid advertorial (even though it sounds like one. ;-)

Thu, Dec 9: Footloose Yolanda in a Striking & Stunning Stance

Yolanda - today's Lammaite of the Day - in a striking & stunning stance during her recent starring & singing show-stopping performance in the HK Youth Arts Festival's musical production of "Footloose".

Living on Lamma since the age of one, Yolanda seems happiest on the stage. According to people who have enjoyed her spirited performances & admire her numerous talents (including languages & kickboxing), there could be a stellar career ahead of her... Let's wish her all the best: Break a leg!

Eight very successful & popular performances in "English with Cantonese" have been held in the HK Arts Centre Nov 22-27. "Footloose jumps with spirit, dazzling dance numbers and an electrifying musical score." Photos from HKYAF, click to enlarge:

Wed, Dec 8: R U X'mas Shopping 4 BBs?

Advertorial: Have you finished your Christmas shopping already? Leaving it to the last minute is as common on Lamma Island as anywhere else, but when we finally get around to it, we Lammaites can be most generous to our loved ones.

Still looking for presents for your toddlers & babies and would like to get them delivered to your home on "Fertility Island" well before Christmas Day? Online shopping is the easy answer! GeoBaby.com (part of GeoExpat) has a special Lamma-zine discount for the visitors of Lamma.com.hk. Click above or at the top of this page and specify "lammazine" at checkout to receive your special discount. Enjoy!

Tue, Dec 7: Panorama Lammarama Sunset!

On my birthday, Dec 3, there was the most amazing sunset I've admired in months. Here's a panoramic 180-degree photo I stitched together of Yung Shue Wan harbour.

Note the tourists left and right of me, taking pictures as well.

Click photos to enlarge or click here: L, XXL.

Mon, Dec 6: The Energetic Photonics Family

While coming back from my birthday lunch below I took this night view of the Ap Lei Chau residential towers in Aberdeen, shaking the camera while shooting in sunset mode with long exposure time. While fiddling around with a few different Photoshop filters, a few members of the Photonics visualised themselves, a family of pure energy beings emerging from their Cyberspace habitat. New mascots for Hongkong Electric, maybe?

Sun, Dec 5: Birthday Lunch in Cococabana

Yesterday we celebrated my birthday by re-visiting Cococabana Restaurant in Mo Tat Wan, 10 minutes by ferry from So Kwu Kwan or 20 minutes from Aberdeen. Here are some of the game dishes ("Menu de Chasse") from what I personally consider the very best non-Chinese restaurant on all of Lamma Island (click to enlarge):

Disclaimer: Cococabana is a long-term advertiser in the Lamma-zine. Most of this truly great but also truly expensive meal was paid for via an advertising barter deal.

Sat, Dec 4: Romans on Power Station Beach?

Sat, Dec 4: Sexy-Looking Men Wanted for Photo Shoot!

Message of the Day from BBChris - "Miss Lamma.com.hk":

"LADIES! Maybe you can help me out with this - would your respective husbands/boyfriends/brothers/lovers/ friends be interested? Chance for fame & glory! Details below. See you on Lamma!

GUYS! Sounds great on your 'bio'. hahahahha

On Saturday, there's a film crew coming over to Lamma for an indie film about music and there's going to be one shot on Power Station Beach. The crew are wondering if I can get any sexy good-looking men to be on the beach - hahaha! It's a non-profit film so no money can be paid out and everyone working on the movie is volunteering (from shooting - editing!).

I'll post on the Lamma forum also. Let's see if Lamma has any good looking-men... Shame I didn't put up any posters on Lamma this week...

I hope you can help mention something in your blog? Just to turn up at 1:30pm on Power Station Beach, call me if they're not sure!"

Yes, BBChris, it's my great pleasure to promote this photo shoot! Let me add on this little picture above that YOU submitted in my Lamma Photo Contest (all photos or winners only) last year, titled "Studs of Lamma". And there might even be a picture of a well-known Lamma beach babe as well, submitted by a friend of yours for the same contest...

Fri, Dec 3: Dangerous New High-Voltage Sonic Creations!

Sonya:

"The organisers of Lamma Fun Day 2004 would like to invite all you Funkadelics to come funk the night away with local afro-beat and funk band NUDE, bringing some dangerous new high-voltage sonic creations and unleashing a fresh set of originals and obscure covers in their first performance since their high-voltage performance at the Rockit Festival.

Special guests DJ Simon Pang and DJ Drayfus!

All proceeds received at the door will go towards the Child Welfare Scheme, helping to provide for and educate impoverished children of Nepal. The goal for this year is to donate a combined total of $100,000 to CWS. With the huge success of Lamma Fun Day ($95,000), we're almost there! Please help us reach our target! Look forward to seeing you there!"

For more info, call 6187 2280 or 9309-0701.

Kevin: "Thanks, Gung! If you feel like putting it on the homepage blog next week, we'd really appreciate it.

You're doing really great things with the Web site -- keeps us all busy when we should be working!"

L-G: "As you're asking so nicely and even include a compliment, how could I resist your request to put the Funkraiser into the home page blog next week! Plus, I might put your message into the Blog as well, hehehe...

As one of the Fun Day organisers I'd do this anyway. But even more so, as the Funkraiser is taking place exactly on my birthday. I always secretly hoped that it was actually in my honour, my birthday concert & party, no? Or is this just one of my usual delusions of grandeur? See you all there!"

Thu, Dec 2: Floating Thai Lanterns in Yung Shue Wan Harbour

Did you participate in this year's commercialised version of the traditional Thai Floating Lantern Festival, Loy Krathong, on Fri, Nov 26?

A beautiful event, organised by our active local Thai community, centred around the Aroy Thai, Thai Thai and Man Fung Seafood restaurants.

Click here or on the photos for the Loy Krathong 2004 photo gallery, or check out last year's photos. One of the lanterns floating in the harbour caught fire from its burning candle, making it especially festive at night.

It was a most memorable & beautiful event, bringing the local Chinese & Thai communities closer together

Wed, Dec 1: Your Ad On This Home Page?

A new month and new ad banners at the top of this page.

This Blog is supported by advertising, so let's take this opportunity for a little house ad. Obviously, the top of this page is the best advertising spot in this website. We're getting over 1 million hits/ month now; a lot for a little community website on an island with less than 10,000 inhabitants, many of whom cannot read English.

If you are interested in displaying your ad here, check out the rate card and contact me anytime! For ad banners of at least 3 months, I'm adding the following:

a free month (3+1, 5+2, 8+4 free months!),
a free ad web page, linked from your ad banner, like a micro website,
a free advertorial in this Blog, something like this:

Welcome to our brand-new advertiser above who's starting to tutor "Speech Drama and Communication" classes on Lamma now, based on the Trinity Guildhall method, helping your children, 6-16 years, to become "confident communicators".

Click here or on the masks to contact them and find out more. Very highly recommended!

Lamma-zine Blog started on Sep 1, 2004, and will be updated frequently with anything related to Lamma Island or its residents, be it news, events or photos.

Contact Lamma-Gung with anything relevant to Lamma that you'd like to see published on this home page!

Posts from all former months are stored in the Blog Archives, see below.

All photos, text & graphics by Lamma-Gung, if not otherwise credited.

At the end of each month, the best of this Lamma News Blog will be collected and published in the Lamma-zine, together with many other additional original contributions. Free subscriptions!

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Blog Archives 2004: Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

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2008: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr