Lamma Island (Nov 26)

Saturday Sophia & Eric & I took a trip to Lamma Island. This is the 3rd largest Island in Hong Kong and is only accessible by ferry. It was drizzling at home, so John chose not to join us (he had work to do anyway). I took an umbrella, but when we arrived the sun was shining brightly. Amazing how different the weather can be just a short distance away. It was a 35 minute ferry ride.

There are two towns on Lamma Island that used to be fishing villages. The one we landed at still has lots of fishing, but the community seems to have become very "western". I guess the rents are WAY lower than in the city and it has a very small town, intimate atmosphere. There are no cars, so lots of bikes. The town just has narrow walkways that meander around with stores filled with crafts, fish, veggies. There were several restaurants & bars that all had tables outside & were very open and friendly looking. Many people seemed to know each other. I almost felt like I was back in Davidson (it took a lot of imagination, but just the feeling).

We walk the 20 minutes to a very nice beach. There were some people swimming. We stopped at a little cafe to order some tofu fa. Lamma Island is famous for it's tofu fa. This literally means, tofu flower. It is actually a sort of sweet soup dish. You get a bowl filled with a hunk of very soft tofu covered with a sauce that is thin & sweet with a very distinct ginger flavor. Since I like tofu I really liked the dish. Tofu doesn't have much flavor, so mostly you taste the ginger sauce. Apparently Lamma Island's is so good because they make the tofu from mountain water, so it is very creamy & soft. Sophia & I had ours warm, but Eric likes his cold. I guess either one is acceptable.

We walked on up to a lookout area that is a good ways above the beach. It was a good climb & we worked up a good sweat. We were in time to watch the sunset, although it was pretty hazy, so not too spectacular. It started to rain (fortunately I'd gotten a photo of the lovely blue sky before this to show John). We walked back to the ferry (luckily we had our umbrellas, you learn to always carry one). We had planned to get a seafood dinner, but with the rain decided to go back & see if John wanted to join us.

We met John near our house at an Italian (Eric & John's favorite type of food) restaurant we hadn't tried before. It was good & we had a really nice dinner. John & Eric seemed to enjoy each other's company & Sophia is always fun to be with.

All in all it was a very nice day.