Devotees of the Chinese Jui Tui shrine are seen with spikes piercing their cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand in this October 19, 2015 combination photo. The festival, featuring face-piercing, sacrifice, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A Thai traffic security guard wears a Santa Claus costume as he directs the traffic on a street during Christmas celebrations outside a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, 22 December 2015. The campaign of a shopping mall is held to celebrate the upcoming Christmas season and to attract shoppers. (Photo by Narong Sangnak/EPA)

Danusorn Sdisaithaworn, 10, poses for a portrait during an annual Poy Sang Long celebration, a traditional rite of passage for boys to be initiated as Buddhist novices, while he visits a relative's house outside Mae Hong Son, Thailand, April 4, 2018. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A female hippopotamus named “Mali”, which means Jasmine, eats fruits arranged to look like a cake during her 50th birthday celebration at Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, Thailand September 23, 2016. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Muay Thai boxer Nong Rose Baan Charoensuk, who is transgender, trains at a gym in Buriram province, Thailand, July 3, 2017. Born Somros Polchareon, Rose said she identified as a woman at an early age and began wearing makeup and a sports bra in the ring.(Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Mareya Wae U Seng of Thailand performs during Individual qualification and Individual team final subdivision 2 of Rhythmic Gymnastics final at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Friday, October 6, 2023. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

The 8th annual Miss International Queen beauty pageant was held in Pattaya in Thailand. The twenty-one contestants from fifteen countries were all born male, so the Miss International Queen 2012 pageant is not an average beauty pageant.

Photo: Panvilas Mongkol, a contestant from Thailand, waits for the start of the final night of Miss International Queen 2012 transgender/transsexual beauty pageant in Pattaya November 2, 2012. Some 21 contestants from 15 countries, all of them born male, compete in the week-long event for the crown of Miss International Queen 2012. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A Thai security guard stands by a wall of sandbags in front of a factory at the Bangchan Industrial Estate area on the outskirts of the capitol city November 8, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. Over seven major industrial parks in Bangkok and, thousands of factories have been closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi with millions of tons of rice damaged. Across the country, the flooding which is now in its third month has affected 25 of Thailand's 64 provinces. Thailand is experiencing the worst flooding in over 50 years which has affected more than nine million people. Over 400 people have died in flood-related incidents since late July according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)