Let’s talk a bit about Pangina Heals, stage name of Pan Pan Narkpasert, Asia’s most famous drag queen, the RuPaul of Thailand, a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race Thailand (2 seasons), and who just competed in “RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs. the World” (can we squeeze another “RuPaul” in this sentence?)…
This drag queen, in the LAND of drag queens is so damned famous here that they built her a club – House of HEALS – on the 24th floor of the 5-star Renaissance Hotel giving us locals a full-on glitzy Vegas club (with Vegas prices to match). And even though the club has been open for some weeks now, Pangina’s first appearance there was last Wednesday night, April 13, at the height of Thailand’s major Songkran holiday (Thai new year). She was all but drowned out by the ear-piercing screams of her fans to whom she breathlessly announced that she won’t be back in Thailand until November!! Apparently, Thailand’s grand dame of drag is popular elsewhere as she rattled off a list of several countries she’s touring.
Due to lingering anti-Covid measures, the Thai government again this year limited the holiday’s water splashing celebrations outside, but inside the Renaissance, all masks were off and it was PACKED OUT with sweaty boys, boys, boys – a youngish crowd (and no, I wasn’t the oldest there, but close…) that rocked that skyscraper until who-knows-when as I left to avoid the crush at the elevators to get out. Will definitely go back if for nothing else to finish the bottle of Belvedere that us lightweights didn’t polish off that night.
There’s 2-3 shows per night Wednesday- Sunday, so welcome back to Thailand everyone. Looks like as of May 1, all quarantines, Thai Passes, and testing requirements will be binned.
By the way, Pangina is hot as a girl, or a boy ……..
Review by Glenn John
Once upon a loooong time ago, Glenn moved from NYC to Bangkok (pre-covid, the most-visited city on Earth
- Forbes mag.et al) and suddenly he wants to let everyone know a bit more about Thailand (per capita, the queerest
country on Earth - his stats) and maybe some of the LGBTQI+ happenings in the neighboring countries also.