Over the weekend, a couple of people from ZURU and I got together to climb Wutong Mountain in Shenzhen. Not the tallest mountain with its peak set at 943.7m and 700m climb overall. Normally the climb takes about 3 to 4 hours and coming down should take about 2h (what the internet said…). So I was like “Hey, let’s bring Milo! He’s going to love it!” Milo’s first mountain! My dog, Milo. I think I was more excited about this than him. Then again, he didn’t know what to expect. Couple of details about Milo. He has the attention span of a squirrel, he can’t stop sniffing every corner there is and he’s afraid of heights. Cool? Cool!
So we jumped in a car, and as you might expect, Milo is the car sick type of dog. Too long of a trip and he pukes. Lovely isn’t it? But this little champ managed to hold it in while the driver was bringing to our destination like a boat in the middle of a storm. Rocking the hell out of that one to get through traffic. I know someone that would have probably been sick. And finally, arrived at our destination, we are confronted with a very clear and big “NO DOG” sign. It was not in English, but clearly had a dog bared in big… 40min of taxi to get this in our face… Time to turn back? Nahhh!
Two old ladies casually walked in with their dogs as if the sign never existed in the first place. So I walked towards the gate with my brave Milo, smiled at the security guy and kept on going. Now that we were in, Milo obviously had to… relieve himself 5 meters away from the entrance, while security was still watching. Yes, it was a number two… This little guy. But we were still fine and we started the climb.
The beginning was easy going and I was very happy to see Milo sniffing every corner of this new territory. You have to understand that parks in Shenzhen OR Beijing that are welcoming to dogs are rare. Which is sad and terrible for them. But that comes from the fact that most people do not pick up after their dog. China… But I do. Anyway.
As we progress through the numerous stairs and seeing the level of difficulty getting harder, I start wondering about how smart this was in the first place. A mean a couple of us have a hard time as it is. And then we reach a section that honestly felt like too much. If I was Milo, I would have turned tail and run. But this little guy kept going, climbing each gigantic step, jumping some parts, scratching the rock with his back paws to push upwards.
I was there, making sure he was fine. Sometimes I was right behind him, let him do his thing. He doesn’t like getting picked up. Really hates it. So he seemed to prefer by far to keep climbing, with barely any help of mine. Sometimes a small push up from me. I could hear his breath, see at some occasions his back legs trembling from the fatigue and his tail between his legs from the fear of height. You Monster! Some of you might be thinking. Calm down now.
We had a lot of stops, he drank a lot of water, got more treats than one can imagine and I never had to push or really pull on him. He kept on going. It was admirable to see and I never thought I would be this impressed by such a little guy.
So Milo kept on climbing, clawing his way up sometimes as well. Until he finally reached the top of the mountain with a view on both Hong Kong and Shenzhen. An impressive view. And he took it ALL IN. He took it all in, lost in thoughts. And when he felt the place was just right, he marked the top of the mountain like his own. You deserve it buddy. It’s your mountain now.
Dragos Out!
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