Lamma Island - a surprisingly satisfying short break in Hong Kong
For some, the outlying island is more than just a weekend getaway, it's a way of life
I arrived a sceptic and left a convert. I have always been ambivalent about Lamma Island, finding it hard to look past the tatty souvenir shops, scummy waterways and relentless mosquitoes — not to mention the comically dystopian power plant that looms over the horizon. On a recent couple of visits, though, the island's charm has worn down my defences.
"A lot of people really look down on it," says Chris Horton. "I think it's a kind of paradise. I walk out of my place, grab fruit off the trees in my village, and 10 minutes later, I'm here on the beach."
Horton, a journalist and a new Lamma resident, is still enjoying the honeymoon period of island life. But if other residents are any indication, that honeymoon will last a long time.
Living on Lamma is "like taking a vacation every weekend", says Cedric Sam, a web developer who moved to the island in 2009.
"It's just such an exception to all the normal rules in Hong Kong," says Trey Menefee, an academic who recently left the island to be closer to his job in the New Territories. "There's just this constant background of familiar faces, people who you've never maybe even said hi to, but you feel obliged to nod at when you pass by."
The island's friendly shabbiness has begun to feel like a refreshing antidote to big city gentrification. And it's just 25 minutes away from Central by ferry. "It's a Never Never Land orbiting around the Death Star," says Horton.