Selling chicken noodle meals for just 10 baht, Thida Ketkaew isn’t making much money, but she doesn’t care as long as she can help Pattaya’s poor and unemployed.
The 56-year-old owner of Jae Da Ta Tui, a ramshackle wood-and-tin shed erected in front of Boonsamphan Temple, said she used to sell her noodle dishes at 20 baht for chicken and 40 baht for duck. But given the dire economic conditions in Pattaya, she cut her chicken price in half to help those who are struggling.
A long line of people queued for the cheap eats, which get even cheaper if the patron is registered in the government’s Go Halves co-pay program. In that case, they can buy a bowl of chicken and noodles for just 5 baht, with the program paying Thida the other half.
Thida said duck still costs 40 baht a bowl, because duck is pricey, but most people go for the chicken. She’s not making much money, but right now, she said, it doesn’t matter.
