For our own amusement, we decided to appoint ourselves as the judge for our very own "Thailand's Got Weird Talent" show. Here are the finalists.
Yum, perfectly fried with a dash of crispy human cells
THE IRON-HANDED CHEF
The contestant: Khan Trichan, 51, who sells fried chicken from his stall on Khang Ruen Jam Road in Chiang Mai.
The act: Doing what Colonel Sanders and KFC staff won't - substituting kitchen tongs with his hands.
The talent: Khan can comfortably pick up sizzling chicken from boiling oil without hurting himself. Khan discovered his talent because of an accident which turned out to be a blessing in disguise that took place about eight years ago.
Khan's shop sits under a big mango tree, and one day a piece of fruit dropped into his frying pan, splashing some oil onto his head, hands and arms. To his surprise, it didn't injure him in any way and he suffered only a little redness on his skin.
Khan did the next sensible thing any victim of trauma would. "I put my hands into the oil and I was OK with it. Normally, people would have blistered but it had no effect on me," he said in his interview with Ban Tuek Luek Lub on Channel 5. He also showed that his skin can really tolerate scourging hot oil by putting some on his arms and hands.
Of course, he turned his unusual ability into a profitable venture (he has a banner stand advertising his iron hands) which draws many customers who want to see the cook in thrilling action and sink their teeth into his juicy and hot chicken. It's a meal and a show without extra charge. He also holds a Guinness World Record for picking up 20 pieces of chicken from oil boiling at 480 degrees Celsius in one minute. Man, what a cool superpower to have.
Guru panel says: The TAT should include him as one of Chiang Mai's tourist attractions. He gets a straight "Yes" from us.
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ONE-BLIND-MAN CIRCUS
We guess Uncle Jiab is the only one who would drool over this picture
The contestant:
An uncle named Suparat "Jiab" Nootsuk who is a member of a glong yao (traditional long drum) band in Samut Prakan.
The act: In no particular order of craziness, he chews fluorescent lights, jumps through a flaming hoop, pours acid onto himself (and immediately washes it afterwards), cracks durian with his hands and knees, and more. What elevate these acts to the batsh*t level is the fact that Jiab executes all this daredevilry despite being almost blind.
The talent: Jiab grew up in a poor family and accepted whatever odd job came his way to earn a living. Before joining the troupe, he worked on farms as well as performed likay and the lion dance among other things. He has always had a knack for imitating others and teaching himself many performing skills.
In an interview with Channel 3's Joh Kao Den in February, Jiab said he started imitating daring acts after seeing performers from other bands to catch up with the competition. Unfortunately, the sight in both his eyes was severely diminished by cataracts not long after joining his current band but they kept him because of his exceptional abilities.
Jiab teaches the other members to do scary stunts and also performs them. He claims he can do these acts despite being visually impaired because he's very familiar with them due to many years of practice. Taking pride and pleasure in what he does, the uncle adds that he will continue to do these acts until he physically can't anymore.
Guru panel says: Jiab gets a "Yes" from us because he's a real fighter with a sympathy-invoking story. People with functional eyes or those who are scared of their shadow are advised not to copy him, though.
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THE LITTLE BUDDHA
The contestant: Three-year-old Kampee "Mark" Sintisut, a kindergartner from Sakon Nakhon.
The act: While Mark's contemporaries enjoy role-playing as superheroes and are trying not to confuse left with right, Mark acts like a monk in his free time instead. He dons the robe, chants mantras, and blesses people despite the fact that he can't speak central Thai dialect yet.
The talent: Let us be clear. Mark isn't ordained as a novice monk. The spotlight hit his shaved head after a nine-minute video of him chanting and blessing went viral on YouTube.
His parents have to travel to another province for work so Mark is in the care of his grandmother most of the time. He had accompanied his granny to temples many times before he showed signs of wanting to become monk. We guess Mark thinks monks are cool because people are wai-ing them all the time.
Before going to kindergarten, instead of watching cartoons, he takes up his toy bowl and walks around the house to mimic the alms round that adult monks make. His granny puts his breakfast in it and Mark will bless her in return. He plays with candles and joss sticks and also calls passersby to receive his holy water sprinkles and blessings.
His granny insists no one in the family forces Mark to be this way and, if she doesn't buy him monk accessories, he gets upset like children not getting toys they want. At first she thought it was just a phase and he would stop playing a monk but he continues to role-play.
Guru panel says: This is nothing against Buddhism and we think Mark is very cute, but we are gonna pass on him. While his memory and his commitment to stay in character are quite impressive for a child of his age, the thing is that we can get spiritual services Mark provides from real monks at countless temples in every neighbourhood. The idea of bowing to a three-year-old makes us feel awkward. Also he is doing what some adult men already do - pretending to be monks.
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GIRL POWER
Don’t underestimate the power of an oestrogen-fuelled kick!
The contestant:
Ten-year-old primary student Angkana "Mhuay" Sampao-ngern from Chon Buri.
The act: Barely reaching puberty, Mhuay is already a competitive Muay Thai fighter and instructor.
The talent: At five, Mhuay took up Muay Thai instead of Barbie dolls and she has been accompanying her father to see Muay Thai fights since she was three. It seems her talent runs in the genes. She told Khao Sod in October 2008 that her boxer father trained her while her older brother is also training to become boxer. She added that she aspires to box for Thailand.
After a year of training, she won a champion title in the under-18kg category at a competition held by Fairtex gym in Pattaya after defeating another six-year-old. It was her fourth fight. At eight, she trained two boys to become Muay Thai fighters and continues to train more kids.
Guru panel says: Mhuay is a role model in many ways. She should inspire couch potatoes to get off their behinds and do some exercise. She also shows Thai girls of the new generation that they can be beautiful boxers and that you don't have to take your top off to get people's attention.
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A proud mama with her crawling children
SCORPION QUEEN
The contestant: Kanchana "Na" Ketkaew, 41, from Koh Samui.
The act: Living with scorpions for an extended period of time.
The talent: What would you do if you realise you are immune to scorpion venom? Well, most of us would probably just brag about it at parties when we run out of things to talk about but never think of getting friendly with the arachnids. That wasn't the case for Na who performed with scorpions for tourists before embarking on the death-defying stunt of living with thousands of scorpions in the same confines for over a month. Twice.
Na says she's a lover of animals and likes to push her mental limits to overcome fear which she feels is a part of being a woman. And we thought PMS was bad enough. In 2002, she spent 32 days in a room with 3,400 scorpions - a world record. She pushed her limits again in 2008 by bagging two more world records.
She first put a poisonous scorpion in her mouth for two minutes and three seconds and then put many scorpions on her white gown and lived with 5,000 more of them for 33 days in a glass room at the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum in Pattaya. She said afterwards that she was stung by the crawlies thirteen times but she was OK because she has built up immunity to their poison from years of performing with them.
Perhaps she should gain another title for marrying a guy who likes to put centipedes in his mouth because she is married to Thailand's centipede king Boonthawee Seangwong who spent 28 days with 1,000 centipedes in 2003. What an overachieving couple.
Guru panel says: Although her talent makes our skin crawl, Na is an inspiration to take it upon herself to make Thailand proud by bagging weird world titles. She also shows that whatever freaky skill you have, if you know how to make a big spectacle out of it, you'll become famous. You go, girl!
Thailand is great.
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