Hong Kong Ham

I have a little love note to Lamma up on Asia Sentinel today. Lots of people have written about Lamma before, and most gush about it, so I tried not to idealise the place too much. There’s a photo on there you’ll recognise from one of my previous posts. The other photo — the one below — was taken by my flatmate, Andrew James.

Here are the opening paragraphs:

Deranged, in a Lamma Sort of Way

Pak Kok, a tiny village of two-storey villas and narrow paths nestled in a small, verdant corner of Hong Kong’s Lamma Island, is home to exactly one convenience store. It sells what you need: vegetables, toilet paper and beer. Outside the store, at a simple table under a canopy, two prematurely weathered Brits in their 30s sit drinking Tsingtao. Fat drops of condensation run down the tall bottles, forming a spreading puddle that is obviously multiple-bottles old.

Richard and Richard — though the one with a chipped tooth and a shaved head prefers to be called Tin — are catching up with each other for the first time in 10 years. Tin has been AWOL in Lapland, Finland, Iceland and numerous other frigid-sounding lands. The other Richard has been on Lamma the whole time. The two are in good spirits, despite what could be a fraught friendship. Years ago, the details are a little fuzzy, one took over the other’s restaurant job after he was fired. They confess to being “derangedly drunk” as my friend and I chug Ribena and enjoy the entertainment that only two happily intoxicated Brits can bring. It’s just after midday.

Keep reading…