Prem is currently saving up to buy a small plot of land to open a real restaurant. She wants to call it "Prasert’s Heart" —using her birth name to honor her past and her new name to define her future.
Growing up as a boy named Prasert, Prem knew by the age of eight that she saw the world through different eyes. While the other boys wanted to play takraw, Prem wanted to arrange the flowers for the temple fair. "My father didn't speak to me for three months when I came home wearing his mother’s pha sin (traditional skirt)," Prem tells me over a bowl of her famous tom yum noodles. ladyboy prem
Ladyboy Prem doesn't want your pity or your fascination. She wants you to pass the chili flakes. Prem is currently saving up to buy a
Prem replied, "It is the same as being a woman in the countryside. I wake up, I worry about the rain ruining the crops, I pray at the temple, and I hope my noodles make you happy. The 'ladyboy' part is just the garnish. The soup is the real story." While the other boys wanted to play takraw,
Every morning at 4:00 AM, Prem wakes up to prepare her broth. She wears a simple yellow t-shirt, jean shorts, and a touch of lip gloss. Her hair is long and black, tied back to keep it out of the soup.
That groundedness is what makes Prem remarkable. In a world that often hyper-sexualizes transgender women in Thailand, Prem reclaims her narrative through the mundane: she is a small business owner, a cat lover, and the person who remembers your spice level.
"Tourists sometimes stare," she admits, stirring the pot. "They think because I am a ladyboy, I must be looking for a foreign husband. No. I am looking for customers who are hungry."