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.

 

 

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!

 

Summer in Hong Kong

It's been a while since I last blogged. This beagle is alive and well.

Summer in Hong Kong is wet, humid and rainy. Sometimes we get sunshine and rain at the same time, quite bizzare really. This means my walks are short due to the hot weather. In the evenings, we tend to walk later in the evening where it's marginally cooler. I don't get to go to my favourite Aberdeen country park as often as during autumn/winter/spring. However, we did manage a short outing one weekend evening. As you can tell from my expressions, I had a great time :-)

Kess resting on a bench

Kess providing directions to the Hong Kong trail

Kess showing off the map of the Aberdeen Country Park

Whilst summer may not be the best time for doggie walks, humans, especially female humans love to come to Hong Kong during summer because of Hong Kong's famous summer sale. Needless to say, my humans has been taking advantage of adding on to their summer wardrobe. Thankfully, this beagle does not need a summer wardrobe!

Happy summer everyone!

Explore Hong Kong with Kess - Shek O Beach

Spring is well and truly here. This beagle doesn't need any winter outfits or blankets anymore. Hurray! The weather was gorgeous yesterday - blue skies, cool weather. My humans decided to go to Shek O beach in the evening, a lovely beach located on the south of Hong Kong island. Obviously, we weren't the only one with the same idea so it took us a while to find parking but we did!

In Hong Kong, dogs are generally not allowed on beaches during summer. But since people don't usually go to the beaches during winter, there is kind of an unwritten rule that dogs are allowed during winter. Well, since it's not technically winter and the beach was quite full with people, my humans decided to let me watch from a distance instead. In any case. this beagle is not really a big fan of water, so I was happy to admire the sea from the walkway.


We then walked through the small town of Shek O towards a nearby walking trail by the sea. At the start of the trail, there is a lovely chinese style home.


Since spring is a popular time for weddings, we saw at least a dozen couples having their wedding pictures taken in beautiful Shek O. In fact, I managed to get my picture taken with one of the couples...in the background.


All in all, it was a really fun first outing to the beach for this beagle. To top it off, I got to spend some quality time with my humans...

Discover Hong Kong with Kess - The Peak's Hong Kong Trail

Many visitors to Hong Kong don't know that the Peak is the starting point of the Hong Kong trail, a 50 km walking route that spans across Hong Kong island. In fact, my humans who used to visit Hong Kong regularly in past years never knew about this until we came here to live.

Exploring Stage 1 of the Hong Kong trail is a fun and free way to get a view of Hong Kong. Instead of forking out HKD30 to go up the Sky Terrace at the Peak Tower, you can get a view and some exercise by walking this easy paved trail. The trail which starts at Lugard Road, continues all the way to the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir. However, if you're only interested to get a 360 view of Hong Kong, you can turn off at Harlech Road and head back to the Peak.



This is exactly what we did on one of our past trips to the Peak. That time we drove up to the Peak and did this leisurely walk. My humans figured that hiking up to the Peak from our home and combining that with this one hour walk may be too much for this old beagle (I turn 10 this April).

At the start of Lugard Road, you will see a lovely colonial building which serves as the headquarters for the Peak Tram Manager.


As you keep going, you will get to see the Peak Tower in the background.


It was a cloudy morning, so the view of Hong Kong was pretty gloomy. But I would imagine that it would look pretty spectacular on a blue sky day.


Honestly though, this beagle wasn't as interested in the views. I much prefer checking out the scents. And boy oh boy, there were lots of interesting scents to sniff out - from other canines, squirrels and other little creatures...


Naturally, I could not resist leaving some scents of my own during our hour-long circular walk!
.

So there you have it, a cheap fun way to see the island and get some exercise so that you don't feel guilty for pigging out during your vacation!