Kess got mail

This came in the post today. It was addressed to my human but look at whose name it was attentioned to - me, Kess!

 

The HK SPCA sent me the annual vaccination reminder...Sigh...Visiting the vet is not on my list of favourite things (no offence, Dr. Nic). But my humans say it's a necessary evil. Last year, after my annual visit to the vet, I ended up having to go for dental surgery to get my teeth cleaned and checked. Whilst I was going for surgery, I also got blood tests done. Thankfully, I was given a clean bill of health. Hopefully, there won't be any nasty surprises after this year's visit to the vet.

 

Admittedly, in the last year, this 11-year old beagle has slowed down quite a fair bit. Before, I used to be able to bound up steps with no problem. Now, I actually have to take one step at a time. In fact, my humans sometimes carry me up and down whenever we come across steps on our walks. My distances have also reduced. In fact, I sometimes worry my human on our daily walks at Bowen Road when I stop, look at her and then make a U-turn to signal my desire to go home, way before our normal turning point. But when we go on the trails, I could go on and on and on. My humans have to make the executive decision to turn back, despite this beagle's protest, as they realize that I may not be able to take the distance.

Apart from the slow steps climbing and shorter distances, with the old age, I've started to develop little nicks and lumps. When my humans first detected the little lump on the top of my head and the nick near my eye which didn't heal, they took me to the vet. However, it's too small for any biopsy to be carried out. I guess I'll have to see what Dr Nic says this visit. Age is definitely catching up. One good thing though, I haven't lost my appetite ;-)

Pre-Birthday Treat

This beagle turns 11 tomorrow. My humans, who is getting forgetful actually had to check last year's post because they couldn't remember if I was going to be 11 or 12...Now, who is getting older I wonder ;-)

Anyway, since it's the weekend, my human decided to bake me a pre-birthday treat based on a recipe from the internet. Last year, my cookies were made from carrot, banana and apple. This year, my birthday cookies were made from oats, banana and peanut butter.

Now you see it...

Now you don't...Delicious!

 

After enjoying 2 cookies, with another 10 cookies tucked away in the fridge for a week long birthday treat, my humans decided it was time to walk off some calories and we headed to our favourite weekend spot, the Aberdeen Country Park for a hike. With summer fast approaching (it gets early around 6 am now), the hikes will be few and far between due to the hot and humid weather, so we're taking advantage of the tail end cool days for our outings.

 

Can't wait to see what treats are in store for me tomorrow...

 

Here is the recipe my human used for my treat:

1 cup wholemeal flour (or any kind of flour)

1/2 cup oats

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoon peanut butter

1 teaspoon dried parsley (supposed to help with bad breath...)

 

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes. Using a tablespoon, scoop mixture onto a lined baking tray. Use the back of the spoon to level the cookie. Bake for 40-45 minutes in a preheated 300F (150C) oven. Let it cool before sharing it with your favourite canine friends.



Discover Hong Kong with Kess - Stanley

Stanley is one of my humans' favourite places - a must do for a visitor to Hong Kong. Located on the south eastern part of Hong Kong island, the journey to Stanley from Central Hong Kong is very scenic. If you catch the double decker bus (6, 6X) from Central, grab a front seat on the right side of the upper deck (if you have nerves of steel) - it can be quite scary but fun as you gasp when the driver navigates the narrow winding road.

When my humans visit Stanley with me, we go by car. Unfortunately, although the ferries in HK allow dogs, the buses don't. So what is there at Stanley for humans and dogs to do?

The pier at Stanley is a great place to chill - you can enjoy the view of the sea from the sidewalk or enjoy a meal at the restaurants and cafes (dogs allowed at outdoor seating).

 

 

 You can walk along the pier and discover hidden gems, like the old village houses tucked away from the crowds.

 

Stanley Plaza is a dog-friendly mall and has a lovely view point for photographs.

 

As mentioned in my earlier post, there is dog parking available at the restaurants at Stanley Plaza that did not have outdoor seating.

Last but not least, humans in particular love the street market of Stanley - a haven for souveniers, clothings, shoes, costume jewellery, etc, etc.  So if you're ever in Hong Kong, be sure to pay a visit to Stanley.

 

 

Dog Parking

Dog Parking at Stanley Plaza

It's nice to be able to go out to a suburban mall with my humans. At Stanley Plaza, humans can "park" their dogs whilst enjoying a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe or a quick shopping trip at the supermarket (which doesn't allow dogs in the shops).

P.S. Some of you were concerned about my safety. Thanks you guys! The dog parking is right next to the cafe, so my humans have their eye on me ;-)

A ferry ride to Lamma Island

On New Year's Day, my humans and I went took a ferry across to Lamma Island for a BBQ with their friends. Coming from Malaysia where dogs are not allowed at most places, it is lovely to be able to experience things I was never allowed to in Malaysia (plus KL doesn't really have ferry rides).
One of the conditions of entry on board a ferry is that dogs have to be muzzled. I'm not a big fan of the muzzle but since my humans only put in on me when we board and exit the ferry, I put up with it.

Once on board the ferry, we head to the front, where dogs are supposed to sit. The dreaded muzzle comes off and I get to enjoy the ferry ride.

Lamma Island was a traditional fishing village back in the day. Did you know that the actor, Chow Yuen Fatt grew up on Lamma Island (Chow Yuen Fatt played Captain Sao Feng in the Pirates of the Carribean movie, at World's End)? Now, it's a popular spot for Hong Kong'ers and tourists to visit on weekends and enjoy a seafood meal. It was a lovely day and my humans and their friends decided to do some hiking before lighting up the BBQ. We went up a trail that had lovely views of Hong Kong island. On our way back to the village, we bumped into 2 curious Corgis and spent a couple of minutes sniffing each other out. All in all, this was a pretty good new year's day outing!

 

This Beagle Explores Stage 3 of HK Trail

This beagle loves exploring sections of the Hong Kong trail, a nice change from my regular walks on Bowen Road. The 50km long trail spans five country parks across Hong Kong island. The trail is divided into 7 stages, starting at the Peak, on the western side of the island and ending at Big Wave Bay, on the eastern side of Hong Kong.

The HK trail has distance post along the trail to help hikers figure out where they are and in case of emergencies. The way you can work out how far you've walked is to take note of the number on the post. The distance between each post is 1/2 km. So the starting point at the peak is H001 and the ending point at Big Wave Bay is H100 (50 km).

Whilst it is highly unlikely that I will be able to cover the entire Hong Kong trail (this beagle is 10 years old after all), over the last 1.5 years, my humans have taken me for walks on different sections of the west end trails. So far, I've covered Stage 1 (7km) of the Hong Kong trail, which starts at the Peak's Lugard Road, and then crosses over to Lung Fu Shan Country Park, before looping over to Pok Fu Lam Country Park. My humans and I also regularly hike on the Lady Clementi's Ride, which is the initial 2.5km of Stage 4. A few weeks back, we covered Stage 3 (6.5km), starting from Wan Chai Gap and ending at Peel Rise, near the Peak.

 

My humans usually let me go off-leash on the trails, with one human leading the way upfront and another human behind this beagle to make sure that I don't roam off. Sometimes, I will stop to check that the human on back patrol is still following me. "Hurry up, we've got lots to explore."

 

 

 

The trail is really lovely. It's shaded, fairly flat and passes a couple of streams. We stopped for a water break and my human decided to dip her toes in the cool water of the stream. Me, I'll keep my paws on firm ground. In case you don't know, beagles do not like to play in water, unlike my fellow canines, the Labradors and Retrievers.

The most difficult part of the trail is the last kilometre or so leading up to Peel Rise. It is a very steep climb! So, on our last visit, we skipped the last section and turned around back to Wan Chai Gap. At one point of the trail, there were a series of steep large steps. Since my humans did not want this beagle to climb the stairs (old age = joints issue), my human carries me up.

After that lovely long outing, this beagle catches a snooze out in our balcony. A pretty good weekend indeed!

 

 

A Visit to Whiskers N Paws

The beauty of living in Hong Kong is the availability of on-line shopping - anything from groceries to pet supplies. When my humans first arrived in Hong Kong last year, they were not very savvy and went hunting high and low for a pet shop to purchase some doggie supplies. Finally, after some intenet research, they discovered the convenience of on-line shopping sites for pet supplies. After experimenting with a few, they finally settled on Whiskers N Paws. It has a great English site (which is a big plus as a lot of the local websites are in Chinese) and service is quick and reliable.

Once in a while my humans like to pay a visit to the bricks and mortar shop. Located in Horizon Plaza, a massive industrial building that houses furniture, factory outlets and of course, Whiskers n Paw, it has easy parking and best of all, allows doggies. This is my second visit to Whiskers N Paws. The first time was in February this year. My humans made me pose in front of the store sign.

 

Thankfully, they didn't make me pose in front of the store again this visit. However, this does not mean that my trigger happy human did not take snapshots of me on her trusty Iphone, as you'll soon see.

 

In addition to a huge space for the shop, Whiskers N Paws also has an outdoor space for dogs to socialize and play. Today, they hosted a doggie adoption day by Hong Kong Dog Rescue. So, the backyard had lots of people and doggies. At the front of the shop, we met a couple, who has a beagle and decided to adopt the sweetest chocolate-coloured puppy today. Lucky pup!

 

Although I did not get to meet that beagle, I did get to meet a little human, who was happily playing on the dog slide...

 

...and a little black pup.

Most of the time, I was happy to sit with my human and watch the other dogs play.

At the shop, I had a great time checking out the food section. Hmm...I wonder what my humans got for me? I hope there are some treats.

 

 

After loading up our car with my goodies, it was time to say goodbye to Whiskers N Paws. I hope I don't have to wait 10 months before my next visit!

 

Before, During and After

It was a lovely weekend again and this beagle and my humans headed to our favourite country park.

Before

This was me on the way to the park - enjoying the wind with our open sun roof.

 

During

This was me, sniffing the air, trying to figure out where the Alsatian that was ahead of me went. I went berserk on this walk - pulling my humans and barking at a very high pitch as I caught the scent of the Alsatian but not being able to catch up . Now usually, my humans are comfortable to let me go off leash as I will generally stroll and stop every few feet to check out the smells. Not this visit! Given my highly charged state of mind, going off-leash was not an option! Needless to say, we finished our walk faster than usual, and panting more than usual (beagle and humans..).



After

This was me, on the way home in the car - exhausted!

 

Autumn is here!

Despite having lived in Hong Kong for more than a year now, I am still amazed at how dog-friendly the city of Hong Kong is. Unlike Malaysia, in Hong Kong, you can find apartments that will allow dogs, taxis will take dogs as passengers, for a small fee of HKD5/USD0.65 and my all-time favourite, dogs are allowed in the country parks, and off-leash too! Of course, there are challenges to living in a busy city. Not all places have walking paths for dogs to walk. We are fortunate to live near a popular walking/jogging path.

One of the lovely aspects of living in Hong Kong is the four seasons. Living in tropical Malaysia, where we only get rain or shine, it is a nice change to experience four distinct seasons. Summer in Hong Kong is hot, humid and uncomfortable, my least favourite time of the year. I love the cooler seasons, which is relatively mild compared to countries in higher latitudes. After my last post, autumn played peek-a-boo, disappearing for a few days as sultry summer weather once again reigned in Hong Kong. But, since the mid-autumn festival last weekend, autumn is well and truly here. Apart from the lovely cool temperatures, the days are getting shorter as it becomes dark by around 6.30-6.45 pm in the evening. I think autumn is one of the best times of the year. It's not that cold that this beagle need to wear doggie clothes but cool enough for nice long walks in the park, even in late morning, which is exactly what we did this morning. Can't ask for a more perfect outing for a beagle and her humans!

 

A Hint of Autumn

We've had the most beautiful autumn mornings in Hong Kong the last couple of days. With temperatures around 24C/75F, my humans and I have been enjoying long morning walks, something we couldn't do in summer. The days are still warm but humidity levels have dropped so it's quite bearable.

 

This weekend, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went for a walk at  the Aberdeen Country Park. This beagle loves walking the trails. I get to meet other dogs and the smells are just fascinating! We also stopped by a mini stream and waterfall for a water and photo break. Can't wait for autumn to be here in all its golden glory!

 

Doggie Toilet

The HK government means well. They've set up bricked patches designated as doggie toilet (sign and all) around the parks and residential areas. To be honest, this beagle is not sure how effective the doggie toilets are. Personally, I've never used the doggie toilets, or "dog latrine", preferring the surrounding area next to these doggie toilets. . In fact, my humans had to bribe me to get on to the toilet to get this picture. The things I do for a treat...

 

Discover Hong Kong with Kess - The Peak

A visit to Hong Kong is not complete without a visit to the Peak, the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island, at 552 metres high. There are many transportation options up to the Peak - buses, taxis and cars. A popular tourist option is via the Peak tram. You can catch the tram from the Garden Road Peak Tram Lower Terminus.

Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on board the tram, so this beagle and my humans decided to hike up to the Peak via the Old Peak Road. As you can imagine, hiking up the Peak meant going up a very steep path.
After the 30 minute climb, we reach the Peak. What's at the Peak? Well, on a lovely clear day, you can go up the Peak Tower (dogs not allowed unfortunately), and see this stunning view of Hong Kong.


Apart from the gorgeous view, the Peak ia a cool place (literally as it's so high up, as well as figuratively) to hang out. There is a lovely old style brick cafe that could be in a countryside somewhere in Europe. Instead, it's located right here in cosmopolitan Hong Kong.

You can sit and watch the world go by, or in our case, catch our breath after our very steep climb...

You can also shop and dine. We decided to stop by Starbucks for a cup of coffee...well my humans had their cuppa whilst I had water and liver treats.

Rejuvenated by caffeine and a short rest, we head down the very steep path and back to home sweet home where this beagle has a well deserved rest.

A perfect way to spend the weekend, don't you think?

A Beagle Explores the Hong Kong Trail

Many people associate Hong Kong with this...Buildings and crowd.


True, Hong Kong is densely populated and heavily built up. But, Hong Kong is also this...Country parks and greenery.


Once my humans bought a set of wheels, we've been spending our holidays and weekends exploring the surrounding country parks. The cool weather is ideal for humans and beagle alike to go on long walks on parts of the Hong Kong trail. The Hong Kong trail is a 50km walking route which spans from the east to the west of Hong Island and passes through five country parks. So far, my humans and I have mainly explored the trails in the Aberdeen Country Park.


At the beginning of autumn last year, we checked out the Aberdeen Reservoir...The weather was warmer then and my humans could still go in T-shirt and shorts.


On another trip, we admired the view of the Happy Valley Race Course from the Black Link's trail.


Further down the Black Link's trail, we enjoyed the lush green hills and breathed in fresh clean air. The weather has cooled considerably and out came the jumpers and long pants.


One time, we explored Lady Clementi's trail, a lovely shaded trail with quaint stone bridges and gentle meandering paths.



This beagle can't wait for my next country park outing!