Love Lamma

It was a balmy tropical day today, so it was the perfect opportunity to get back to nature on Lamma Island, enjoy some soup with garlic toast and chicory coffee at the Bookworm Cafe and wander along the pathway that links the island’s two villages, past beaches (and the looming power plant), overgrown fields and boulder-strewn hilltops.

 

I also discovered another great little hippie-ish spot, a shop/cafe in a bamboo grove strung with windchimes called Lo So. At first I thought it was a reference to the tongue-in-cheek Thai term (for plebeian “low society”) since the whole of Lamma has something of a Thai island vibe, but it turns out that it is just the name of the nearest hamlet in Cantonese.

At the end of the walk, in the village of Sok Kwu Wan, I saw a pile of bamboo poles outside the Tin Hau temple, ready to be erected into a Cantonese opera marquee for the island’s festival, and inside the temple I saw this strange ribbon-like fish, which presumable washed up on an island beach or fisherman’s net:

The sign at the stop says “No Eating” and I thought “fair enough” but when I looked closer it was “no eating photos”. I guess they meant “Taking”. Too late.