How are you , ROTTIE?

 Rottie , is a very friendly rottweiler. Everything started in the year 2012 August. I saw the 'dog-catcher' catching dogs in the neighbourhood and one of the girls was upset and pleaded with me to save the dogs. I told her, I couldnt do much and left. However, she managed to persuade me to do something towards them. Hence, we went to the place where they kept the dogs to be euthanized. We saw like over 30 dogs there and they were of all breeds. I couldn't bear to see them dying so I tried to approach the council to let me at least take a few dogs home. However, they wanted to fine me (which was not my fault). Let's not get into too much information as everything was settled with the help of 'Malaysia Dogs Deserve Better'

When I was there, one particular dog caught my attention. It was wagging its tail profusely in the cage while following me everywhere ( I mean it's eyesight ). It looked very friendly and as if it was asking me to help him. I fell in love with him immediately. He was in a terrible state and I looked at him and said I will save him.

                    This is how he looked like and he was bleeding with wounds all over its body.

 The wound is pretty fresh and deep. I saw a lot pus oozing out. He even had a collar around its neck. Obviously, he had an owner who probably kicked him out because they didn't want to cure Rottie which is A VERY COMMON HAPPENING IN MALAYSIA. Malaysians have a very bad habit with dogs. They often buy puppies and 'play' with them for a SHORT period of time and then 'THROW' them away once they are bored with them or they acquired diseases like ROTTIE.

I went to find a vet who is a very caring Muslim Woman from Glory Veterinary Clinic Segamat. She was ever willing to help me with treating Rottie and gave a great discount on the medical bills and we drove about an hour to the destination to pick up Rottie in her truck. After months of treating , Rottie regained his health as below.

 I was going to keep him as I thought it was a grown up 'Mongrel'. However, the vet told me it was a puppy rottweiler and was only 6 months old weighing 17kg as you can see above. I couldn't keep it as we stayed in a terraced house. In a sad and heavy heart, I had to put it up for adoption. Yes, I gave it away and as an anonymous owner. I miss him even though we only had a brief encounter.

 I got this picture of him from a friend recently who gave him to his friend for adoption. This person remained as a secret adopter. I don't know him and probably doesn't know me either. Rottie must be around 3 1/2 years old now. He looks so much grown up and also looks like the owner is giving him a much care too. He looks happy, doesnt he?

I Think I Got Conned in Bangkok , Thailand!

                       BEWARE, IT HAPPENED IN BANGKOK!

Recently we have travelled to Thailand for our honeymoon and was expecting to have a great time there which we had. However on our last day in Thailand, we stayed in Bangkok near Khaosan ( a popular nightlife destination ) and it's near to numerous attractions too. We planned to walk to the Emerald Buddha which was like 20 minutes away and passed this little canal in the picture below. Not long after that, we came to a small temple which wasn't significant and was stopped by a man who was standing beside his van. He was very friendly and polite and could speak many languages. He approached us and asked if he could help us and told us that he was waiting for his mother who was meditating in the temple. We told him our intention but he told us to go to the temple of the 'NINE FACE BUDDHA' instead. ( never heard of it before )

 Okay, he looked quite nice and even told us that the rest of the temples weren't worth the hassle if compared to this nine face buddha and said it was only accessible by boat through a canal. We were taken by surprised as we didn't know the existence of this temple and he made it sound so irresistible so we heeded his advice. He was so ' friendly' to even tell us to go to a special port to get on to a 'LOCAL ONLY' longtail boat at a 'LOCAL PRICE' for THB1200 per person. It actually sounded quite expensive for an hour ride but he didn't leave any time for us to hesitate by telling us others pay THB3000 per person and that to take a TUK TUK there , it only cost THB20 and don't be fooled by the people. He even wrote down the name of everything. He was seriously friendly. We paid for the TUK TUK for the price of what he said and i was taken aback because I have never paid THB 20 for a 15 minute ride in Thailand! When I think back, I seriously think that they were working together to con us. Why I am saying I was conned? Well, when we got to the port which was unmaintained, we didn't have much THB left, they offered MONEY CHANGING facility. I really think we were quite stupid now as we both are travellers but still got conned.

 However, we got the whole boat for ourselves but for the price we paid, we were expecting for something nicer.

                                                       One of the houses by the canal.

                The 'FLOATING MARKET' which tried to 'slit our throat' with their super overpriced items.

Ta-da , the nine face buddha which is nothing to shout about. It was accessible by land too. There and then , I had actually realised that we had been conned but I didn't say or mention anything to my husband. I guess he will actually know it by now if he is reading this. SORRY HONEY!

LESSON LEARNT:

 * NOT TO TRUST ANYONE WHO APPROACHED YOU AND OFFERED ADVICE ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO CAN SPEAK NUMEROUS LANGUAGES