Living on Lamma?

[krl198]

Hi,

I have a 10 month old son and we are thinking of moving to Lamma. Does anyone have experience of living with a young child on Lamma? I am concerned about enough playgroups/classes as my son does Kindermusik at the moment, getting into primary school and if there is an emergency and he needs to see a doctor/go to A&E.

Please share any experience/views you have.

Many thanks.

[howardcoombs]

Have you looked thru http://lamma.com.hk/
They have an active message board as well as listings of schools, businesses etc.

Lamma is full of families with kids. The lifestyle is a bit different and its something I'd love to do; alas my other half is not as thrilled about the idea.

[krl198]

Thanks very much. My other half wants to move there and I am not so sure. I will have a look at the website you mentioned, many thanks.

[autumnwithrosa]

Mui Wo is another place you can think about. It's slightly cheaper, more spacious and much more beautiful than Lamma.

[rebekah]

Hi! We moved to Lamma last year - so I can answer any questions you can have, but I'll address those you've discussed first:
1) there are not many official playgroups here (there is a lot for older children, though) but the Lamma church has a playgroup called "the hangout" on back street (the path to HSY beach) and Banyan offers Mommy and Me classes 1-2 times a week (http://www.banyanhouse.com.hk/Banyan...%26_Child.html) and the community is fantastic. Superb. Amazing. I LOVE Lamma.

2)emergencies: there is a clinic that has a nurse on call 24 hours. in a true emergency you are airlifted to Pamela Youde or taken by police boat to Kennedy town and ambulanced to Queen Mary.

the only real downside to lamma is bugs. because it is "remote" (though no farther than DBay...) I have yet to find an exterminator willing to come here and there is sort of a live with it mentality... we have now managed to keep all critters out for a fair amount of time.

I am happy to answer any questions you have, and if you do decide to move here I can introduce you to some other mums with little ones, and I am sure you will soon meet more! Lamma is like a small town in the middle of Hong Kong. We have considered moving back to the US but we really do LOVE it here.

I also suggest Jackson over the other property agents as he was able to find what we wanted even with a very limited number of available units on Lamma. Bear in mind everything is very local, so you will put in some elbow grease, but nowhere we have lived in HK up to now has felt so much like "home"

oh and education I can't really speak to - we send my older girl to Banyan for Kindy and will likely leave HK before she hits primary as we are not interested in the school system here, but many kids take the ferry to kennedy and bradbury and other schools daily.

[howardcoombs]

...but many kids take the ferry to kennedy and bradbury and other schools daily.

And many just stay on Lamma as there is a perfectly good primary school in town...alas, no secondary school on the island since the exodus of the 1970s...

[krl198]

Thank you so much for all of the helpful responses. We are planning to come over to Lamma to have a look this weekend and make a decision. It sounds like there is a really nice community there.

Has anyone bought their property on Lamma and what is a good price for an apartment with roof access?

[krl198]

Hi Rebekah,

Thank you so much for all of this information, it's really useful. Could you give me Jackson's contact details? We may contact him this weekend to find out what properties are available.

Many thanks,
Karen