Thai transgender woman struggling with Covid-19 downturn sells noodles in colourful costume

Thai transgender woman struggling with Covid-19 downturn sells noodles in colourful costume

A Thai transgender woman struggling with Covid-19 downturn is selling noodles in colourful costume to help pay her bills.

Porameth Chaengsawang, 18, wears different costumes every day while serving traditional Thai noodles from her food stall in Suphan Buri province.

The ladyboy beauty queen used to have work as a hair and make up artist but after events and social gatherings were banned during the pandemic she lost income during the lockdown.

After months of being out-of-work, she decided to put up the stall in front of her family home and sell homemade pork, meatball, liver and blood soup noodles.

Porameth said: ‘I just want to help my family find more revenue during this crisis by using my make-up knowledge and passion.

‘Dressing in a costume helped build my brand image.

Sometimes I dance and ate mouth-watering noodles on social media live broadcasts to attract more customers.

‘I ride my motorcycle around the village to take the orders to our customers for free and they can see me dressed beautifully when they open their doors.

I believed it makes them happy.’ One of Porameth’s favourite costumes, a purple gown which she matches with a princess tiara, won her the Best in Costume title in Miss World AIDS Day in the province in 2019.

Before the pandemic, her parents had a noodle stall outside a Buddhist temple but they had to close down to follow the restrictions.

Their special homemade noodles cost from 20 to 30 baht per order available everyday until before curfew hours.