Well it turns out that the first day was extremely well attended, all volunteers said they were very busy during their shifts between 10:00 and 22:00, T-Shirts were doing very well, as were the donations, extremely well actually.

It is an amazing experience standing amongst a crowd of people, talking about the work we do and how dependent upon donations we are.

As a foreigner volunteering in Thailand, you become very much aware that Thai people are very willing to donate money to a good cause and will make an effort to put money into a collection box.

But time after time, year after year it is always shocking to witness the majority (like 90%) of western visitors to the stall, firstly ignore any participation in conversation and secondly dismiss with the wave of almost a regal hand, the suggestion we might want them to buy something or donate, towards a good cause.

Often the comments coming back are “It’s not our problem…”

Hopefully whilst reading these pages, you may appreciate, as we do, how strange & conflicting this situation is.

Today, the second day of the NAP fair, was buzzing, with bag paining for charity, musicians performing on stage and every nook and cranny of Soi 1 jammed full of flare for diversity.

Colourful, imaginative, sometimes striking but mainly beautiful and attractive (the people as well as the products and displays) are a sight to behold and one can spend hours rambling through the street.

Trying to capture the ambiance and the emotion of the event in a few photos and words is impossible.

Yesterday a few of the volunteers noticed that snacks and cakes were scarce in the street and this morning some of us rallied round and put our culinary skills to the test. Cookies, Muffins, Cup Cakes and various other snacks were today the talk of the street and sold very well indeed.

At the larger of our 2 stalls, the baby clothes (with dog and cat motifs) were quite popular and as usual the cards, ceramic ‘love’ dogs seemed to be popular too.

Wow, only day 2 and 3 more to go, if you haven’t been yet, why not pop along and see what the heck we are talking about !

As always, it is always great to see other people working towards the same cause, Lanna Dog Rescue have a great stall and also some wonderful smile too. Thanks Roshan!