Lamma

On Saturday, Tom and I met up with two different sets of friends for an excursion to Lamma Island, the "other" major outlying island of the SAR (I always think of Lantau as the primary one -- perhaps because that's where we spent the previous 2 weekends). Lamma has a slightly different vibe than that on Lantau (and that on HK Island and Kowloon, for that matter). No cars are allowed, and everyone seems to have a couple of dogs and a couple of kids. The main "street" is like a wide sidewalk lined with little shops selling sarongs and snacks and organic soap. It's kind of like the South China Sea version of Woodstock, with beaches.

Our primary destination was a spot called the Bookworm Cafe, which serves delicious vegan and vegetarian food. Since most of (affordable) HK is heavy on the meat and starch, we were all craving some salad. After that, we planned some reading at the beach to take advantage of the warm weather.

On the way over, we noticed that the ferry ride was much rougher than other trips we'd taken -- the captain was obviously booking it (maybe he wanted some vegetables too). We also noticed that a bunch of locals were getting sick -- I mean puke bags and all (and this only got worse on the way back). We found it very curious, since it was pretty likely that these people take such ferry trips on a regular basis. Luckily, our Western stomachs were apparently immune to seasickness (on that day at least) and we made it to Lamma uneventfully.

The cafe was charming and the food was delicious -- once it came. We were there for more than 2 hours before our party of 6 was fully served and had eaten, but the soy mango cheesecake at the end saved the cafe from a bad review -- it was really really yummy. Using soy yogurt instead of cream cheese, the cake managed to get the sweet tanginess of normal cheesecake spot on, while being less brick-like in the stomach. It's enough to make me want to buy a springform pan!

Not to segue from food immediately to the loo (but actually, yes, I'm doing that...), the cafe was also the first place in HK where I utilized the traditional squat toilet (albeit a finished porcelain one). In China, squat toilets (as opposed to the ones you sit on, like we have at home) abound, but HK's western influences mean that most places here utilize the familiar porcelain throne. However, more casual places do contain porcelain squat toilets (and I'm sure the really casual places just have a hole in the floor). This squat toilet was quite nice, although balancing in a squatting position reminded me that I need to so some lunges. Anyway. It was good practice for our trip through the Mainland, which commences in about a week :-).

After our meal, we walked along Lamma's main road and peeked into many delightful stores -- since we were running so late, we didn't do as much browsing as I'd hoped, but Tom and I plan to return this weekend to meander to our hearts' content. The beach itself was crowded, but swimming in the South China Sea was wonderful, as always, and the relaxed atmosphere of the island was truly charming. I'll share our future adventures there with the blog next week!