Asia Awaits: Lamma Island

The last day of summer school holidays was a perfect opportunity for the boys and I to explore another part of our new home, Hong Kong. This time, Lamma Island.

The island is about a 30 minute ferry ride form Central, which is where Mike's office is. So we grabbed a quick coffee with him before racing to the ferry at Pier 4 and boarded the ferry for our island adventure. It is currently incredibly hot here in HK, with the days ranging from 28-35 EVERY day, so being on the water with a sea breeze was very nice. Hats and sunscreen an absolute must at present !

When you arrive at Yung Shue Wan, you realise just how quiet and remote this island really is. There are no cars or trucks on the island, and the only motorised vehicle are small 4 wheel buggy's to transport goods around the island. Having no cars to share the roads with makes for a lovely place to hike safely and take the kids. The boys were keen for the challenge until we started the 30 minute walk venturing up the very steep hill to the wind turbine.

Lamma Winds is the only wind turbine in Hong Kong, opening in 2006 and it has a good educational section on Renewable Energy sources at the base. It is 71 meters high and can generate enough energy for about 250 houses, but usually less than that. I was really happy we made the hike and learned a little more about alternative energy sources - always keen to have something educational along the way. Lamma Island also has a very large coal and gas power station which is one of the main power sources to Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island. Lets hope that in the coming years that renewable energy sources are used more and more and these polluting power stations are phased out.

The walk down hill was a very welcome change of pace, resulting in a lot less whining, especially knowing that there was a beach not far away. We settled in at Hung Shing Ye beach for an hour or so, enjoying the beautiful water and lovely sand. We had packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed this overlooking the beach and bay before heading off again.

Our hike then took us even further uphill and up over the island. The views along this hike were amazing and there were some welcome frozen pineapple and watermelon wedges along the way.

Our next stop was at the Kamikaze Caves on the south side of the island. This was a Japanese stronghold during the Second World War, where they hid speedboats ready for a suicide mission on the British soldiers if they came into the bay. It was humbling to see this but also very good to know that nothing actually happened here, because the war ended before any deaths occurred.

As we ventured further along the track we came across a small pond which had a family of wild turtles in it - quite the sight for Max, he thought they were very cool !

Our hike ended in the small village of Sok Kwu Wan where there is another Tin Hau temple. The Tin Hau temples are a place of worship for the goddess to protect seamen and fisherman, and due to the nature of Hong Kong, there are many of these temples around. As you can imagine, my boys are 'over' temples from our time in India, so I don't push my luck with entering them. A quick photo and we are moving on......

Unfortunately, I didn't do the research on ferry times, and we had a long wait for a ride home. This gave us time to have a snack and a long cold drink. The day ended with us walking 13km...... a long day in the heat but lots of fun.

We are determined to see Hong Kong, one hike at a time.