Travelling Tuesday: Lamma Island Adventure

One of the biggest perks of living in a new country is that nearly every day off can become an adventure, and we truly feel this living in HK. Because the city is relatively small in land mass size, it is easy to jump on public transport and get to where ever it is that you want to go quickly and inexpensivley. There are many outlying islands, most are uninhabited, and we have yet to explore the majority of them, but last spring, we jumped on the metro and then a ferry and ended up on Lamma Island, a little gem of a place. For me, there is something about striking out on a boat that just smacks of adventure--I absolutely love to be on the water! You can take the ferry to either end of the island and stay put, or hike the path in between the two ports, (about 60-70 minutes), which is exactly what we did, landing in Sok Kwu Wan and ending up in Yung Shue Wan:

The boat ride from the Central Ferry Station took about 30 minutes or so, but it was lovely and gave me a view of HK Island that I had never seen before:

The island is home to a major power plant; this is really an eyesore, but, you know, I do like my electricity and they have to build those buggers somewhere.

The Village at Sok Kwu Wan is a bit more rustic than the other side, and we loved checking out the goods at the market there, seafood in any shape and size, fresh or dried:

This "lobster ornatus" was HUGE:

We walked through a true country village (makes me feel like I am back in Maine, well, sort of):

And I loved that they had these labeled "doggy latrines" all along the way:

One of the photo ops is the "kamakazi cave," proportedly built by the Japanese during the war to hide who-knows-what, but it was never used. A bit spooky in there. This was as far as we went.

The trail is well marked and mostly cement or rock. There are several side trails and beaches along the way:

As always, flowers peak out at you from every corner:

At Yung Shue Wan there is more of a restaurant "strip." It is a strange phenomena that when you are living in any given country, you crave foods of where ever it is that you are not. We ate at the B&B, an Italian Cafe (you can see the sign if you look closely):

We were given a table for two right on the water:

and while the food was tasty, (I was starving), it had that Asian-Italian flavor that I can't quite explain. It makes me wonder: if I ever visit Italy, will the Chinese Restaurants there have an Italian-Asian flavor?

I did, however, get a very proper pot of "English" tea!