My life on Lamma begins
It took a weekend and lots of back-and-forth boat trips, but I’ve finished moving to Lamma Island.
Here there are fewer prostitutes, no cars, and, gloriously, no cable TV. I accidentally signed up to Now TV’s woeful cable service last year in a fit of pity for a poor sales guy who’d climbed the five flights of stairs to my Wan Chai apartment late on a Friday night. Consigned to an 18-month contract of piss-weak censored HBO movies and Pimp My Ride-type fare, I rued the decision ever since. Lamma, however, has resolved my situation beautifully: it’s possible to get a broadband connection out here, but not possible to get cable TV reception. My contract was terminated without a disconnection fee, saving me a few hundred dollars and unnecessary stress induced by occasional exposure to offensive programming.
Another great thing about Lamma is that I live above an ice-cream shop, a couple of steps away from a cute supermarket, within five minutes of a handful of laid-back bars, and one-minute away from HK$15 avocado and salad sandwiches served on brown bread. The same shop is also frequented by this man-sized dog:
In the weekends, I fully intend to take advantage of the many excellent hiking and biking trails — and not a moment too soon, as my belly seems to have decided to grow its business. I’m writing it down here, as usual, to make myself do it: less meat, less drinking, more exercise.
The great trade-off for this lifestyle, of course, is that my life will now be dictated to some extent by a ferry timetable. This means I have to leave Hong Kong by 12:30am every night — shouldn’t be too difficult, except for those especially lubricated evenings at the end of the week — and I’ve got to make sure I’m up at the right time in the morning to catch the boat to work.
The 30-minute boat ride also means I have ample opportunity for reading. I foresee many relaxing mornings in the company of the New Yorker, Harper’s, and the Economist (which I steal from my boss). I would read the newspaper, but I’ve grown to detest the broadsheet form — almost impossible to handle unless you have a good-sized table in front of you, and today a needless waste of paper. I get all my short-form news online.
So, let’s do this again: more reading, less drinking, less meat, more exercise. More breezes, more beaches, and more balcony.
I like it here.
10 comments July 3, 2007
