My Lamma Forums

[Lamma-Gung]

Sent to me by a Lammaite friend who prefers to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Agree? Disagree?

The disadvantages of Lamma from my point of view:

I do not like the lazy expat drinking beers at 9 am in the morning, they look dirty, alcoholic and they don't work. It bothers me to look at them doing nothing.

I do not like the shops owners of Lamma taking advantages of expats, thinking we're rich, charging us like hell for some goods and never give us a smile or a hello. They know we have no other choice but buying from them. The only polite ones are in the frozen goods shop and the Lamma Gourmet (in my point of view.)

I do not like the fact that everyone is so politically correct about Lamma, thinking we are in Thailand, pretending Lamma is the best place to live in Hong Kong (for example YOU, L-G!)

I do not like the fact that some dogs owners let their dogs poo all over the village, no leash. I do not like to have dogs next to me when I eat in a restaurant.

I do not like most of restaurants on Lamma. It seems that noone can cook on this island, except me and the seafood restaurants, but they are too expensive.

I do not like that they closed Spicy Island because it was my favorite place to go for a drink and a meal.

I do not like the crowds on the weekends. Lamma is becoming like Mongkok. I do not enjoy going out anymore on weekends, because it takes me ages to pass through the village.

I do not like the fact that the government makes NO EFFORT whatsoever to clean Lamma and make it a better place to live, There's too much garbage all over the places and that's not right. Why do we have so much rubbish on our island and nobody cares?

I do not like the power station smoke; they pollute on purpose when the sun has set.

I do not like having been verbally attacked several times by some British guys who think we are still in their colony.

I do not like the fact that the rents have increased. I think this is not justified because of the power station. We shouldn't have to pay high rents on Lamma.

I do not like to be well-known. Living on a small island for a while, you get to be known too well. I hate to be well-known, preferring to be invisible and anonymous.

I want to become anonymous again, leave the island and make a fresh start in a bigger flat somewhere else in HK.

That's all!

[Alan]

[toddy]

Spend some time in Andhra Pradesh. You'll realize Lamma was a utopia.

[poilkoop]

Bye

[Foxy]

[defensive tulip]

you must feel better after that rant!!! lamma life just isn't for you!!!

[Blazenski]

Bye, send us a postcard and let us know when you've found paradise.

(PS, I heard a whisper that Tseung Kwan O is the new picnic spot of the South China Sea, but keep it secret, we wouldn't want everyone to get to know about it).

[youpailing]

[poilkoop]

Actually, I'll swap with you for Dubai. You don't even have to try to be anonymous here, its guranteed with your visa - which will also gives you the right to share the road with lethal drivers.

You can have me massive villa with a pool as well, OK.

You have to find your own job though.

[Alan]

[toddy]

or post-humusly

[minibeast]

the humus presumably bought from one of the only two polite shops in the village?

[Beanburglar]

If the local shop keepers are rude to you, and the British expats, you must be a complete twat. That being the case, it probably doesn't matter where you live, you'll get treated the same; it's probably why you left home in the first place. Shut up and stop being a twat.

[Insomniac]

superbly put bburgler. A proper twatting of a ridiculous post.

How's your friend taking the news L-G?

[bc]

He/She's got a point about the rubbish. The place is a tip when you take time to look around - household junk and building crap everywhere. Someone decides to throw out a door and before you know it, the entire contents of several houses has accumulated on the same spot. Or someone decides that an area is the perfect place to store their old crap or 'handy' bits of junk and just takes it over to create yet another eyesore. Why isn't something done about this as a matter of routine? Honestly, the place is a dump. And I've lived here 18 years so not a whinging Lamma-hater obviously!

[Pseudolus]

[shapogung]

As I see it, there are three distinct social groups in Lamma (1) Villagers (2) Expats of various ilk and (3) Local emigres from the City. Our anon poster obviously belongs to (3). There are clear sociological reasons, apart from his personality, which might have made him so frustrated with Lamma. The villagers who own the means of production are out to make a buck at every turn - group (3) probably pick up a lot more of the hostile inuendo from (1) than do the blithely ignorant members of (2). Conversely, the overt rudeness of many members of (2) reinforce the justification of (1) for gouging at every turn. Meanwhile some members of (2) treat (3) badly because of the behaviour of (1), not knowing the difference. As a result, (3) feels alienated all round.

I mentioned "expats of various ilk" because there are a lot of very interesting sub-groups, some of which are nearing extinction, and have found in Lamma the only climatologically friendly habitat remaining on earth.

[Pseudolus]

[Lamma-Gung]

[yyenng]

I'm definitely group (3) here. I'm Chinese and have lived in Canada for a few years. Just moved to Lamma and sharing a place with a group (2).

All group (1) around seemed quite nice with my flatmate group (2) . However, when (2) is not around, neighbour group (1) complains about (2)'s dog killed her cat(s) in front of me (but not to me) while i was walking with this "killer dog" of (2).

On the other hand, when I was walking with the dogs, already with poos in my hands, i still get looks from group (2) when I unfortunatly pass by poos from other dogs...taking me as an irresponsible group (1) dog owner...

it certainly takes some points off Lamma for me...[/quote]