A (Dog’s) Beautiful Life – Part 3; Pok Fu Lam Mutts, Tai Tam, Little Hong Kong and Repulse Bay

 When we first got here, we didn’t always know where to walk JD, and I found this loading bay where dog lovers who lived in all the nearby high rises would similarly let their dogs run loose. There is actually a perfectly fine park nearby, but far more parks and “sitting out areas” don’t allow dogs – this was one of those areas, and dog owners would literally walk their dogs round and round the outside of the park – or in the filthy loading bay below.

Cargo loading area in Pok Fu Lam - Kings always says one thing about HK that never changes is how they have this abundance of bamboo and so use it for all the construction scaffolding everywhere - and something always seems to be under construction

The loading bay above was filthy, JD used to come back with little bugs and things and her paws would literally be black – but she really loved this place for awhile. That might have been where we picked up the habit to spray her paws with that sanitizer you get from hospitals and then wipe down with baby wipes. There used to be people living in what looked like makeshift huts at these docks who loved dogs and so kept a bunch of nondescript mutts, feeding them any scraps they could. JD just loooved playing with the moth-eaten ragbag mutts and they loved her right back, running over from wayyy far when they saw her enter the compound, so I had to be real vigilant with the tick collars and Frontline…

There were lots of well-kept dogs around as well, but oh, how JD loved the ragbag Mutt Brigade. (Who, btw, are extremely good at navigating busy traffic, crossing at the lights, perching delicately on the narrowest and busiest of road barriers and what-not – much better than the well-kept dogs. Maybe because the dumb ones wouldn’t have survived… JD has always been aloof and rather disdainful particularly of smaller breeds, but rarely meets a street mutt she doesn’t like. Maybe that’s one reason – the street mutts are often very savvy. Our dog, the intellectual snob.)

I heard quite a few stories from the locals here too, some of them quite sad. There used to be Mainland ships docking here (not sure who docks here nowadays, it seems to all be locked up now so I’m not sure you can still bring your dog in) that would spew out black smoke. In the beginning, the people living in the makeshift huts had let their mutts run about freely even after dark, and one winter night the people on the ships took their dogs aboard the ships when they left. Apparently they liked to have dogs on board while docking in various ports, and then as the ship neared its final destination…..

“Don’t worry, they wouldn’t eat your dog, they only eat mutts.” Uh……

“It’s common knowledge. Everyone knows <indicating JD> those dogs can’t be eaten. If she got stolen they’d re-sell her in a pet store… Make more, anyway…” Y-eah. We weren’t letting JD out of our sight – especially when someone else almost lost their Schnauzer.

More well-to-do dog owners often fed the Mutt Brigade, so if you went in your bag while standing about waiting for your dog to have her run, you might find a mutt or two materializing with expectant expression in front of you.

I recall my mum, a serial semi-homeless-mutt feeder’s description of somewhere in Kelawai Road, Penang… My parents often passed this big brown mutt on their several times weekly walks, and one day they saw a sign: “Please feed the brown dog. We will be away for 5 days.” So they made a point of going back the next day with a bag of food – only to find some 4 or 5 bags of food had already beat them to it… 

The first time I fed Pok Fu Lam Mutt Brigade, I was nervous. They had had many previous bad experiences (kids had thrown them in the freezing water on another occasion and the police had spent an uncomfortable hour late one night fishing them out – yes alive; another time someone took a pipe to one of JD’s best friends, we learned, when we couldn’t find him for weeks. One of the other dog lovers had then supplied ointment and they patiently rubbed his swollen legs til he could walk again) and so their owners living in the shacks nearby were increasingly vigilant. And back then my Cantonese was much worse than now, and I was alone that day.

Later, when other local dog owners (who could speak English) joined us, they told me I needn’t ever worry – I was already recognizable as JD’s owner. Mutt Brigade’s owners liked when other dog owners fed their pets for them because they didn’t always have much, but they were also apparently very savvy over who had which dog in case someone tried to poison their mutts. JD had long been identified as a regular Mutt Brigade Socializer. (Interestingly no one from the shacks ever spoke to/ even approached me. I think they were also aware I was speaking to JD in English…)

Will the real JD please stand up?

We started to look for other places JD could run free, including this place somewhere on the Peak that got dug up at one point because it was identified as an archeological site.

JD *dance* *dance* dancing around in really crappy weather

More than occasionally, the weather would be HORRIBLE but we’d give JD her pound of fl – er, we’d give her her walk anyway. She is completely oblivious to bad weather (unless it’s too hot) and will squint up at you, still with crazed happy look, if it’s pouring sheets of rain. We were literally freezing our butts off in the fog when we took the above picture – it’s like breathing in water and even though it’s not actually raining your hair gets wet through within minutes. Never understood why people like to live up on the Peak, even where we are during the wet months your paintings, clothing and walls can grow mould within about a week if you don’t have the dehumidifier on. And with it on your power bill really goes up.

On clear days however, the view from the Peak trails we take looks like this. JD's still delighted, but trying to look away from the camera again and I'm trying to turn her back

Think this Tai Tam Reservoir pic below looks harmless?

"Harmless" Tai Tam Reservoir pic?

Look again………

Tai Tam reservoir

The reservoirs were a good place to walk the dog too… I didn’t put her up there, she jumped up and nearly gave us a heart attack, so we decided to make the most of it by taking a pic. I am fake-pointing at something. Usually Kings screams his lungs out at her when she does things like that, being the more uptight of the two of us…

Another Crazy Face while Kings is flying a kite

This is another secluded park spot, near where someone buried their Maltese after Dino succumbed to tick fever. We saw the young couple leave tennis balls and chrysanthemums on occasion, they would also sit and talk quietly for a bit at the gravesite before leaving…

Behind Kings is a stream where an old-ish couple used to bring a huge plastic container with 3 large turtles in them.  They would duct-tape industrial-sized straws to the turtle shells and then let them roam about freely in the stream – even from across the field we could make out the straws moving up and downstream, and their owners would occasionally pick them up (yes, by the straws) if they had wandered too far. Somewhere in our reels and reels of home movie footage are clips of expat and local children wading about and occasionally passing the scrabbling turtles around by their straws. At the end of the day, the turtles would be put back in the tupperware to go home. But first, they would be meticulously toweled-down. Of course they would.

We’ve heard it said that if you are inclined to walk, all hiking trails on HK island will eventually lead up to the Peak. Not sure how true it is of all, but you can definitely walk your way down to town from up on the Peak – the trail above would take about 2 hours from Peak to Pok Fu Lam, ending with a couple hundred very steep, tiny stone steps that led right out to a bus terminal, one of the HK universities and yes, Belchers development where we first lived.

Spot the Blue Dog

The above is Little Hong Kong Reservoir; we figured a way to get our photo fix while also keeping our dog happy… This particular park is accessible at the end of a very steep road that connects quite a few very local developments. As a result, lots and lots of old folks trudge up to socialize, do a little fishing, or walk their birds. We’d considered discreetly showing our parents, as a way of promoting “healthy lifestyle” – the old folks walking up to this place must be super fit, to do it once or twice every day to see their friends. And yes, you will see a bunch of uncles carrying bird cages, playing radio stations tuned to old wayang music and such. The younger set also come here to BBQ, and of course there are lots of happy dogs walking about in this area…

And of course, JD loves to SWIM

We love Repulse Bay, but if you bring your dog before 6 or 6.30pm like on most major beaches, the lifeguard station will broadcast a “community service message” at full volume in English, Cantonese and Putonghua about how dogs aren’t allowed on the beach. You would think it’s local Hongkies that are that uptight? Nooo… We’ve been approached by white/ Caucasian mums who “explain” to us that dogs “do dirty things in the sand” and it “wouldn’t be good for babies.”

(Obviously, JD is very toilet trained, since marking i.e. peeing is an immediate disqualification in competition for e.g., but we didn’t think they would’ve believed us… They were… speaking to us very slowly in English…. 😀 (And anyway they’d just complain to the lifeguards and then we’d still have to leave.) Occasionally when that happens, we assume they are relatively new to HK, because expats here are very very diverse – opinions about living here, what locals are like, who locals are, who Mainlanders are and also varying commands of Cantonese and Putonghua many of which can put ours to shame…… I remember ages ago an older British lady accused Kings of “stealing” electricity at one cafe, on top of having the chutzpah to sit there without ordering anything, because he had happily plugged in his laptop at one of our very regular spots without seemingly a word to any of the wait staff – which is because they already knew what we always order… Her Cantonese-speaking similarly blonde and blue eyed companion was so mortified…)

Two female Border Collies eyeing each other...

So, the solution is to find places with no lifeguards or baby mummies! And here we met another Border Collie doing the same, walking along the Repulse Bay promenade – a lot of back doors of apartment buildings actually lead straight down to this thing, and it’s a nice beach-side walk (though the actual beach has the lifeguards) and one of the cleanest air areas on the island. A girlfriend from Singapore whose asthma flared up while we both lived in Pok Fu Lam moved here for the same reason. She (BC not my GF :D) was owned by an old British guy who made lots of comments about “girls eyeing each other up and down” and “never getting along” as well as the guys… His case in point was what these two BCs were like to each other – not sure it was because they’re female BCs, but it is true the females can be a lot more idiosyncratic and it was definitely true these two really didn’t like each other… The whole time their owners were chatting, they were doing the above… Well obviously the red BC is his GF (sorry, couldn’t resist) who is stereotypically jealous and possessive… Though not even human…

Like so...

JD’s expression at left is because the two boats behind her have just collided with a loud bump, and she is still refusing to take her eye off the stick I’m waiting to throw. And yes, Kings being glued to berry/ cellphone at all hours, even perched on barnacles, is so not a new phenomenon….. It’s like sometimes we don’t notice anymore that he’s in the pics…

Loch Ness JD...

Sometimes we let her swim after all the fussy people have gone home… Either the lifeguards have gotten off work (btw, the moment they are off-duty they are usually nice enough not to still impose the “no dogs on beach” thing, something Repulse Bay dog owning regulars had tipped us off to earlier), or any mums-with-babies have gone home… Hence we’ve had pizza for dinner on the beach while the dog swims it out, when it isn’t too cold… for us, not the dog. The dog is a crazy cold weather dog.

"Where are my legs...??"

This is a secluded beach – reached after a brief but grueling 90 minute uphill hike, among others. We had to just sit down and gather enough energy to hike back out eventually. Too bad, otherwise it would be brilliant to bring her here more often…

Well, there's always Sai Kung...

Yeah now one of the main places we bring her nowadays… And I realize I still haven’t gotten to Lamma Island so there’ll be a part 4, at least for pics…