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!
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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!

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!

Best buddies and a new winter outfit

Happy New Year everyone! It's been a busy year end for my humans and me. My humans' family came over to spend Christmas with us and all the humans had fun shopping, eating and sightseeing. What about this beagle? Well, I had fun hanging out with Cutie A, my little buddy.



On a separate note, I mentioned earlier that this beagle is experiencing her first cold season. I've started growing more fur on my belly as my body adjusts to the cooler temperatures. My humans also got me a fleece blanket for my bed and I now get to sleep in my human's bedroom because it's warmer. Well, we experienced a spell of cold weather, down to the low teens (Celcius). I know that compared to my blogging pals who live on the higher latitudes, this is mild weather but for this beagle who's lived her entire life in the tropics, it's pretty cold. So, I've started to pull back to go home whenever we start going for our walks. My humans finally decide to get me a coat, not knowing if I would actually wear it. Back in Malaysia, they used to tease me by putting on an old t-shirt and I would wiggle my way out of the t-shirt. They were pleasantly surprised that I did not try to get this coat off.

Now I can enjoy my long walks even in the cold :-)

Goodbye 2011...Hello 2012

2011...What a year this has been! My humans have been so busy this past few months that this blog has been neglected. Still, we're finally making some time to reflect on this momentous year.

January - Kicked off the year with an outing to BU Park with fellow beagle blogger Sapphire and her humans.


February and March - Nothing terribly exciting in the life of this beagle...the usual walks, barking at squirrels, cats, monkeys, postman...you get the picture.


April - This beagle turns 9! For my birthday treat, I had a lip-smacking yummy meal of liver on rice (hey...I'm a "Chinese" dog, so rice is one of my favourite food.) My humans torture me by making me sit whilst they photograph me...


May - My humans prepare me for our move to HK and start getting me used to the crate which I will travel from Malaysia to HK.

Meanwhile, this beagle continues to get into trouble when left home alone. Shredded paper bag...dead plants...


June - The big move to HK. My humans go first to settle things. Meanwhile, this beagle was spoilt to bits by gramps. I join my humans two weeks later. Happy reunion with my humans!

This was a month of many firsts...My first:
- Plane ride - can't say I liked it very much. Hated being crated and separated from my humans.
- Lift ride (my humans live in an apartment and are very thankful that this beagle loves the lifts. Otherwise, it would be a very long walk on the stairs as we live above 20 storeys high.)
- Stay in an apartment- we've always lived in a house with a garden so it was quite an adjustment figuring out pee schedules and the like. This beagle misses barking at the creatures that visit our garden back in Malaysia. Without these stimulus, I spend my days snoozing more than I used to back in Malaysia. To make up for it, my humans take me for longer walks where I get to socialize with fellow canines, like fellow beagle, Molly.

- Taxi ride...to the vet, of all places!
- Bath in a tub - my humans had to get me a bath mat to prevent me from slipping. Back in Malaysia, I used to have a bath on the front porch - a much bigger, non-slippery floor. I miss the space!



July - Still adjusting to living in an apartment...Couple of misses with pee accidents at home and a bad case of separation anxiety whenever I'm left at home. On the positive side, this beagle had her first outing to Sai Kung, a lovely fishing village in the New Territories as we check out DBDogsDayz for a future stay.


August - Still suffering from separation anxiety. My humans are at their wits end trying to figure out a solution for this problem. Unlike back home, we don't have any family here, so we're on our own...To make things worse, a nasty tabby attacked us as my humans and I were walking through a narrow path to go home after a walk. The cat actually scratched my ear and my human had to clean up the wound. Thankfully it wasn't too deep. As a result, I try to avoid the cat whenever I meet it on the walks, preferring to stay as far away as possible.

September - This was a good month. My human's families came to visit and there was a happy reunion. My humans also got me my own patch of grass at our balcony so I can happily go pee anytime. Aah...the simple pleasures of life.

October - My humans hire a helper so that I won't be left home alone when my humans go out or go to boarding when they travel. Everyone is happy! My humans have started travelling for work and they are relieved that I am well taken care of at home. The weather starts getting cooler and this beagle experiences her first autumn.

November - We get a car finally and this beagle gets to go on more outings. My first trip on our car was to the Aberdeen Country Park, which is now our favourite hiking spot when my humans are not travelling for work.


December - The cold of winter arrives early this year in HK. For a beagle who has lived her entire life in sunny Malaysia, it's a big change. My humans notice that I have more fur on my belly as my body adapts to the cold. I get fleece blankets on my bed and get to sleep in my human's room at night as it's warmer :-). My human's family spends Christmas here and we all have a festive time! Merry Christmas everyone (a little belated, but better than late than never, right?). Hope you had a wonderful 2011 and here's wishing everyone a terrific 2012!

Dead Grass = Success...

It's a strange title for a post but it'll make sense shortly. If you remember, I wrote about my very own patch of grass a few months back. Back then, it was a lovely patch of green grass that looked like this...



A perfect place for a beagle to snooze. My humans reckon that they've supplied me with enough doggie beds and carpets around the house for catching forty winks and would prefer for me to use my patch of grass for peeing instead. Well, they got their wish and my little garden patch now looks like this...


That's right, there is a patch in the centre that's brown and dead due to the potent PH of this beagle's pee. Despite their best efforts to mitigate the effects of dog pee on grass by watering it after each pee, nature takes its course!


Of course, my humans have trained me so well that I automatically run to my food bowl, waiting to be be rewarded for peeing on the grass (that's how they got me to pee there in the first place :-)). Although, I have noticed that the treats are getting smaller each time...Sneaky humans!

Anyway, my humans reckon that having brown grass is worth the price. When we're not having typhoons or strong winds, they leave the glass door open so that I can go and pee anytime I want to. It also came in handy during the time when I had a runny tummy. I was glad I didn't have to wait to go downstairs coz I don't think I could have waited! So, all in all, humans and beagle are happy with our dead grass!

If dogs could read...

I wonder which genius posted this sign at a local playground in Malaysia?
Kess' Mama