Travelogue: Road Trip to France - Part 2 Loire Valley

After reaching Calais, we had a 6 hours drive to our holiday rental south of Loches. Loire Valley is a huge area and we have decided to concentrate on the area east of Tours. We found a holiday rental which was doggie friendly just south of Loches.

After a night's rest, we headed to the beautiful town of Amboise for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was bad. The rain was coming down non-stop. Despite that, you can see how beautiful Amboise is. The town sits on left bank of Loire with the Chateau towers above the town and the river.

Amboise

You can't come to Amboise without visiting the Chateau. The tickets are 10.50 Euros each. There is plenty to cover inside, so take your time. I am not going to go into the history, just enjoy the pictures :)

Going up to Chateau 'd Amboise

The Chapel of Saint Hubert where Leonardo da Vinci is buried

Top Left: View of Amboise town below, Top Right: Chateau d'Amboise, Bottom left: View of Amboise, Bottom Right: View across Loire

View of Chateau d'Amboise Grounds

Travelogue: Road Trip to France - Part 1 Crossing the Channel

At the end of August, the whole family (parents, husband and dogs included) went on a 2 week road trip to France. We planned a week in the Loire Valley, and a week in Brittany. It went fantastic!!! This was our second time bringing the dogs on a road trip to France. Armed with their pet passport and our 4x4 packed, we drove from home all the way down to Folkestone to catch the Eurotunnel over to Calais. Last time, we took the Ferry due to a strike on the Eurotunnel. So we were quite apprenhensive as we didn't know what to expect. All fears were blown out of the window, once we started our journey. It was raining cats and dogs on the day itself which was horrible as we got there early and had to make sure the doggies had their wee before we packed them back in the car to go on our merry way.

Rainy day at the Eurotunnel

The experience of driving into a train carriage was amazing. We had a tall 4x4, so ended up booking to go in the single deck carriage. If you have a normal car, you would go into a double deck carriage which I think is much more interesting.

The carriages open out to allow the cars to drive into the train

Once you are in the train carriage, the Eurotunnel staff would guide you and all loaded, they would closed down the gates between the carriages. The journey itself took 35 minutes, and the loading of all vehicles were really quick. We reached France really quickly, and the carriages reopened and you drove off into France. It was super easy and the waiting time was very reasonable. Best of all, the dogs get to stay with you in the car. Unlike taking the Ferry from Dover across to Calais, where the trip takes 1.5 hours, you have to leave your dogs in the car during the entire journey. A bit unnerving I would say, so if you are travelling with your dogs, I would definitely recommend taking the Eurotunnel. It is more costly, but the shorter journey time and for the dogs, it is the far superior choice. You pay £15 for each animal each way and it is very easy. At check in, you just have to let the attendant know that you have animals in the car, and they will give you a sticker to place on your car so that any Eurotunnel staff will know there are animals in your vehicle, and that's it. No red tape, special queues etc, very easy to take your dogs with you.

We are in France

On arrival, we just drive out of the train and voila! we are in France. Just bear in mind to drive on the right and you will be alright.


Join me next on the Loire Valley Leg of our trip. It was a 6 hours drive from Calais to where our gite rental was in the Loire Valley, south of Loches. Stay tune.

My Quinton turns 7!

Couldn't believe that it was Quinton's time to turn 7 years old today. His Birthday was only a couple of weeks after Reegan's. So after Reegan's mini birthday party with her Therapy Dogs friends. It was Quinton's mini birthday gathering with his Golden Retriever Club friends at Bishan Dog Park.

Quinton at 8 Weeks old

My Reegan is 5 today!!!!

My darling Reegan is 5 today! Happy Birthday!!! Can't believe how time has flies. My baby girl is growing up faster. I cannot believe I love her so much more day after day and I wish she will have plenty more of healthy and happy times with our family!!

Reegan - at 7 weeks when we brought her home

Therapy Dogs Singapore - We were invited to be on Cesar Millan Show at MBS!

I have been volunteering with the Therapy Dogs Singapore for 2 years now and I have enjoyed almost every minute of it. No words can describe the joy and achievement when you see one of your charges laughing loudly when she has been non-verbal for as long as you've known her, or when you see someone who is so scared of a dog that she breaks into cold sweat to sitting next to one of our Therapy Dogs and posing for a picture. It is a wonderful organisation and all the volunteers and their doggies are amazing people that I've got to know and I am glad to be part of this group of people.

Therapy Dogs at work

Exploring Singapore for dog-friendly places: Pet Movers at Pasir Ris Farmway

When we first moved to Singapore, we weren't sure where to bring the dogs for a run. I have heard of Pet Movers, as they were one of those Pet moving company we came across when we were moving the dogs from Hong Kong to Singapore. Anyway, we knew they have a pet shop, even a wading pool (only open at the weekends) and a little dog run. Since we were at that time, living in the North, we thought a trip with the dogs there would be fun.

Pet Movers is located at 4 Pasir Ris Farmway 2. These are their opening hours: Pet Shop & Office: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Weekdays) 9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Weekend/Public Holidays) Pet Megamart, Dog Run & Dog Wading Pool: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Weekdays) 9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Weekend/Public Holiday ).

There are plenty of parking there, but the annoying thing is at their office, they do live animals sales. The moment you get out of your car, you are overcome by strong smells of stale urine. Luckily by the time you walked to the dog run area, the smell is reduced. The run is sufficient. There is even some agility equipment located at the far end of the run. There is a covered walkway but no sitting area. Walking to the end of the walkway, you will find the gate leading out to the pet mega mart, a sitting area, washing up area and the wading pool which is only opened on weekends and can get rather crowded on the weekends since it is free to use. Not sure how clean the water is since we have never brought the dogs to swim there, so I cannot comment on it. The pet shop has a good range of products and if you are a member of pet movers, you get some sort of discount too.

Here are some photos of the doggies at the run. Maybe you can bring your dogs there for a look.

The hubby with the doggies

Doggies outing to Botanical Gardens on Mother's Day

My cousin recently got a little miniature Poodle puppy from a pet shop as he has been there for more than 5 mths and nobody wanted him. I am against buying pets from pet shops especially when you do not know the specifics of where the pet comes from. It may be a product of a puppy mill :( etc. The last thing you want is to support a trade that makes money from the suffering of animals. Anyway I am not here to judge, but doing a favour for my cousin. It was an impromptu purchase and she was going away for a holiday. She already has another poodle who will be looked after at home by my cousin brother, while Koro, the new pup will come and stay with us along with Quinton & Reegan.

Koro, the miniature Poodle Puppy

Travelogue: Dogsledding in Tromso, Norway

We had five days in Tromso, one of which we went to the Polar Zoo. Check out the blog entry. And another day, we went to do dog sledding. It is a great winter activity that you cannot miss when you are in a winter wonderland. Despite the high costs, it would be a wasted trip if we didn't go on it. 

Dog Sledding

Therapy Dogs Singapore - Come and volunteer with us!

Since I have stopped working, I have always put some of my leisure time into volunteering work. When I was in the UK, I used to volunteer for Leonard Cheshire and Age Concern as a befriender. Quinton and Reegan used to come with me to the visits as in the UK, there are mostly dog-friendly.When I was in HK, I had wanted to enrol Reegan into the Dr Dogs programme by Animal Asia, but they require a dog to be over 2 years old. So I had to wait till she is 2 before I can register her. Unfortunately I moved back to Singapore before I could do that. Instead of just being a tai tai being bored at home, I decided to look for volunteer positions again in Singapore and I found Therapy Dogs Singapore.

Therapy Dogs Singapore is formed by a group of dog lovers who wanted to share the love and joy of their dogs with the less fortunate in the society. Charlie Ho is the founder and there are a group of lovely people among the volunteers. I have now been volunteering with them for 2 years and have been heavily involved in the running of the group. I have to say it is an amazing group and the work we do here is great. We concentrate mainly on Animal Assisted activities (AAA) which is where we visit our seven adopted homes with our dogs. During the visits, the residents of the homes can interact with our dogs, from patting them, brushing or feeding to walking the dogs. The reward is when you hear the laughter or see their big smiles having spent an hour with our canine volunteers. The other type of activity we do is call Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) where it is more of a one-to-one programme where a medical professional (Physiotherapists/Occupational Therapists/Nurse/Doctor) is present. There is a set goal and the session is more targeted. For example if you have a patient who has recently suffered from a stroke and is refusing to do physiotherapy. If the patient loves dogs, having a dog around to motivate the patient to do his exercise e.g like throwing a ball for the dog to fetch, is an example of some of the exercises carried out during AAT.

AAT is being used a lot in the West, but in Asia, we still lack behind due to the lack of understanding and the mindset of people towards dogs. There have been so many documented cases of how dogs or animals can help us in various areas - like dealing with stress, emotional pain etc. If you are interested to learn more about Therapy Dogs Singapore, go to our website (http://www.tdspore.org) . In the meantime, here are some pictures of our therapy dogs at work.

"Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It is what you do for others." - Danny Thomas

Collage of our canine volunteers hard at work

The beauty of Golden Retrievers

I am an active member on the Singapore Golden Retriever club on facebook. We have a wonderful group of individuals who truly love and spoil their golden retrievers. We even have outings together and I have the privilege now to have met 2 wonderful Goldie owners, and between the 3 of us we have 6 beautiful Goldies. 

Recently, the club has started a photo contest, with the first theme being cute butts!!! Alas, we have many owners invading our doggies' privacy to snap pictures of their cute butts. That contest has ended and BoBo, the club founder's dog has won. Now we are having another contest, this time is for most beautiful smile. We are only allowed 2 photos per dogs. Frankly to choose just 2 photos is a difficult task. Goldies have the most amazing ability to smile. They are such happy dogs. Quinton my boy always look at the camera when I am snapping him and most times he is smiling at the camera. Reegan smiles less but that is due to her quieter personality as opposed to Quinton's exuberant self.

Here are some beautiful photos that I didn't share on facebook without photo bombing the facebook page. Enjoy.

Reegan at 7 weeks, smiling beautiful as we take her home with us

A short post for a Quick walk at the Botanical Gardens

We are lucky to live so close to Botanical Gardens. Today we had an impromptu afternoon walk there. The reason is because I have been struck down by the cold bug for a few days now, which means no doggie outing for Quinton & Reegan. So finally the nose has stopped it's incessant flow and I can breathe normally again, it's time for a short outing today.

Exploring Singapore for dog-friendly places - Henderson Waves

Back to exploring Singapore to find new and interesting dog-friendly places with Quinton and Reegan. On a quiet friday morning, the family took the dogs out to explore Telok Blangah Hill Park. It is only a short drive from where we live, in the Southern part of Singapore.

Henderson waves actually is a bridge that links Telok Blangah Hill Park to Mount Faber Park. The whole area is known as the Southern Ridges, where you can do an extended walk (9km/5.6miles) linking the two parks mentioned and Kent Ridge Park and covers 8 trails. You can read more about it on this wikipedia entry.

Exploring Singapore for dog-friendly places - Bukit Batok Nature Park

Back when we were living in the UK, the dogs had a good life. We had a huge garden that was around 3 times the size of the dog run at Bishan Park, which means my Goldies could get a run around in the garden. Furthermore, we were only 5 minutes drive to Ampton racecourse in Ingham which covers 80 acres and is only used several times a year. Rest of the time, it is just a dog and dog's owner heaven where they can run free, chase pheasants, quails, rabbits and squirrels to their hearts delight. At the bottom of the field, there is a little church, a stream and more fields. Very picturesque and here are the pictures to proof that.

Dogs at the Ampton Racecourse

Travelogue: Trip to Polar Zoo in Bardu, Norway

During our winter 2012 trip to Scandinavia, the highlight of the trip was to see the Northern Lights. Since we flew from faraway Asia, we wanted to pack a lot more into the trip. One of the other highlights while we were in Tromso, was to visit the Polar Zoo.

Here's what is written on their website:

Polar Zoo is one of northern Norways most popular tourist attractions and well known as the worlds most northern zoo. The park uses an area of 114 acres with wild and beautiful nature in Salangsdalen in Bardu, in the county of Troms. These amazing nature surroundings will make your visit in Polar Zoo complete.

Our main attraction is Wolf Camp, where you have the possibility to join us inside the wolf enclosure to meet the mythical and legendary wolves close up.

The Wolf camp was exactly what we came for. From Tromso, the Polar Zoo is around a 6 hours round trip on the bus from Tromso. Here is the bus timetable. Of course, it is easier if you were to rent a car and drive there.

We caught the bus at 615am and reach the main road leading to the zoo at around 935am and the Zoo sent a van to pick us up. Even though the bus journey was long, the views along the way were amazing. It's just something magical when everywhere you looked is snowy and white :)

View from the bus

Golden Retrievers mini-gathering at the dog park

I had the privilege to meet 2 lovely Golden Retriever owners since beginning of this year.
They both have 2 Goldies each, one boy and one girl, just like me.


Anyway today, we have arranged to get our Goldies together. Miss J is the owner of beautiful Muzhen and Mulan while Miss L is the owner of Champagne and Chablis (and no, she is not an alcoholic..lol). Unfortunately Miss L lives in Malaysia, which means she can't bring her Goldies over to join in the gathering. Anyway, she still came along as she is the biggest fan of my two Goldies ever :)

Here are some pictures of all of them. Enjoy!!!

Reegan with her new friend, Mulan

Group shot from top: Quinton, Reegan, Muzhen and Mulan

The world looks better when you are upside down

Trapeze artists do it, so do the bats.....so maybe everything does look better when you are upside down? I wish my cat, Sumi and my dogs can shed some light on this matter. There are so many times that I catch up lying on their backs. I have seen lots of Golden Retrievers do it, and other dogs irregardless of breeds. But what I love most is how adorable they look, so much so I will either quickly snap a picture of that moment or just go and give them a belly rub.

Here are some pictures I've taken to brighten up your day. 

Sumi caught doing it

A Typical Day at the Dog Park

Every fortnight, I will bring my two goldies to Bishan Dog Park to meet up with my friend who owns a lovely Singapore Special called Sun. I will try to bring them there at least once a week or more whenever I can. But the fortnightly outing is special for Reegan as Sun is one of few doggies that she gets along well with. Both of them love to chase each other around which is always funny to watch.

A typical start to the day is the dogs are taken out by my parents for their usual morning walk, by which time they get back, their 'outing' bag is packed. The contents include: a litre bottle of ice cold water, water bowl, a frisbee, 2 packets of home-baked liver cakes, a towel, poo bags and my water bottle. It is a little brown bag I got from buying mooncakes back in Hong Kong and ever since it's been the official doggie outing bag. The dogs are super smart and observant. As soon as they catch a glimpse of 'that' bag, they know immediately that they are going to get to go out!!! From that moment on, every step I take, I will have 2 dogs stalking me. They seem to think that if they loose sight of me, I will forget to take them out with me :)

Handsome Quinton

My First Ever Post - An Introduction