The lorry arrived at exactly 8.58am this morning (expected time was 9am). Su and I helped push the 840kg packs of dogfood from the inside of her house to the door. There was another 60kg of dogfood in my little Kelisa (from Adelyn, Jing Lu and Amy Lim). Jeen’s three helpers, Dol (the driver), Anil (a Maths teacher from Nepal, now working as a general worker) and Sanjay, loaded them onto the lorry.
Jeen is the friend who supplied his lorry when we did our Klang Dog Pound rescue in Dec 2009. Dol was the driver of the lorry carrying the 36 dogs. He’s Malay!
Anil (the tall one) and Sanjay. Anil is SO incredibly strong, he could carry two packs at one time, one on each hand, like picking up two goodie bags! Jeen donated two big cages and Su donated another smaller cage.
The lorry went off first.
Jeen said he had some work to do at the office and could only pick me up at 10am.
He and his wife, Theresa, arrived at 10am and off we went….to Raub. However, we kind of got lost twice!! By the time we arrived in Raub (after stopping for lunch in Bentong), it was way past 12noon. PC Leong, who had gone there to supposedly meet us, had already left. He was at the foothills to meet the lorry.
We met Meiji at a coffee shop. Meiji was giving Dol, Anil and Sanjay a lunch treat. After the lorry left for home, we followed Meiji to the foothills, and thus began our trek up the hill. We had planned to walk up (it’s 3.5km and takes one hour) but it was just too hot by then. So, we all got into her jeep instead.
The 45 packs of dogfood was still at the foothills.
The start of the journey…to Doggie Paradise.
Jeen and Meiji in front.
Theresa and me, at the back. Meiji had taken out the seats, so we sat on a wooden platform. The ride up was winding and very bumpy. That made it all the more fun! Luckily it was just the three of us. There was simply no space for another person. Only four-wheel drives can go up the hill. There are no proper roads.
This is the 8kg of CHEESE (original stuff, no preservatives!) Jeen had specially ordered from his restaurant. It’s a treat for the dogs.
We’re quite high up now.
We’re almost there now…I can hear the dogs barking.
Look!! They are coming down the hill to greet us!
One group here…beside the car.
Another group at the back.
This is so cute…a whole welcoming committee!
Gather round, everyone! We have guests today!
Gosh…the dogs are so, so warm and friendly.
Hello, hello, hello!
I saw Sweetie!! She’s so fat! Sweetie was one of our Klang Pound rescued dogs. She was treated for TVT before Meiji so kindly offered to take her. (TVT is Transmittable Venereal Tumour; it’s a cancer of the genital area but it’s completely treatable with chemotherapy for 4 weeks. We got her treated and Dayani Chin fostered her for some months. Sweetie was a free spirit who loved to run.)
Sweetie came to greet me. Ahh…she remembers me….how sweet! She followed me all over until we entered the house.
Here’s Sweetie. She even came to another door, hoping to get in.
Dogs are just such epitomes of gratitude, aren’t they?
How can you not help them, right?
A group of 4 men had come up today to visit – Mr Chin, Mr Pan, Sam and another elderly man. Meiji and all of them had gathered so much fruit for us. There were (of course) durians, rambutans, mangosteens, passion fruit, coconuts, bananas, and some other fruit we’ve never seen before!
Lai Mei (Meiji’s sister) looking on as Jeen opened one of the durians.
The dogs joined us for the durian feast.
As we were busy partaking in the fruit feast and being entertained by Mr Pan and Mr Chin, Meiji went downhill to carry the first load of the dogfood. I wanted to follow her down, but I have a nerve problem in my right arm, so I can’t be much use to her in carrying the packs of dogfood.
I heard the dogs barking, Meiji must be back.
Here she is.
Unloading time. Yum, yum…food!
Meiji went downhil again for the second load and insisted that we stay behind. Mr Pan then decided to take us for a tour of all the herbal plants in Meiji’s farm. Mr Pan is a medicine-man of sorts. For every single plant and weed, he had a story to tell. He was like a walking encyclopedia of herbal plants and its hundreds of uses.
As Mr Pan took Jeen round and explained the many uses of every single plant with its very interesting name (there was even one called “Ta Pat Sei” (literally, “beat cannot die”!), I took some photos of the prettier ones.
Red hot chilli!
This is called “half flower”. The flower is really half!
This is the prettiest of ’em all. The flowers resemble white doves.
Isn’t it beautiful?
This is elderberry. It is good for something, I can’t remember what!
By the way, we all had a taste of the Ta Pat Sei. I only took a small bite of the tip of the leaf, Theresa took a bit more, Jeen ate up two leaves! It really warms your throat and Mr Pan says it will last for 6 hours! Oh dear…Jeen, you’re supposed to drive us back. Can you still…with a “hot throat”?
I wandered off from the herb tour and went to look for Sweetie.
It’s so nice to see Sweetie looking so incredibly well and happy!
I also saw MDDB’s Zuki amongst the dogs.
Here are some of the other dogs.
Mr Pan insisted that we must walk up to what he calls “the third level”. They will be building “kutis” here soon. Kutis are little huts meant for meditators to stay in.
Durians, folks!
From afar, we could see Elephant Hill.
Mr Pan had an interesting story to tell us about it.
The second load has arrived. These two boys are workers from the neighbouring farm.
Here it is, folks. All 900kg of dogfood, donated by you! Meiji says a big thank you to all of you. She is very grateful. However, this supply would probably only last slightly more than a month. Meiji needs 900kg of dogfood every single month. She has 125 happy mouths to feed!
Just as what I’ve noticed in our first trip in 2009, the dogs LOVE Meiji. Every dog has a name and Meiji remembers every single name. Gosh, how does she do it? Hey, the black dog likes my shoes. Don’t eat it, please!
I wouldn’t mind being in her position, with so many loyal friends. But I’m sure I don’t have the energy to do what she does every single day. And the most amazing thing about Meiji is that no matter how difficult life is, she is always happy and cheerful. That is certainly something we could all learn from.
From these two years of having known her, she could be telling me how difficult it is with certain things, but I’ve never seen her depressed and she has never given up hope.
She just pushes on and I think it’s driven by her passion to help these dogs. She cannot see any animal suffering. She will pick them up. She used to have cats as well, but they have been given away to Malay families now.
One for the album, please.
I wanted to see Russell and Jackie. Both are also our Klang Dog Pound rescued dogs. Russell is in another enclosure. So, off we went…
(This black-and-white dog is Zuki, MDDB’s rescued dog.)
This is the doggie-kitchen where Meiji and Lai Mei prepare the doggie-food.
There…that’s Russell!
Hi, you handsome boy!
Russell and his friends.
Meiji tells me that one-eyed Jackie is in yet another enclosure. She has become the “tai che” (big sister) of the pack. We rescued Jackie from the Klang Dog Pound. She had one crushed eye and the other was going blind. We got her treated, the eye was ennucleated and she was fostered by a friend, Yi Lin, until she was as fit as a fiddle. Meiji offered to take her since we could not get her rehomed.
I wanted to see Jackie, but Meiji had to help Lai Mei prepare the day’s food, so I didn’t want to disturb them. There’s so much work to be done! Meiji says Lai Mei (if working alone) needs 3 hours to feed all the dogs.
Hello…why are you in the cage?
Meiji says those who are too timid have to eat inside the cage or they might not get any food at all.
Ha ha…that’s the rice-cooker we bought her way back in 2009.
It’s definitely been put to good use, I can see.
Lai Mei is preparing the gruel for the day. Kibbles cooked with rice. It is a thick porridge.
Yum, yum…can’t wait!
We want food, we want food!
Look at them…they are all so sweet and loving.
Okay, come, come…wait for your food.
This is Kwai Kwai. As small as she is, she is the lead watch-dog in the whole farm. Every night, she sleeps on the road leading up to the house; a front-liner! She takes care of everyone else. Our heroine!
Food, glorious food!
This is Doby. He’s also one of our Klang Pound dogs, sent to the Bentong farm, but they could not look after him, so Meiji took him over from Bentong. We’ve got him treated for his skin, but it doesn’t seem to heal. But it’s just the skin. In other aspects, he’s as fine as anyone else.
In all, Meiji has four of our 2009 Klang Dog Pound rescued dogs – Sweetie, Russell, Jackie and Doby. You see why we cannot do anymore bigtime rescue; we have no place to put the dogs should we fail to rehome them – everywhere is full. That’s why we only concentrate on CNRM now and fund-raising for needy shelters. Spay-neuter is still the long-term solution.
More dogs to feed.
No wonder it takes three hours if Lai Mei does it alone.
We’re good. We share.
This timid girl has to eat by herself in the cage so that she can eat in peace.
Time for some coconut now! That’s passion-fruit in the yellow bowl. There was also another hybrid called “yellow-meat fruit”. Very interesting! And everything thing here is totally organic. Is this a paradise or what?
What’s this block of wood? It’s called “yellow wood” something (gosh, I can’t remember its name now, Mr Pan must have explained the uses of more than 30 types of herbs and plants on the farm). This yellow wood can be boiled with honeyed dates and it has some medicinal value. I can’t remember what it is now!
Jeen decided he wanted a block of wood to take home.
I discussed with Mr Chin if it would be possible to help Meiji market her fruits or the herbs as a source of income for her. After all, it is all organic, it should be very marketable. Mr Chin said the volume is too small and Meiji has no helpers. Presently, Meiji’s only source of income is rubber-tapping. Her fruits are given as gifts to vistors. And if you have any health problems and are game to try the herbs, Meiji welcomes you to take whatever you want. But you’d probably need Mr Pan to advise!
It must have been 12 years since Meiji started this sanctuary. She is still managing without water supply and electricity. Her water comes from the mountain stream. Mr Chin and his friends helped build part of the road up to the sanctuary and installed the pipes to channel the water from the mountain to Meiji’s place.
And I know I’ve written about this many times, but I am still amazed at how Meiji used to ferry the dogs on a motorbike all the way to Kuala Lumpur for medical treatment. Those were the days before she acquired the jeep. Is it any wonder that the dogs love her so much?
Mr Pan was very keen to take us hiking up to Elephant Hill, but it was getting late. It had been a long day for us.
It was time we made a move.
So, all seven of us piled into Mr Chin’s Pajero, and off we went downhill. Meiji loaded the Pajero with all kinds of fruit for us to take home. This is the classic Malaysian hospitality by the hostess, ie. “Eat and Take Away as well”.
What a “fruitful” visit!
I told Meiji we will continue helping her with the medical needs of her dogs, as we had in the past two years. As for food and cash donations, I’ll do my best to think of how best to help her.
Halfway down, Mr Pan wanted to look for more durians.
Durian-hunting! I followed halfway up but decided I won’t join them.
I’ll just admire this beautiful stream. You guys go ahead.
It took quite a while before Mr Pan came down with another few more durians.
On the way back, Jeen said he will organise another trip up and bring the Buddhist Business Network members. Hopefully, the trip would motivate them to think of some ways to help Meiji. I hope so!
We reached home at 6.30pm.
I only took a sample of each type of fruit from Meiji’s generous “bounty”! The bananas got squashed in the car! The pink fruit is passion fruit and the yellow one is the hybrid called “yellow-meat fruit”.
Gosh, I’m so tired now, I fell asleep while writing this posting!
But it was a good trip. Fruitful and bountiful, in all ways!
Thank you, everyone, for contributing to this 900kg of dogfood.
Meiji thanks you very much.
Thank you, Su, for arranging for the purchase of the food.
Thank you, Jeen and Theresa, for supplying the transport.
Thank you, Dol, Anil and Sanjay, for transporting the food up to Raub.
Last but not least, thank you, Meiji and the dogs, for giving all of us this opportunity to do something good.
Next round?
Donors of the dogfood:
Amanda Coffin, Maneki & Crumpet
Mong Kwai Chee
Winson Kang Hean Kiam
Chong Boon Yee
Agnes Cheong
Chew Jin Wen
Devakie Nair & Friends
Chan Kam Loon
Lim Joo Gyee
Jessie Yee
Cassandra Yee Wai Peng
Kiranjeet Sidhu
Belinda Mosiun
Julia Chong
Premala Narendra
Chua Choon Meng
Benny Ong
Irene Leong
Dr Veeranoot Nissapatorn
Ong Khing Wee
Adelyn Yap
Jing Lu
Amy Lim
Su
AnimalCare donors
Two anonymous donors
Comments
4 responses to “Our visit to Meiji’s Doggie Paradise with 900kg of dogfood in tow”
Its so nice to see Sweetie and Russell again. They look so well fed and healthy and so incredibly happy.
I think I know how Meiji keeps fit and healthy even after toiling so hard to handle 125 babies.
It must be the CLEAN AIR & GREEN ENVIRONMENT unlike KL life. I feel so refreshed after seeing the greeneries. And my mouth is watering, slurpppp, seeing the delicious DURIANS. Too bad we cant get to taste them.
And you know, good deeds are always returned. Thats what Meiji's getting now. So many angels to help her.
I really wish to thank those who highlighted her case to Dr Chan Kah Yein. Or else, Meiji would still be working so hard all alone.
THANK YOU TO ALL ANIMAL LOVERS. I think Dr Chan Kah Yein and all of us as well will be seeing better future for these babies soon.
had a wonderful time reading this entry. certainly made my day! meiji is an amazing person and so are you dr. chan! love love love the update.
I was very moved reading your article. Thank you for posting this story Dr Chan. God bless Meiji, you and everyone else for helping these dogs.