Tell us about your background.
I lived in Chiangmai and quit university after only 15 days in the campus. My aunt who raised me wasn’t against my decision, though. I later worked as a waiter at a restaurant and played an online game, Wonderland, in my free time. And I met my girlfriend in the game. She asked me to come to Bangkok where she lived. She introduced me to the world of cosplay. She loves to dress up and I followed her to events. She was a rich kid as she’s the daughter of a family that owns a hotel on Sathorn Road. Anyway, her wealth kinda drove me to the dark side. As I work at a steak shop, she always paid for me when we went out. I wanted to have money to take care of her too, so I decided to gamble, from football to underground casinos. I even slept in casinos. I was really a piece of trash.
What made you stop?
She dumped me. She decided to go on a work-and-travel program in the US. I quit everything and kept in touch with her. I said that I would wait for her. We chatted online regularly until, one day, I saw her profile picture with another man. She finally admitted that he’s the one for her. She said he is the best man she’d ever met. I was stunned. It made me ask myself how can I be that kind of man. I packed my bags, went back to Chiangmai, and gradually thought of what I wanted to do in my life while working as a waiter again. The first dream that popped up was that I wanted to backpack across Japan, so I applied as a worker in Japan at the Thailand Overseas Employment Administration in Bangkok. But I later stumbled across and ad for a home for the elderly and started working there three months. I still want to go to Japan, though.
How did the Facebook page Low-cost Cosplay start?
I've loved drawing manga since I was young, so cosplay parody has always been in my blood. One day I saw an old red towel in the nursing home so I roped it around my neck and took a picture to post it with the 300 movie poster. It went viral among my Facebook friends who encourage me to open this page. Now there are three admins taking care of it.
Why do people love your stuff so much?
I believe that everyone has played dress up at some point, when they were a kid. You dream of being a super hero, but you play another role in society in the end. This page lets them have fun, like when they were kids, even if it looks stupid. They just want to be happy.
How is your life since you’ve gone viral?
I got a lot of job offers, such as the famous Saatchi & Saatchi agency. And lots of TV programs like Khon Khon Khon (Human Finding Human) also want to cover me at my work place but I refused that. I want this place to be my sanctuary where I can work at peace.
What about your day job?
I’m a bit dazed when people are surprised that I work at nursing home. They always say it must be hard to take care of old people. I find it so easy. All I do just help them out and clean their shits. I also learned that no matter how good you are to others, no one wants you when you’re sick. I have my favorite old man here, who always punches me. He was a Ph.D. professor, who is now sick with Alzheimer's, so his memory restarts every 10 minutes. But you know what? He never forgets his daughter’s name. Not once. Interview by Monruedee Jansuttipan
