Hiking the Lamma Island Family Trail

Last Sunday was Mother's Day, and hubby and the kids treated me to an outing to Lamma Island. I love hiking, and I've been wanting to go to Lamma Island for the past four years, so indeed it was quite a treat! The weather forecast for rain threatened our plans, but I decided to take the risk. We were fortunate because it only drizzled during our time on the island, but the weather turned pretty bad in the evening after we had returned home. Lamma Island is the third biggest island in Hong Kong, and its main appeal is the abundance of natural scenery, and delicious fresh seafood. No automobiles are allowed on the island, and buildings have to be less than three storeys high. It is a nice change of pace and scene from the hectic city life, and in fact many expats live on Lamma Island. The ferry rides to and from Central are about 30 minutes duration, and the ferry schedules are fairly regular to and from Yung Shue Wan, the main population center on the island. We decided to ferry into Yung Shue Wan and hike the Family Trail to Sok Kwu Wan where we ate a very good and delicious seafood lunch before catching the return ferry back to Central. The Family Trail is paved, which made it possible to hike with baby girl in the stroller, but there are parts of the trail that are rough and cobbly, and many hills to climb and descend. The drizzle and humidity made it an uncomfortable hike, but overall it was quite a pleasant hike with beautiful views. We took about 1.5 hours to complete the 4km trail at an easy pace with a 6-year-old walking and a toddler in the stroller.

The view from the ferry pier at Yung Shue Wan:

At the end of the Yung Shue Wan Main Street, which has a lot of eateries and shops nearer the pier and more residential buildings as we got further from the commercial area:

Lots of green around:

A beach (Hung Shing Ye Beach) we came across on the Family Trail, which had a lifeguard station, barbecue and picnic facilities, as well as changing rooms, toilets and showers. Note the power station in the background:

We bought these baked goodies at a bakery we came across on Yung Shue Wan Main Street. Egg tart, coconut tart, glutinous rice cake and chiffon cake - carbs to fuel the 7km hike!

The Lamma Power Station is a prominent structure on this island, and is very hard to miss even if you tried:

A panoramic view at one of the high points on the trail (next to the Hilltop Pavilion). Click on image for a larger view:

Another panoramic view of Sok Kwu Wan village (click on image for a larger view):

Sok Kwu Wan's main street is lined with seafood restaurants and shops:

A shop selling dou fu hua and other sweets:

A red bean rice pudding-like sweet made with the special local pinky-red brown sugar:

Near the ferry pier is a little playground and a court:

I really enjoyed our day out in Lamma Island, and will post about our delicious seafood lunch up on the blog soon.