This story, written by former
Pak Kok resident
Nicholas Binge and
just published in the UK newspaper
The Guardian, ignited a
firestorm of comments on
Twitter,
Facebook and our local,
buzzing, extremely helpful "Pak
Kok Families"
WhatsApp group.
A few quotes from
The Guardian's story:
"...the greener and sleepier
island of Lamma. Many who visit
fall in love with its old-world
charm. No chain shops or
restaurants. No cars, the
winding paths not large enough
to support them."
"We had to organise food a
week in advance. Takeaways or
popping to a bar were a thing of
the past. But it
was beautiful. Standing on our
rooftop, looking out at the
sunrise over the ocean, and
listening to the choruses of
croaking frogs and warbling
tropical birds –made everything
else seem inconsequential."
"The nearest person
approximating to a medical
professional was a hefty walk
away, through dense jungle, up
an absurdly steep rise the
locals affectionately nicknamed
Heart-Attack Hill."
"We bought cheese like it
was an illicit drug deal,
texting a man nearby how many
grams we needed and exchanging
it for cash through his window."
"Allys had to be induced.
The birth was going to happen in
the hospital and not in a
helicopter or on a police boat."
"We started seeing dangers
that we had previously ignored:
spiders bigger than your face
built webs across pathways at
almost exactly the height of a
baby carrier;
bamboo pit
vipers so venomous that, if
bitten, you'd need to be
immediately airlifted to
hospital to stand a chance of
surviving.
One afternoon, I
came home to find such a snake
wrapped around the handle of our
front door."
"Peace and quiet began to
look like isolation. Privacy and
remoteness became inconvenience
and frustration. Natural beauty
became potential danger."
Best comment so far from
Andrew Mumford:
"It's amazing that for so
many years people have lived on
Lamma quite happily, raised
families, had jobs and prospered
yet all this time it's been a
remote, wild, toxic health
hazard with minimal cheese.
Hell!"
P.S. Most
Facebook comments ever on my
post:
Apr 29:
The Flower Man
Ewa writes:
"Chilling with a cuppa!
The man behind the Hippies or is
it the Hippies behind the man!
Thank you again for bringing so
much joy to the Lamma Community
and especially the Tai Peng
Community Garden, Geoff
Smith!"
Apr 22:
"Power Interruption
Triggered by
Spare Cable"
"A fault in HK Electric's power
system in the early morning of
19 April 2023 resulted in power
interruption to some customers
in many parts of Hong Kong
Island. From the Company's
preliminary investigation, it is
believed that the incident was
related to an unrecorded spare
cable and on-site operation
procedures.
This cable was accidentally
connected to the power system
after switchgear maintenance
causing a short circuit. This
triggered the automatic
protection mechanism in the
power supply system to operate
and affected electricity supply.
The power interruption took
place at 00:49 and the power
supply was fully restored in 48
minutes.
The
generating units in Lamma Power
Station also experienced voltage
fluctuation but resumed normal
operation shortly."
Read more...
P.S. April 24:
HK Electric's Latest Response on
Power Interruption Incident:
"In response to recent media
enquiries and reports, HK
Electric has the following
clarifications to make...."
Apr 21:
Social Sundays Getting Social
Again
Apr 20:
What's This?
Some mysterious objects appearing
on outside walls and behind outdoor
washing machines recently.
What are these football-size,
natural constructions appearing at the
start of our muggy, rainy Spring
season? Lots of scary
possibilities, triggering a
lively discussion...
Apr 19:
Nick the Photo Model
Remember this iconic-O photo from
last year?
Wesley, a
retired professional
photographer ("wesley
photography") has returned
recently for even more photo fun!
Apr 15:
Bauhinia Spirit Arrives
"Hong Kong's First FSRU
(Floating Storage and
Regasification Unit) Vessel
Weighs Anchor as Offshore LNG
Terminal Prepares to Go into
Service.
An offshore liquefied
natural gas (LNG) terminal is
being jointly developed by CLP
Power and HK Electric to support
Hong Kong's energy transition.
This FSRU vessel will be used to
receive, store, and regasify LNG
arrived in Hong Kong. The FSRU vessel will
sail to the offshore LNG
terminal east of the Soko
Islands next week soon for the final
commissioning of the project
later this year.
The FSRU vessel, which will
be named Bauhinia Spirit, is the
world's largest with an overall
length of 345 metres and a
storage capacity of 263,000m3 of
LNG."
Joint press release by HK
Electric and CLP
Launch of HK's First
Offshore LNG Terminal Project
Apr 14: "Why did I stop living
here?"
Isaac Bertulis-Webb
writes:
"Oh yeah: when I dipped in
2020 my local beach was taped
off due to COVID, the National
Security Law had just dropped,
and I remember begrudging the
feeling that I was on some sort
of permanent vacation, the
blissful ignorance becoming
harder to maintain.
Thus,
returning for a holiday is
probably the most tempting way
to experience Lamma again. It
was wonderful seeing everyone,
and wandering along the hills
with the bulbuls whirring
overhead it's impossible to
remain uncaptivated.
I felt
drunk the entire time; either
from failing to run the gauntlet
of the main street
establishments, or purely on the
vibe. I don’t think there's
anywhere quite like it on Earth.
If anyone does know, please tell
me, else I'm bound to return.
More 'proper' pics to come but
here's some iPhone ones in the
meantime."
Apr 13:
ChatGPT, Tell Me About
Lamma-Gung
ChatGPT:
"Lamma-Gung was a well-known and
beloved figure on Lamma Island
in Hong Kong. He was born in
1915 and lived on the island for
most of his life....
Lamma-Gung was also widely
respected for his selflessness
and generosity. He was known to
be incredibly kind and would
often provide food, clothing,
and other necessities to those
in need.
He was particularly
dedicated to helping the elderly
and disabled, and he was a
tireless advocate for preserving
the island's cultural heritage
and traditional way of life...."
ChatGPT is "hallucinating" many
of the "facts" it tells about
me and Lamma Island, making up an
astonishing number of total
BS stories, for example about
2 local public swimming pools
and even supermarkets. It's got
a long way to go to replace
search engines...
ChatGPT's got quite a nice,
generic description about Lamma
as a
good place to retire:
"Lamma Island can be a great
place to retire if you're
looking for a peaceful and
laid-back lifestyle in a natural
setting. The island is known for
its relaxed atmosphere,
beautiful scenery, and strong
sense of community...."
Apr 12:
Doubling Ferry Fares!?
From
HK01 news today:
"Transport Department is
processing applications for fare
increases for 10 licensed ferry
routes. Among them, the three
outlying island routes operated
by Hong Kong Kowloon Ferry,
namely
Central to Yung
Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan,
applied for a
100% price
increase.
Transport
Department further revealed that
it was processing applications
for fare increases for 10
licensed ferry routes and 124
minibus routes."
Local protests and a signature
campain have started, this one
outside the Rural Council
building by
Lamma District Councillor
Ting-Ting. Photos
by Lammaite
Tom Grundy:
Apr 11:
Pak Kok vs. YSW
How's our little village Pak
Kok, less than 10 minutes from
YSW by ferry, different from
Lamma's largest village and
"commercial hub", Yung Shue Wan?
Just 2 recent pictures
to illustrate:
Our
brand-new "bike park" and the
almost-new ferry pier with a
single passenger waiting for the
ferry. The sheer opposites of
hyper-busy YSW ferry pier and
bike park.
The HK Govt. spent $72+ million
on this pier for our few hundred
residents, plus the occasional
weekend hikers/ family/
fishermen/ visitors. But we're
worth it! ;~}
No shops in all of Pak Kok
(except the very basic shop
close to ferry pier, open just a
few hours/day), no restaurants,
no services, NO TOURISTS!
Apr 10:
Flower Show @ Tai Peng Community
Garden
Photo collage by
Lorraine Sewell. Many thanks!
Plus the more modest flower show
in my balcony garden, turning
more and more into my Balcony
Jungle:
Hippeastrums I grew from seeds,
which I harvested from bulbs
originating in the garden above.
Just takes a few years to grow
these iconic "Lamma Hippie"
flowers from seeds, but Lamma's
gardeners have lots of patience.
Apr 9:
Happy Easter!
Apr 5:
Fun Day Launch Party!
Lamma Fun Day 2023 - Saturday 18
November
Apr 4:
Canto Opera Is Back!
May 10-14, '23: Cantonese
Opera in
YSW Football court
during Tin Hau Festival
Building a Cantonese Opera
Bamboo Arena
Apr 3:
AI-Monitored Power Cables
HK Electric is using AI to find
problems in their 6,800 km of
underground electricity cables,
so they can be monitored all the
time, finding problems early,
guaranteeing their 99.9999%
reliable power supply.
More info...
Apr 2:
Celebrating the Start of
Spring
More Lamma Logos...
Apr 1:
Lamma
VV Show
Pavillion Roadhouse - Lamma
Island
writes:
"You asked, you begged, and now
it's happening.
Lamma Island's
first ever VV Show. Starts 8am Saturday morning.
"Check out the Hottest
Village Vehicles on the Island.
Lucky door prizes plus special
prizes for Loudest VV, Oldest VV
& the special VV Mods category."
You wouldn't want to miss the
very noisy, piercing sounds of
the "VV iron-rod speed-dragging"
competition, drowning out the
cheers/jeers of the onlookers!
The current VV race through YSW
Main Street has hit a traffic
jam of 5 VVs (still the only
motorised traffic permitted on
all of Lamma).
The award for "Best Modifications"
went to this sofa taxi VV a few
years back!
Two winners from former years:
Innovation award for this
aquatic VV and the award for the
youngest driver (one of my
step-grandsons, ahem).
This might happen to the
losers/crashes of the VV races: dumped
unceremoniously on a surviving
VV and carted off to the dump or
even lifted off the pier onto a
cargo boat to be shipped to a
landfill. Better luck next year!
P.S. By the way, the
record for most people riding a
single VV still stands at 8.
I've only witnessed 6 people
myself years ago and 4 people
just the other day.
VVs are
forbidden to take any
passengers, so who will be
daring (or stupid) enough to
break this long-standing record?
