CityU’s veterinary people deal with all creatures great and small. They need to prepare themselves to face any challenge associated with animals of any kind. The latest challenge was to walk, without fear, on the back of a dragon.

The chosen time was early before the dragon became irritated by the tramp of the thousands of feet that habitually do the walk on weekends, and to avoid exposure to the heat of the midday sun. The intrepid expeditioners gathered (pictured right) in the gloom of the primeval forest near the right front foot of the dragon before the strenuous climb to the withers, cleverly using the edges of the scales as steps. At the top we took great care to turn left to go along the back rather than right down the neck because that would have led to the fearsome head, said to be able to breathe fire. Certainly there was a draught running towards the head as if the dragon was taking in its breath prior to a withering blast, so we pressed onward in the face of the gale to get as far away as soon as possible. Our sighting of safety (pictured left) was a moment for rejoicing, and we descended down the left rear leg (just superficial to the biceps femoris muscle), to recover in the safety of a restaurant at Big Wave Bay.