A (Dog’s) Beautiful Life – Part 2; Central, Lan Kwai Fong, Staunton Road and HK Convention and Exhibition Center

“MY DOG IS NOT DEAD. I repeat, my dog is NOT DEAD. I posted about her life following her 9th bday because rather than grieve when she eventually goes, I preferred warm and fuzzy. But I am getting condolence messages now – which is very sweet, but SHE IS WALKING NEXT TO ME AT PEAK NOW :D:D:D” – My Facebook over the weekend when I started getting heartfelt condolence messages

(Wah my previous post sounds like my dog died meh?)

And with that, Part 2…..

Link REIT (or rather lack, thereof) demonstration

No one paid us any mind. Not the demonstrators, not the police. Our old Singapore landlord/lady who were visiting and staying with us translated the chinese in the signs as:

“Everyone should work together to stabilize Hk,” and

“Chong King Hong and Toh Kwan Hau are spoiling Hk and should step down.” Umm, oblivious – heck, we just wanted a picture for our collection. This was in 2005 when we often went looking for places where dogs weren’t allowed, just to snap a pic.

Outside HK Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai

This is where Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu etc shot the famous siege scene from Police Story 3… Love the movie, and we used to be inside this place a lot because back then our church would rent some of the function rooms here and would pass the exact area with all the windows and beams where they filmed… But of course this is HK, it’s fairly common to come across discreet cordons where people are filming (haha and then the movies/ tv series end up on Malaysian tv)…

We took a couple more with the Golden Bauhinia (HK's national flower) in the background

Deserted area somewhere in Shek O

Couldn’t figure why anyone would put a No Dogs sign in the seemingly God-forsaken area above though.

JD trying to get away from me in hideous pink top at Staunton Road

We used to brunch a lot in the Staunton Road area because many restaurants allow you to have the dog with you long as you sit near the sidewalk… I remember being approached once or twice by (foreign) gay couples looking to get a dog and who wanted to know what it was like to keep a Border Collie in HK… (I did have gay ex colleagues, both Singaporean and local Hongkie too – as mentioned before Kings’ “gaydar” is pretty accurate from when one of his housemates was gay, and it wasn’t long before a couple co-workers he’d met and mentioned to me were probably gay actually came out…)

Sidewalk dining... and the "famous" outdoor escalator on left

JD loved this table where we used to share Spanish Frittata (this is why I say she eats “80% right” because the other 20% is a taste of what we eat when we dine out), she could see what we were having and tailor her “begging” accordingly – drives her vet nuts, not because of the diet but because of the whole Dogs Are Pack Animals And The Pack Leader Eats First, Not With – Are You Trying To Train The Dog Or Not?? But JD’s a house pet at least 80% of it is right – when we aren’t changing helpers haha. Our Aussie vet had the most well-behaved Jack Russell in the world who heels everywhere without a peep as his master strides all over the clinic. (Is it even a Jack Russell anymore?! Humph…..)

Near Landmark and you can see JD's really getting tired of this...

JD's Grouchy Face in front of "old" Mandarin Oriental and HSBC main building next door

This is outside the original Mandarin Oriental Hotel where Leslie Cheung famously leapt to his death… (I stayed there soon after the suicide, because we were still in Singapore at the time and I was then sent to the HK branch of the bank for training… Friends/ colleagues pointed out where he had landed, from my room balcony… I remember passing by in later years on the anniversary of his death and an entire wall would still be lined with flowers and memorabilia from his fans…)

"Look, JD, it's the Central MTR station et al, I'm sure you care!" The one on the right is a bit like "Here's the station! Here's the listless dog!"

Miserable "WHEN is this going to end???" Face

At some point…… it occurred to us the whole picture-collecting might be fun for us, but…

"YYYYYYAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNNNN...." along Lan Kwai Fong in front of Beer ad...

Btw, JD doesn’t like beer. She and Rockstar had very similar expressions, the one time they tasted it. (They both like fish and papaya soup, though…..) Sometimes it’s hard to believe they aren’t related…..

For JD, our little photo collection hobby was starting to feel a little like........

Yeah the photos look fun and all right, but then we realized she really doesn’t enjoy getting in and out of cars and being put on sit/stay for a pic…

But couldn't resist this... New Year's Day 2005 decor in Lan Kwai Fong

8am along Lan Kwai is probably the only time it’s quiet…….

That’s about as close as any of us – JD or otherwise – have been to the famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant though… This is a friend/ ex-colleague’s boat, we’d been to his home in Discovery Bay for a BBQ party earlier (cars weren’t allowed on DBay so there are yuppies and expats who like to live there for the relatively cleaner air and would commute to work each morning… I find HK waters choppier than Malaysian or Singaporean waters though, as are cab rides because of the winding, hilly, narrow roads; some of my RMs used to always carry around seasick pills for themselves and clients as well… We packed her jacket in case while sniffing about the entire boat it suddenly pitched and she fell in because it would be hard to fish her out again in the dark…)

Same friend told us back then the restaurant was quite dirty, with a rat problem – we have no idea how true or not this is, we just never got round to going there for a meal… And yes, JD had a great time at our friend’s BBQ – any time someone dropped food, albeit it was across the room / garden, she would be there! Party Animal…..

And so, we learned to go to more places she liked…………. in Part 3 🙂