Tabitha Wang Today Online 11 Sep 09;
LAST weekend, I went to Lamma. The island, shaped like an inverted Y, is best known for being the birthplace of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Chow Yun Fat.
Just 30 minutes away from Hong Kong island by ferry, Lamma is worlds apart from the concrete jungle it overlooks.
There are no cars allowed, so already the pace is slowed down to walking or biking speed. Life is so relaxed there that I could feel my blood pressure drop the moment my feet hit the pier.
All the buildings, with the exception of one modern development, are village houses, restricted to three stories. In some areas, you can still see traditional fishermen's huts, built right over the sea on stilts.
It is a tranquil spot, where pedestrians and pets are allowed full reign of the streets and nature spills over into the gardens in the form of flowering rambling plants.
Every weekend, locals and tourists alike jam the ferries, eager to partake of this tiny Eden in busy Hong Kong for the price of a Singapore taxi flag-down fare.
Some are dressed for hiking one of the many nature trails. Most, however, are happy to just stroll down the narrow main street, eating cheap seafood supplied by the fish farms off the bay or stocking up on organic vegetables grown on the island.
There are about 6,000 people living there and they give the place its vibrancy. If they weren't around, there would doubtless be fewer tourists wanting to go there.
Nature walks and beach bumming are all well and good, but you also want the option of being able to go to a deep-fried pigeon restaurant or bean curd shop later.
I have taken many Singaporean friends over to Lamma and they always rave about how lucky I am to be able to visit this untouched spot every weekend. "If only we had this back home," they say wistfully.
But hang on, we did. It is called Ubin.
Years ago, it was just as idyllic as Lamma. Kampung houses dotted the area, there were seafood restaurants and old-style sundry shops all over and tourists clamoured to see a way of life that had all but disappeared in Singapore.
Now, Ubin is just an empty shell, with nature slowly reclaiming all the old wooden houses and the trails deserted apart from a few hardy souls wanting to commune with nature. So what happened?
Ubin died the day the villagers were encouraged to move out.
Yes, it is a park now, but even the most intrepid nature lovers would appreciate a pit stop to buy drinks or a good seafood meal after biking to Chek Jawa.
Singapore lost some soul when it moved out all the people who lived on the outlying islands and turned the places into empty grassland with one or two concrete gazebos (like St John's Island), an amusement park (Sentosa) a training camp (Pulau Tekong) or an oil refinery (Pulau Bukom).
Imagine if the villagers had been allowed to stay. We could have had the same dynamic island life they have in Hong Kong now. The Outlying Islands are home to both locals and foreigners who want something other than shoebox living.
Lamma residents have their own traditions and culture. They've created jobs - the demand for ferries to connect the villagers to Central has spawned an entire industry. Ironically, many of the ferry boats around Victoria Harbour were made in Singapore.
Compare this to our lacklustre maritime culture, where the only boats that see action are the (now motorised) sampans that take tourists up and down the Singapore River.
Imagine having regular ferry services from a revamped Clifford Pier to Kusu and St John's islands. Not only could we create jobs, we could get more tourist dollars.
To do that, we need to repopulate the islands - and I don't mean building more millionaire's homes, as has been done in Sentosa, but to replicate the lovely kampung houses now going to ruin in Ubin.
Somehow, I don't see that happening. So I guess I just have to keep taking Singaporeans to Lamma to show them what they're missing.
Tabitha Wang is dreaming of importing an Ubin kampung house to Lamma.
