With weddings, public events and ceremonies suspended due to Pattaya’s second coronavirus outbreak, Salae Kayandee’s lucrative work as a makeup artist has disappeared. She’s now selling southern food to make ends meet.
The 59-year-old is a professional makeup artist much sought after by brides and grooms for wedding ceremonies, and high-society members for events and ceremonies. Her hourly fee? 3,000 baht.
But all that work has dried up, so she returned to her roots, cooking up her mother’s spicy recipes from the South at a stall on Soi Bongkot Soi 7.
A member of the Chumsai Community council, Salae flavors cumin and regional spices for her rice and noodles dishes with southern curry, shrubby basil and sour fish soup.
It’s not 3,000 baht an hour, but it’s something, Salae said. During hard times, you do what you have to do to survive.
