For a car-free island we have quite a wide variety
of options to move around. Instead of our popular online
discussions about individual transport (bikes, skateboards,
skatebikes, village vehicles, prams),
we'll focus on the more unusual multi-user
transport options on Lamma:
taking a Sunday outing on a sailboat, cheering on
the dragonboaters, fighting for late ferries, risking life in a
sampan, riding a Lamma mini-ambulance, flying in a helicopter to
hospital... it's all in this issue - the biggest ever - and so
much more! Read & enjoy!
On
the local dining scene, after mentioning the closing of three
restaurants in the last e-zine, two have celebrated their
re-openings:
Offime re-opening as My Café;
and Y2K re-opening as...Y2K,
run by two two Westerners now. It has just been redecorated and
looks MUCH friendlier/inviting now. Big crowds at their
re-opening party on Feb 21, maybe because of the free drinks?
Anastasia's has re-opened last weekend, as an
arts & crafts shop (see left), run by relatives of Thai
Thai Food(Satay place vis-a-vis My Café), imaginatively
named Thai Thai 2.
There are unconfirmed rumours that Holiday
Moodin Main Street might re-open very soon as well!
Hopefully another tasty addition to our local, quite international
dining scene! You can post reviews
and give ratings to all these new places. Also, the
Best pub on Lamma poll is still active!
Did
you register for the Village Representative Elections from
Mar 1-21? Living in the same village for 3 years and a permanent
resident? You're entitled to vote! After 6 years, you can stand for
election as Resident Representative. I've asked a few
Westerners to stand, but nobody's been daring and self-confident
enough to take on this challenge! This would definitely stir up the
sticky mud of local politics...
Another Laudable Lamma Luminary has been granted the great
(but unpaid) honour of being made official HK
Correspondent for
Coolgrrrls.com, being featured on their home page. Here's
her biography, obviously written by herself:
hong kong @ nite
Multi-coloured hair & floral tattoos,
deemed a classy rock goddess by Hong Kong journalists – bbchris
grabs at life’s opportunities – one of which is to write about
the HK music scene for coolgrrrls.
Living a nearly vegan existence in a meat and money
orientated society, bbchris will swing her Fender around
town, plus a handy digi-camera to bring you a taste of this
fast-paced city. Bbchris conveys an explosive energy when on
stage and is the most intimidating HK female musician at
present. Having a Chinese mother & English father has truly
warped bbchris – one of her Cantonese songs won the "Best
Alternative Song" at the 2001 Golden Sail Awards – a local
prestigious event organized by C.A.S.H. (Composers Authors
Society of Hong Kong) – the local equivalent of ASCAP/PRS etc.
– yet all the press could comment on was the leopard-skin
bra she was wearing…
While
talking about this Luminary, would you like to see a sneak
preview of her co. website I just designed, with its amazingly
wide range of products (see right)?
But her mother "chanced upon another designer" while
I was completing my designs!
So I got scrapped! {Sniffle! Boohoo!} So,
do NOT click on the menu, please!
One last celebrity news:
Our
Official Court Artist of My Lamma was scheduled for an
Official Court Visit to Lamma this month from his self-imposed
exile in the Philippines.
He still doesn't dare to admit to being afraid of
SARS and all my attempts to lure him to Lamma have failed so far.
Chicken!
Well, I'll just keep posting embarrassing pictures
of him (see above left, copied from his own website),
till he gives in and graces Lamma with
his most welcome artistic, articulate, artificial, artsy-craftsy
presence again!
Last but not least, please suggest more local
"celebrities" for future e-zine interviews! All kinds of
feedback & creative submissions (text, photos, art) are, as
always, most welcome!
Hiya!!!
It's really amazing that the Lamma ppl has such an excellent
network!
k@
(ex-Lammaite & "Lamma Oldsters" moderator):
I think your e-zine is fine as it is.
I will try to think of some gimmick for the site but nothing
is jumping out at me just now.
webdog
(Site Admin):
The long awaited e-zine shows you haven't
been sleeping all these days.
Well dotted with interesting pictures and witty comments.
Great work!
The Stick Insect Hunter (being announced as Official Court Artist):
What can I say. I am flattered. Thank
you.
I'll try to whip up Dan's caricature right away.
I don't want to flunk my very first job.
I am perfectly happy with my title.
La Miglione (Moderator of "Hang-ups & Hangovers"):
i think it is a very useful contribution
for anybody who is trying to follow the web page and can use
your ezine as a sort of red threat, and i admire and applaud
you for doing this sort of summing up which i never could.
BBChris
(Miss Lamma.com.hk):
No one would be upset if there was no
ezine btw..... I think it's kind of a low priority for
people.... I thought this week's headline was great
"DanKwaiFong - Bastard or Tycoon" hahahahahahhahaha
La Brasileira:
Je voulais juste te feliciter pour ton
site, tes photos qui sont superbes.
A
very fashionable local resident. Guess who? (Click for a
close-up!)
I'm planning a Lamma Fashion feature and this is the first
supermodel parading down our very own catwalk: Main Street! You're
most welcome to submit "fashionable", cool and especially uncool
pictures of your friends & foes...
•
Username
Nolie G: She contacted My Lamma looking
for friends of her late father, DJ Neil Gordon, "Scottish
Neil", who died under tragic circumstances last June on
Powerstation Beach. Several people responded, even sending her
mementoes and DJ mixes on CD in her father's memory.
Did YOU
know him well? Left, a view from his favourite spot.
Nolie might visit Lamma later this year from her home in Scotland.
Instead of joining the general panic, I'll focus more on the
lighter side of SARS, see below.
Despite two false rumours (I've checked them out), North Lamma is
still a SARS-free zone. Knock on wood!
(Above:
DIY tips for free, recycled
facemasks, from e.)
(Right:
guess who?)
(Below
right: new Avatars for e and webdog)
Above: "No half measures for
Lamma regulars"
Customers and staff at
the
Spicy Island bar in Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island,
joined thousands across Hong Kong taking precautions to keep
the pneumonia bug at bay - in their own way. It was business
as usual for landlord Kumar Binney, and customer Tom
Jamieson (left) wasn't going to let a health scare come
between him and his cigarette.
"I'm wearing the mask because I prefer not to take any risks.
Anyway, the cigarette tastes better like this. Drinking my
pint's a bit tricky though, but practice will make perfect,"
he said.
(report and photo: Steve Cray, SCMP, 29 March, 2003)
The
last word on this fearful-but-often-silly topic, from our famous
Paparazzi reporter:
The question is have any of you caught
some rice? I would congratulate if you do,
because it proves the following:
You are well informed of the latest
breakouts, in a timely manner.
You have a friend (yes, how nice!)
who cares for your well-being.
You are healthy, because otherwise you
wouldn't be strong enough to carry 20 kgs of rice and 100
cans of luncheon meat, not to mention the bulk packs of salt
and sugar.
You are brave and determined,
highly mobilised and always prepared for the worst.
A
massive, 4-full-pages feature "Leisure Trip to Lamma" was published
in the Apple Daily newspaper on Sat, 29 Mar.
Contact me for a copy of this Chinese feature.
It
focused on "Quality of Life", featuring the "Best of YSW",
interviewing many local celebrities like Farmer Eo, Green
Cottage Ron, Diesel's Moloy, Nadia(from
"Nadia's"),
Ms. Cake Express Shelly,Ken The Bookworm
and our Unofficial Mayor Nick
The Bookman. Besides promoting his books & moving
businesses, Nick managed to get his e-mail
address and
website highlighted in his large section, causing all-time
record traffic to Lamma.com.hk!
Expect even more local tourists to flood onto our shores soon on
weekends!
Plus,
a German filmcrew was moving through YSW Main Street on the
same day, filming an episode of the very popular German soap opera
"Das Traumschiff" (The Dreamboat). Here you can see
them filming a kissing scene and relaxing afterwards in the
Lamma Bistro, after I practised my German on them.
Their
ultra-luxurious cruiseship left our harbour on Sat night,
continuing its journey around the world for this TV series that has
been running for about 20 years. Last time they were in HK, a few
years back, it was for Chinese New Year...
•Contributor
As
always, all your contributions are most welcome for future
e-zines: photos, multimedia,
gossip, stories, ideas, all charitable & good causes, crazy &
serious stuff, anything
goes,
as long as it's somehow Lamma-related!
E-mail me!
•
Message
The Stick Insect Hunter (a
romantic poem for his beloved Mac laptop):
Hey my computer
didn't recognize me anymore.
I swear I don't
have another computer besides it.
Well actually I
do.
I have 8
computers but this my favoured and it knows it.
I do all my
cybersex on this one.
It's so cute.
Mac titanium, very slim very sexy.
•
Flame
Way
too many flames & personal attacks on My Lamma this month! I'm
discontinuing the "Best Flame" topic, as we've decided to follow
the old bulletin board wisdom of ignoring flamers:
"Don't feed the trolls!", as they'll bite you anyway!
www.jollily.com: Intensive
courses for learning to play the piano, located in Main Street. It
has a great Q&A about many of the usual excuses for not learning a
musical instrument: "I'm too old, unmusical, tone-deaf, busy,
don't like exams,...".
Let's start with a few recent events you
might have missed, but might want to look out for the next time
they happen:
Mar 15, 9pm, Island Bar:Gaelic Gall:
We expected them to perform in the same costume as on the poster,
but it was a bitter disappointment! Fine & happy music, but all the
Gaelic lads were fully dressed! False advertising!
We
were hoping that the Island Bar would start up a Ladies-only
Night with a male striptease performance, like Diesel's
sell-out fun event a few months ago...
In
the meantime, Aroy Thai has started a Ladies-only pool
Night every Tuesday! Any Full Monty planned, male strippers
dancing on top of your nice pool table (see left), Mr.
DanKwaiFong?
On a
related topic: some photos of real Naked
Chefs, submitted by BBChris!
Mar 16, 7pm: outside Green Cottage:
Candlelight Vigil for Peace in Iraq:
It
didn't work out, unfortunately, but it's the thought that counts...
Mar
17-18, 5-7:30pm, YSW Ferry Pier:
Meet the Passengers: This was a most interesting event where the ferry
company was soliciting the opinions of us regular passengers. HK & Kowloon Ferry sent 4
youngsters, who did their best urging passengers rushing off the
ferry to fill in the detailed feedback form ("How are we
performing?"), but only rarely succeeding.
Picking up Lamma-Por from the evening rush hour ferry, we filled in
the form diligently, rewarded by "refreshments", expressing our
top urgent desire for late ferries.
Still
on the same topic, on the late ferry a few days ago, there was
music & dancing on the upper deck! Two local lads, Frazer
McGilvray & Dave May from Gaelic Gall(see poster above
right), were belting out happy Irish tunes on guitar & fiddle!
But still fully dressed!
Our (in)famous Bob Davis was witnessed to have been dancing,
even though he doesn't seem to remember much of it anymore... As a
professional photographer and official judge in the My Lamma Photo
Contest, he shot some B/W pictures (see right). The
passengers enjoyed this wonderful free entertainment, in the true
spirit of "Peace, Love, Laughter, Lamma"! Such fun & free
performances should be fully supported & promoted by the ferry
company, don't you agree?
But
what do YOU do when you miss the last ferry? Take a sampan
from Aberdeen, of course! Like these two late-night party animals
(photo submitted by the Lady-in-Red) who GOT
BUSTED ON A SAMPAN LAST NIGHT!!!!!!! and had their id cards
checked, looking like II's?
Did
you know that the going rate is about $100-150/person,
depending on your language & negotiation skills?
Did you also know that there was a sampan accident about a
year ago, from Aberdeen to Pak Kok? The sampan got too close to one
of these massive container ships, capsizing the sampan and the Ah-por
steering it. Fortunately, no passengers and no serious injuries. It
wasn't the first time that an Ah-por steering a sampan fell
asleep...
Mar
29th, 9:30am, beach behind Po Wah Yuen (Nga Kau Wan):
Tree maintenance in the "Lamma Forest".
More about this forest and the ABLE Charity who planted it in the
next e-zine:
"Tree maintenance involves clearing dead
branches and fallen wood from amongst the trees, some pruning, some
mulching, some fertilizing (food for the trees) and the ever
present possibility of picking up rubbish and other alien debris...
We will be joined by a small group of students and teachers from
the KGV school."
March 29, from midnight till dusk, Powerstation Beach:
Free Fresh Air Party (see
left): 12 DJ's at this month's beach rave party!
March 31,
Emily's
Ice-cream Parlor: Lamma
Celebrities Contest ends.
For a small donation to UNICEF you could cast a vote for one
of Emily's 16 "Lamma Celebrities"! (Click on the poster above to
enlarge it).
The
contest has ended now, but donations are still very welcome! So far
over $500 have been donated! The leading celebrities 2 weeks ago
were our local version of "Charlie's Angels"!
"For those
of you who fancy showing off your designer face masks, pop down to
the Fringe for our April Fools gig."
Sat, Apr 5, gravesites all over Lamma:
Ching Ming festival: Fire Watch Patrols:
volunteers needed!
Bobsy (Bookworm Café):
ABLE CHARITY has
been organizing "fire watch patrols" twice a year since the
big fires of 1998.. on one day alone in 1998 there were forty
(40) fires sweeping across lamma island including the fire that
burnt several hundred baby trees up at the "lamma forest".
Saturday the 5th of april is the "ching
ming" festival, the first of the traditional grave sweeping
days. the second is the "cheung yung" in october. on these days
the chinese community visit their ancestors' graves and tend
to them, they also burn paper money and incense and in dry
conditions this coupled with a bit of neglect can cause some
serious fires...
since we started patrolling and together
with the rising awareness amongst the people and the government
efforts the number of fires has dropped quite considerably. in
fact last year there was only a handful of small fires on
lamma. this is a great improvement but we cannot afford to drop
our guard especially around the "lamma forest" area.
ABLE CHARITY is seeking volunteers to
help patrol on the day. if you are willing and able please
email us at:
able_charity@hkisl.net or phone us on 2982 6994 to
register.
what you will need on the day:
water for drinking and perhaps some
snacks.
a hat and suncream if hot and sunny.
a mobile phone (essential).
sturdy shoes and some strong long
trousers like jeans.
a pair of binoculars (if possible) will
be handy.
but above all what we really, really need
is RAIN!!!
keep your fingers crossed.
(2 photos courtesy of ABLE Charity)
Sat,
Apr 5, 3-4pm, outside Public Library:
Talk on Atypical Pneumonia (HK Medical Association, Cantonese/English)
Sat, Apr 5, 4.30-6.30pm & Sun, Apr 6, 3-5pm, meet at Public
Library:
Lamma Dragons training:
New members most welcome for a free try-out session! They train
every weekend, same time; *real* men, contact Oliver @ 9139
7305, *real* women, contact Claire @ 9123 1614! Click
for more details!
Apr 16, 2003, Central Pier Number 4, meet at YSWan Pier at
7:45am:
SPCA
Spaybus
e (Lamma Animal Protection):
Charges:Cats: Male $100,
Female $200 Male Dogs: under 30kg: $200, 30kg or over: $300 Female Dogs: under 30kg: $300, 30kg or over: $500
If you have pets that need to be fixed at the April Spay Bus,
please give us a call at 2982 4018 or e-mail
elizabeth@lap.org.hk. Bookings are essential. If
you need to work and can't bring or pick up your pets
to/from Central, we can arrange volunteers to help.
Having said this, of course we would also need volunteers to
help. Do call us either if you need help or if you can
help. Please also tell your friends on the island about this.
Apr
19, Island bar: Dragonboating
Bric-a-Brac:
Watch out for posters soon asking for donations.
Apr 21, your e-mail inbox:
My Lamma e-zine #21!
Apr
24, public pier (NOT ferry pier!):
Tin Hau festival &
Dragonboat races
The public pier has been reserved by Mr. Fong Loi,
Chairman of Rural Committee of North Lamma, for this happy
festival. Left: Chinese Opera tent being built.
More details & photos in next e-zine, but YOUR
pictures about this festival, and other Lamma events, would be
most welcome!
Send them to me!
May 3, Island Bar:
Dragonboating Fund Raiser:
Yearly party with raffles, etc. to raise money for
the team.
May 9/10:ABLE
Charity tree planting:
More details and a full feature on ABLE in
the next e-zine...
In just a few months, this non-profit e-zine has grown from a quick
text-only 1-page e-mail to the current 10+ full-colour pages
(printed out). It was so much work, but so much fun as well!
Click on Back-Issues for all former
issues (on the yellowish navigation bars seen all over the
e-zine).
We've also just reached over 1,000 unique,
distinct readers of this e-zine since I started counting
them in issue #14! Reasons for celebration?
Nick's feature in Apple Daily last
Saturday caused major, all-time-high traffic on our website,
tripling our daily number of visitors and pushing it beyond
10,000 hits/day for two days.
Apple Daily listed Nick's website address
in the printed and online newspaper. This caused hundreds of
additional visitors to Nick's website which I built and hosted on:
www.Lamma.com.hk/nick;
totaling almost 1,000 visitors to Nick's website in March alone!
Public
voting for the My Lamma Photo Contest has closed on Feb 17. Thank
you very much to all the participants, judges & voters! Here are
the lucky winners and their amazing photos!
Many thanks to
our SPONSORS (all local companies!) donating the great prizes
listed below:
There'll be a physical, offline exhibition of
all winners in the Island Bar, starting on Easter! See our
Winners Gallery for all
winners, incl.
runners-up (see some below).
Contest Details
Personal
comments from the sole organiser, myself:
A lot of great photographic talent is living on Lamma Island,
not just well-known professionals, but also very talented and
experienced amateurs. But most of them are shy and reluctant to
show their best photos in public...
Finding the sponsors for the prizes was
much easier than I expected. Nobody turned me down and all
agreed to become sponsors quickly, in exchange for promoting
their businesses, of course!
Organising a contest like this is an
incredible amount of work. Hundreds of e-mails, dozens of hours
chasing contributors, sponsors and judges, days of processing
the many entries for the various web pages (previews,
judging, Winners Gallery, e-zines, printouts for exhibition).
The winners are a very shy lot, not
wanting to show their faces on Lamma.com.hk, several wanted to
stay anonymous! Some had to be chased for weeks to select &
accept their prizes in person.
The most valuable prize($1,620 of web
hosting) was graciously donated to a charity by Andrew
Pearsons! Thanks!
The Island Bar tab was "donated" to one
of our official judges (no, I didn't call the ICAC!)
just before the winner left HK.
This winner was actually banned THREE times by
the Island Bar for misbehaving, long ago, when he used to play
the "evil Gwailo" in HK movies. He sent me this cynical but
eloquent & amusing e-mail about the contest's Special Effects
category:
"...the medium is denigrated
by itself and it is pervasive. commonality devalues the act.
the only high form is commercial, and zztopz hairballz r about
as commercial as... a sidewalk lending library, capiche[?]
what is left is 2 b humorous, and the most amusing is the
detritus clogging the shores of yung shue wan.
...pictures of weirdos speak editorially,..."
Did
you hear about the AMAZING success of the Lamma Cricket Club
recently?
Cathi (Lamma Bistro)
alerted me about this great story:
Talking of prize winners did you know
Lamma Cricket Club have just joint won the HK Saturday
League, beating various KCC and HKCC teams, this in an
incredible achievement, yup the boys done good..........
in fact fucking incredible and well worth a mention on
your site, as very few people even know Lamma has a cricket
team, let alone such a glorious one !!!!
Yes, I agree fully and couldn't have said it any
better myself. Congratulations to the winning team from
all of us at My Lamma! They were even featured on a full page
in the Town Crier magazine! Here are some of the photos &
excerpts from the text, re-published with friendly permission
from the editor:
"OUTLYING OVERS" (from the
March 2003 issue of Town Crier)
Famous for its giant-killing dragonboat
crews, Lamma Island is also making waves in the world of
competitive cricket.
LEIGH POWELL reports.
Saving the waterfront village of Yung
Shue Wan, at least temporarily, from the cement dumper truck
is not the only cause for celebration on Lamma Island. Lamma
Cricket Club has just won the Hong Kong Cricket
Association Saturday Perrier League, although it had to
settle for a share of the spoils as St George’s recorded an
identical season, winning 12 of 16 games, with one match
rained off.
The table-topping feat is a far cry
from the team that propped up the league in its first season
in 1996 and the island where the only cricket facility - a
hastily constructed net on a Yung Shue Wan reclamation site
- was torn down as an ‘illegal net house’.
Team Spirit
Club secretary and founder Ian
Harling said: “Most of Lamma is too hilly to have a
cricket pitch. And what areas of flat land there are tend to
be farmland.” So just how did Lamma win the league? According
to team captain Brad Tan, it was down to the sort of
team spirit and determination the campaigners had when
demonstrating to defend the waterfront restaurants and bars
frequented so often by so many of the players - including
the Island Bar, which supports the team each year. The
delighted skipper said: “As an independent side, one without
a playing ground, we have got a lot of heart because we play
as a team. No one plays for themselves and that’s why we
won.” Harling added: “When we first got started in 1992, as a
bit of a rag-tag affair organised in a pub, I never imagined
that the club could be what it is today. We have gone from
being just a social team to being a winning social team.’’
Champions
During its brief history, Lamma C.C.
has been graced by several of Hong Kong’s international
cricket stars, including Saleem Malik, Mohammed Zubair and
John Storey. But as Tan is first to admit, the signing this
season of arguably Hong Kong’s premier all-rounder, Butt
Hussein, was a key factor behind Lamma’s success. Of
Lamma’s leading bowlers, Shabbir Ahmed took 20 wickets and
Alister McMillan 18.
Lamma is currently looking for a
title sponsor for next season. Anyone interested should
contact Ian on 2521 8081.
Many
of you might have noticed the "rust-bucket" sailboat outside Nga
Kau Wan beach (behind Po Wah Yuen).
On a friendly invitation from our
member
Soundbydesign,
I went out for a great sail on Feb 23:
They
forewarned us landlubbers that there
"might be a little sheet winching, tacking and jibing involved".
But as we greenhorns had NO IDEA what any of these
terms meant, so they took advantage of us! They forced all of us
(even the girls!), under threat of having to "walk the
plank", into hard labour! With my tender, soft geek hands I had
to help raise the four heavy
sails, winching and cleaning off mud & barnacles from the 100ft
long anchor chain, scrubbing the deck, etc.
It was all so, so...analog! Nothing digital at all
on this ship; old wood, rusty iron, wet ropes, cold beers,
great company, wonderful! My back and knees were hurting for
days; even at home I still felt like the floor was rolling to the
left, to the right, to the left...
My
heart-felt thanks to Captain Marc
and the merry crew of the Varuna for a great trip and a fun,
fascinating & educational experience! When's the next trip?
But as my national sailing team Alinghi won the
America's Cup races in New Zealand a few days later, maybe
even coming from a landlocked country might not prevent me from
becoming a great sailor someday...NOT!
Photo gallery from
my Varuna trip (click to
enlarge):
On the right, you can admire a daring
passenger prove his mast-climbing prowess on the royal flagpole
of Soundbydesign's palatial, sumptuous residence on top of
Po Wah Yuen.
Soon after my own trip, Varuna has been sailed
(see Mr. DickStock's photos above) to Macau and then
towed to a Guangzhou dry-dock. She'll be "de-rusted" & painted in
6 layers, "to return to our shores in
re-fitted splendor"(quoting insomniac).
For your own trip, see the "super-happy" crew call below,
with some very "creative" punctuation & formatting:
CREW NEEDED ETD SATURDAY 12/04/03 ROUTE "THE
VISA RUN" :: MACAU >>>>>>>>HKG ::BOUNTY APLENTY :: MARS BARS
TOO :: ABLE FIT & STABLE :: RSVP ::
.......end transmission...... G.. ;0)
Meanwhile,
The Stick Insect Hunter, living in The Philippines,
couldn't hide his petty jealousy about all our fabulous trips and
posted this menacing Lamma photo-montage, captioned:
"We sent this ship to take care of
all of you muesli eating pacifists on Lamma."
But then, in the usual meandering & digressing
way of so many online discussions, pit replied that he
"didn't know they'd been
phighting the phlatulent philandering phoreign swaines in the
Philippines for that long.", commenting on Mr.
Hunter's infamous "Woolly Farting Swans".
Then
Mr. Hunter started to brag that "Business hasn't been too bad, so
I thought I can allow myself a new condom."pit called it,
very appropriately & eloquently, "A
multi-purpose recyclable brain phart collector
cum flu virii deflector!".
There's simply NO ESCAPE ANYWHERE from SARS & face masks
these days! But this e-zine is well-protected from ALL
infections, even computer viruses (or virii, as pit would call
them in proper Latin). But all these shenanigans cannot hide
the sad fact that Mr. Hunter is STILL too chicken to come
back to Lamma! But I'm starting to meander & digress...
Still wondering why there was a helicopter
hovering over the Varuna in the cover picture
of this e-zine? Well, it's just a doctored image, about an
emergency helicopter rescue from the Varuna under full sail. But
it's too late now for April Fool's jokes...or is it?
It's this time of year again, the
Tin Hau festival is approaching & the dragonboating season has
started! On most weekends, you can see our our energetic paddlers
train for future victories!
Dust off those cob-webs, lose that beer
gut and get in that boat! I've been training in Bristol in
sub zero temperatures, what's up with ya!.
Look forward to those aching
muscles, sore bums and post training hangovers.
Look forward to the tension of the
start the rush of racing and the elation of finishing and
the euphoria of winning!
All the best for the coming season,
sorry I can't be there, keep me posted.
Go go go go LAMMA!
For
all details on the 2003 Season (Training, Membership Fees,
Competitive/Social, Teams, Races, Sponsorships, Fundraising,
Committee, Women's Team, Men's Team):
Lamma Dragons 2003
Looking for some good
pictures of the 2000 season? LOTS of pictures from
the 2001 & 2002 seasons will appear in the next e-zine and on the
official Lamma
Dragons bulletin board on Lamma.com.hk, moderated by the
women's team captain
Claire and the "website liaison"
Luciene. (Pictures, except top
right, supplied by Lamma Dragons)
In
the last e-zine I signed off with "...maybe one of our cute
mini-ambulances has come for me, transporting me to the loony
bin..." I should be more careful what I wish for, as I got to
ride one of our "cute mini-ambulances" recently, to the
Powerstation helipad, and then via helicopter to Queen Mary
Hospital!
On Feb 20 morning, my wife's heart started to race
for no apparent reason, at an estimated more than 200 beats per
minute, and nothing could slow it down. In the Northern Lamma
Clinic, after an ECG, they ordered the emergency helicopter right
away.
But
it took us almost an hour to get to the hospital, because
of the many transfers involved: mini-ambulance (surprisingly
roomy inside!) to the great HK Electric powerstation helipad(25 mins, see below, shot from the Varuna, 3 days later),
helicopter ride by the Govt. Flying Services to Admiralty's old
Tamar site (less than 10 mins, but what a view!),
transferring to a regular ambulance, through rush hour traffic to
the hospital in Pokfulam. Fortunately, not life-threatening (Supraventricular
Tachycardia), but let's hear her tell it in her very
own inimitable words, answering to our worried friends:
Lamma-Por (e-mail to e, 1
day later):
Here's Lamma-por!
Thank you for your msg.
It's such an experience! What if
it is really critical? I thought I was taken by helicopter
directly to Queen Mary, instead, they just made it in Fenwick
helipad and then an ambulance to QM. But hey, it's like ER in
the TV series, medical people are standing by in the helipad
and transporting me from one stretcher to another and then by
the time reaching QM, people make way (like Chan Po Chu lai
lah!!) and I was immediately admitted straight into ........
whatever. I got blood testing, an IV which is a tube placed
in my vein for giving medicine or liquids. It will be capped
or have tubing connected to it. Numerous ECGs. Stayed in an
Observation Room for observation. Anyway...
I know very well the reason
behind the cause: working non-stop from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30
p.m., frustration at work, upsetting on dirt-cheap hourly
rate I got for this job, worked for 3 days only and already
couldn't sleep at night....
The ordeal lasted just a few
hours, and so here I am, talking as loudly as ever before.
Two days later, Mar 22, there was a public Helipad
Community Consultation Meeting in our "town hall",
besides the police post, the so-called "Lamma North Rural Affairs
Committee Building".
Amazing timing! By now I was highly motivated, of course.
This
was my first-ever public consultation meeting, supposedly
discussing potential locations for a new helipad, close to our
Clinic. This would avoid the long ambulance ride to the
Powerstation helipad, potentially saving lives in
emergencies!
Read all about this very disappointing meeting, my follow-up with
Civil Engineering Dept., plus a passionate discussion on this
very controversial topic in New
Helipad. Here's the
final
Helipad Community Consultation Report and
some feedback from other meeting attendees:
Tobias Forster (Secretary of ABLE Charity):
Alex
Chan (Chair, Citizens
Party):
ABLE Charity, the local environmental group has been actively
involved in the proposals for the development of Yung Shue
Wan harbour since 1994.
It is only in recent years that the Hong Kong Government has
indicated that it would place the themes of public
participation and sustainable development higher up the
agenda in the design process. Therefore we were excited to
attend a Community Consultation to discuss the various
location options for the Helipad.
But during the meeting it was a shame to find that there had
only been a detailed analysis undertaken of one of the
possible four Options. In many respects there was no
intention to seriously assess the feasibility of choosing any
of the other three locations.
Therefore, the Community Consultation was in fact just
another Public Meeting to inform the public of decisions that
had been made behind closed doors. It only provided a
"veneer" of community involvement..
... Presently, there is a lot
of vacant land on the Phase I reclamation. If you need to
identify a site for a temporary helipad, could some of the
land on Phase I be available for us.
For example, the proposed
sewage treatment plant will not be built until late 2004.
That is one ideal place to putting up a temporary helipad for
the community use immediately...
"Through
exploring the sordid discover the sublime."
This sublime motto is the motto of our new forum
Hang-ups & Hangovers", managed by our new moderator, a
mysterious, intriguing intellectual naming herself
La Miglione.
She's become by far the most active message poster
on My Lamma these days, even beating myself, but only because I'm
taking a "sabbatical" from posting messages these days...
Who
is she? Several clever members have discovered her secret
identity. Her frequently changing Signatures & Underblurbs kept
us all guessing! But dim-witted Lamma-Gung was so slow in
figuring out her true identity! Sorry, I'm forbidden to tell you,
but she looks a lot like her Avatar (left, in a modified VV)!
Just one more hint: If you'll ever have the
great honour, privilege & pleasure of being invited to a
Champagne brunch in her great flat ("Under 14 cats and one
very bad dog"), then these culinary delicacies might be
served (see above right).
She's also made a rare personal appearance at
webdog's housewarming BBQ Party recently (see below).
Everybody at that fun party was a Lamma.com.hk member. La
Miglione's left HK now for a long trip, expanding her business
empire internationally, as her name suggests (The
Millionairess, from "il milione" in Italian ).
But her new forum remains open for business & fun, of course!
...But you know how it goes, pride of
office has corrupted nobler souls than mine. So this forum
is now officially in business.
I want it to be a platform for all the other lost souls
with a vengeance I know must be out there, and we can
discuss anything that comes to a likewise mind, my general
picture is described in the subtitle:
fiddling around with all the sordid and ugly that so
fascinates us in order to push the limits of our human
knowledge about what on earth we are doing in this weird
place.
You can write anything you want (make a new thread though,
or pick one of the non sticky ones to jump in on), and I
would only censor those manifestly criminal entries that
are too low-strung to be of any use to a real stylish
hang-up.
This forum is the only one except the Personals where you
can post anonymously, it seems. Just keep in mind that if
you chose to do so, this will not cut any ice with me for
yourself, instead the generated energy might well end up
furthering the ends of a totally unrelated individual.
I might need to issue a warning that I will also write some
fairly academic stuff in here on occasion. If that really
turns you off, remember it is ok to think about England
during those, as I have already found myself forced to say
to one of my new gentleman friends that I picked up
recently.
Join her new, intriguing, intellectually
stimulating topics, for example:
Quite a few people have been
enquiring on Lamma.com.hk about life on Lamma and if it's a good
environment in general for families? What are the ups and downs?
One of the organisers of last
month's HK International Literary Festival, had been dissing
Lamma (and its artists) severely in an SCMP interview:
"Artists are
almost always margin dwellers economically, but here you have to
live on Lamma or something, and that seems like a severe price to
pay for wanting to pursue your craft, with respect to the good
people of Lamma."
It reminds me of another old, cliché-ridden column in the SCMP,
"Is there life on Lamma?", which I'll be republishing in
full in a future e-zine feature about Lamma's past, 10 years
ago. Any survivors from that ancient era of history, please
contact me with your tall stories!
Here are two great, tongue-in-cheek
messages, listing many of the facts & prejudices against our
island. All of this helps to keep the local population at
pretty constant levels - which is just the way many people here
seem to like it...
There are several reasons most Hong Kong people wouldn't
want to live on Lamma, no matter how desperate they are:
There are too many dogs
wandering around in the street.
It's too far from work, unless
they work on HK island.
There are no overnight ferries.
In other words, no late-night drinking, Majongg till 3am,
karaoke, rave parties, discos, mid-night noodles....
There are no Park'n'Shop or
Wellcome shops on Lamma.
Living on Lamma means good-bye to your
three other legs of your accustomed Majongg table.
And you don't want to play Majongg with the Lamma villagers
who are playing at 1/100th of your usual speed. In other
words, your turnover and income/loss slows down to an
unbearable level.
There are no HK Jockey Clubs on
Lamma. Tele-betting? Yes, but what's the fun without the
crowd, with hand-held radio shouting all together.
There are no shopping malls!
Can you imagine???!!!
There are too many mosquitoes
and insects flying around. Yuck!
Even if they
managed to conquer the above fears, hell, how in the world
can you move there without paying a fortune to the hungry
removers. Nick is our best kept secret! Besides, do you think
they would dare to talk to this hairy creature? So, don't
worry that Lamma rents will be driven up by our lovely
citizens.
It's a pretty safe place for
kids and much healthier in general than urban HK. Lots of
room for them to play, including a beach, which, if not
scenic, always has clean water (in the bacteriological, if
not floating plastic, sense). There is a Catholic
preschool and a govt. primary school which have about half
non-Chinese students.
Mosquitoes are fierce. Look for a place with good air
circulation and preferably insect screens. The latter are
rare, the landlords just say close the windows and use AC all
the time. I glued mesh over the windows and the outer door,
dodgy, but it works.
A rooftop is nice, and higher gets fewer insects. There are
lots of snakes, but I don't know of anyone being
bitten by one. Too many dogs roaming around, some
aggressive, all shitting everywhere. Worst wildlife
problem is the large red centipede, which likes to
crawl into your bed sheets and bite you on the foot
(happened to me several times).
Despite all that, one of the best places for kids in HK.
If
these warnings don't work to keep families from moving here,
nothing will! In the meantime, we residents can go on to enjoy
the great family life here and keep it a well-kept secret
what a beautiful, natural, non-crowded, safe & healthy place our
island home really is. Or, as webdog said it best:
"...green environment, relatively low crime rate, a 'real' beach
and reasonably priced shops allow you a European lifestyle. For
me this far outweighs the inconveniences."
New series! Highlighting the wide range of
creative artists living on our island, I'd like to showcase them
in this & future e-zines. First one: Marilena (click to
enlarge her oil paintings):
Some of these
mid-size oil paintings are available for sale. Talk to her
personal agent (& husband) Nick The Bookman, who's agreed
to handle the future marketing, PR, exhibitions, sales &
distribution of this talented and reclusive Finnish painter with
a fascinating life story.
Last but not least, do
you know any local artists, designers, painters, sculptors,
photographers or other "Bohemian characters" who might be
interested in free exposure, advertising & promotion?
I'd love to talk to
them, take photos, exhibit their art for free
on
Lamma.com.hk
to a worldwide audience and help them to receive
recognition & feedback, hopefully even generating some sales!
On
the local dining scene, after mentioning the closing of three
restaurants in the last e-zine, two have celebrated their
re-openings:
Did
you register for the Village Representative Elections from
Mar 1-21? Living in the same village for 3 years and a permanent
resident? You're entitled to vote! After 6 years, you can stand for
election as Resident Representative. I've asked a few
Westerners to stand, but nobody's been daring and self-confident
enough to take on this challenge! This would definitely stir up the
sticky mud of local politics...
•
Publicity
Plus,
a German filmcrew was moving through YSW Main Street on the
same day, filming an episode of the very popular German soap opera
"Das Traumschiff" (The Dreamboat). Here you can see
them filming a kissing scene and relaxing afterwards in the
ltimedia,
gossip, stories, ideas, all charitable & good causes, crazy &
serious stuff, anything
Mar
17-18, 5-7:30pm, YSW Ferry Pier:
Still
on the same topic, on the late ferry a few days ago, there was
music & dancing on the upper deck! Two local lads, Frazer
McGilvray & Dave May from Gaelic Gall (see poster above
right), were belting out happy Irish tunes on guitar & fiddle!
But still fully dressed! 
Sat,
Apr 5, 3-4pm, outside Public Library:
SPCA
Spaybus
Apr
19, Island bar: Dragonboating
Bric-a-Brac:
Apr
24, public pier (NOT ferry pier!):
Did
you hear about the AMAZING success of the Lamma Cricket Club
recently?
They
forewarned us landlubbers that there
"might be a little sheet winching, tacking and jibing involved".
But as we greenhorns had NO IDEA what any of these
terms meant, so they took advantage of us! They forced all of us
(even the girls!), under threat of having to "walk the
plank", into hard labour! With my tender, soft geek hands I had
to help 
A
few more, but much better photos from
Meanwhile,
The Stick Insect Hunter, living in The Philippines,
couldn't hide his petty jealousy about all our fabulous trips and
posted this menacing Lamma photo-montage, captioned:
For
all details on the 2003 Season (Training, Membership Fees,
Competitive/Social, Teams, Races, Sponsorships, Fundraising,
Committee, Women's Team, Men's Team):
In
the last e-zine I signed off with "...maybe one of our cute
mini-ambulances has come for me, transporting me to the loony
bin..." I should be more careful what I wish for, as I got to
ride one of our "cute mini-ambulances" recently, to the
Powerstation helipad, and then via helicopter to Queen Mary
Hospital!
This
was my first-ever public consultation meeting, supposedly
discussing potential locations for a new helipad, close to our
Clinic. This would avoid the long ambulance ride to the
Powerstation helipad, potentially saving lives in
emergencies!
If
these warnings don't work to keep families from moving here,
nothing will! In the meantime, we residents can go on to enjoy
the great family life here and keep it a well-kept secret
what a beautiful, natural, non-crowded, safe & healthy place our
island home really is. Or, as webdog said it best:
