Monkey in Pug disguise

Chestnut: I am letting the cat out of the bag, rather the monkey, on my sister, Pepper. Pepper is actually a monkey in the body of a black pug. I wonder how she compares to the monkeys on Monkey Mountain in Shatin. SHHHH!!!! I am not supposed to voice this aloud. This is our secret.

More on Monkey Mountain later. We have not yet made an excursion there, but I suspect Pepper might be in good company at Monkey Mountain.

Yesterday afternoon, while Mummy was tending to our ears, we were separated, as Mummy had some real cleaning to do on our ears. In her jealousy and envy of YOURS TRULY, Pepper felt compelled to make a scene. And what a scene it was.

I have not seen Mummy lose her cool in a while. Pepper was quite naughty yesterday afternoon. Mummy very trustingly left her coffee out on the arm rest tray. Low and behold! While Mum was in the bathroom cleaning my ears this pug-hog-monkey managed to knock over Mum's mug of unfinished coffee (Sometimes I wonder whether she is only just a MONKEY in the elongated body of a black pug. Pepper seems part HOG too..).

I suspect Mum left out the coffee in another attempt to press Dad on reupholstering the much-hated sofa. Instead, Mummy has found herself with another list of vendors she never intended to know about. Reupholstering cleaners like DuraClean, ChemDry, Phoenix and Viking...

This Pepper has squandered our foie gras biscuit and Canine Caviar buffalo stick allowance needlessly on the cleaners who charge more livers and buffalo sticks than I can have in a year!
So there we have Pepper who has revealed her true self just in time for Halloween. Schizomonkhogpug... What a sight that would be..

Pepper: I am so completely misunderstood by all these humans and my brother, Chestnut! I thought Mum and Dad despised that sofa and its hideous silver grey green sheen. So while Mum tended to Chestnut, I thought I would do them a huge favor by letting them have an excuse to go back and have their human seating reupholstered. This is sooo unfair! Only Seva's mum understands! Regardless, I think I should be rewarded with Bouchon foie gras biscuits and Canine Caviar buffalo sticks. It is no wonder I am more welcome in Repulse Bay...

PET JETS!

As a follow-up on the July blog post regarding the ban of brachycephalic breeds of pets on major airlines like Cathay, our Mummy has found the perfectly, posh pug solution! While browsing NYT online, an article was written on the rise of private planes for pets. This is the perfect answer to our problem. Not that we enjoy commercial anyways... Jet-set we shall be indeed!

Check these links out...
http://petjets.net/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/nyregion/banned-by-many-airlines-these-bulldogs-fly-private.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Our 1 Year Anniversary in Hong Kong

Hello again everyone--

Pepper back in action here. We have approached our 1 year anniversary here in Hong Kong, which also happens to coincide with National Week.

And what a year it has been! We have been to new places, made new friends, found new sitters and even caught up with friends from New York who have also relocated back to Hong Kong.We even have business cards with our blog and a FaceBook page too!

We marked our anniversary at the Peak today, and lunched with Mummy and Daddy at the Peak Lookout. We have not been to the Peak for quite a few months now, so it was time for such a family outing. Overall today was an enjoyable day. We look forward to more of these simple pleasures now that the weather is pug friendlier.

Until next time my friends... Chestnut's upcoming 5th birthday is at month end. He's hitting middle age. And find out what I will be for Halloween.

Pugs and kisses,

Pepper Marli

Pugs and other flat nosed breeds banned from airlines

We are very displeased and our parents think this constitutes discrimination of pets on airplanes!

It seems quite obvious for us and owners of our breeds and kind to refrain from taking us out for long periods of time in heat and humidity. That would also extend to flying as well, however, we came over on the plane from New York to Hong Kong in October when the weather was milder. We made it just fine.

No exceptions are being made! We protest this! These advisories and restrictions should only be in effect from May-September/October.

Owners of brachycephalic breeds take note!

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=113130&sid=33036550&con_type=3&d_str=20110715&fc=7

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_HK/helpingyoutravel/traveladvisories?refID=a501d3de97621310VgnVCM1000000ad21c39

Who Moved their Cheese?

Hi All,

Mummy and Daddy are punishing us this evening. They're saying we moved their cheese. Honestly, we thought it was meant for us. Chestnut and I stumbled upon Mummy's newly bought Igsigny Brie from Oliver's this evening. The brie was meant to be their dinner. It ended up as dinner for us compliments of .. You guessed it. MOI!

Well stumbled is sort of an understatement, but you see, Mummy bought a bag of toys too. She left it on the sideboard.

In my attempt to get hold of the toys, I can only let you speculate, but will not spill the beans on how I managed to get hold of the cheese. Needless to say I and Chestnut, my brother enjoyed it so much. When Mummy finally discovered we had had the cheese, we were nearly finished. Mummy was so horrified that we managed to:
1) eat her and Dad's dinner
2) get hold of the incredibly delicious, creamy French cheese
3) possibly get sick (which is remote, in my very humble opinion)

So Mummy proclaims we are not having our Wellness dinner this evening, instead Daddy has fed us some charcoal tablets, lest we get sick. Mummy says the amount of cheese would be equivalent to at least 3-4 human servings. MMMMMmmmmmmmmm good! It was lovely. Except for no Wellness dinner. Ok well signing off now, fellow kid followers. This cheese needs to hold us over til tomorrow morning. Saving my energy until Mummy decides to feed us some Wellness again..

Pugs and brie smooches,

Pepper and Chestnut

Tuen Ng.. Dragon Boat or lack thereof...

Happy Tuen Ng (Duan Wu Jie)!!

This heat and humidity are really kicking us in the butt (or smooshy face should we say). With the temperature at 29 Celsius and humidity at 80%, Mummy and Daddy have now resorted to taking us out on early morning walks that last no longer than 45 minutes, and by 8 A.M. we are back in the apartment cool as cucumbers.

So today was Tuen Ng festival where lore has it a wise, old advisor, Wut Yuan (during the Chu kingdom), to the emperor drowned himself after his long opposition and suspicions to an alliance with the Qin kingdom proved true when the Qin used the alliance to rid the Chu. In his despair, he committed suicide by drowning. However, because he was much loved by all, nobody wanted his body to be eaten away by the fish. Villagers devised a plan, whereby, Wut Yuan's body would eventually be recovered, while the fish could feed on rice dumplings or zong.

Today and yesterday, we could only salivate watching Daddy eat rice dumplings. A huge lump of rice with fillings of meat, egg yolk and various ingredients wrapped in green leaves we were anxious to try some. Alas, that was not to be.

SO as our way (or any way of observing the holiday safely for any animal) of observing the festival, zongzi eating was the way to go. In our case, we got fed carrot and celery sticks in place on zongzi.

Pugs and smooches,

C. & P.

Mummy and Daddy's visit to China

Hello all:

Chestnut and Pepper posting together today. Mummy went to China and left us poor pugs with Daddy for almost a week. We can't whine too much as Mummy went for a good cause, Pediatric AIDS Treatment Support or just PATS. Thank goodness she hired a really good sitter, Sophie, of Pitter Patter Pet Care.

We had a blast with Sophie, even though we missed our parents.

Now that they're both back, we have another announcement! While Mummy was in China, she and my auntie, Eliza, came up with an idea to promote PATS with us pugs as mascots. Meeooowwwww and Mooooohhhhhhh! Mummy thought it appropriate since we pugs have Chinese lineage we should be promoting awareness on children with HIV and AIDS in rural China.

It's really sad. Mummy says we are very fortunate to have parents, whereas these kids do not, and largely because their parents wanted to give them and their families a better life by selling blood. They did, but the needles weren't clean. Many of their parents contracted HIV, and are now no longer alive to love them and take care of them. Even the kids have HIV because many of these kids were born to already HIV+ parents (the same parents who sold blood).

We now even have a Facebook page as mascots for PETS for PATS. Please check us out on Facebook!

Pugs and kisses,

Chestnut and Pepper