Vajira Somlim
Vajira Somlim aka Khun Boy established the global pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, and aims to celebrate body positivity, diversity, and confidence within the worldwide “bear” community.
APCOM has been supporting the pageant since 2023 to raise awareness on body diversity, and here you get an exclusive interview with Khun Boy.
My name is Vachira Somlim, and I am currently 57 years old. I was born and raised in Ang Thong Province, Thailand. I attended local schools before studying marketing at Ang Thong Technical College and later at Bangkok College of Accounting. At that time, the hotel industry was booming, so I decided to continue my studies in hospitality management in Australia. I lived there for approximately 26 years
During my time in Australia, I owned a Thai restaurant for 13 years and was actively involved in sports and community activities, particularly volleyball and the Gay Games, participating in events in Sydney, Chicago, and Europe.
After returning to Thailand, I opened Sydney Resort in Suphan Buri and later established Thumbs Up Inn, now known as Casa Amor, in Silom, Bangkok. I also opened Thumbs Up Karaoke, which became a gathering place for Bangkok’s bear community.
Through these businesses, I realized the importance of creating spaces and activities for plus-size and bear communities. Under Hi Five Group Co., Ltd., we developed businesses and events that celebrate this community while contributing to tourism and entertainment.
How did you start Mr. Bear, and what would you like to achieve from Mr Bear?
Mr. Bear actually started at Thumbs Up Karaoke. Since many of our customers were part of the bear community, we regularly organized activities such as singing contests, tattoo competitions, and events for plus-size people.
One month, we decided to organize a “Thai Bear” competition. We posted a simple poster online, expecting it to be just another event. To our surprise, the poster went viral overnight, receiving more than 8,000 shares and over a million views. Hundreds of people registered immediately, sponsors contacted us, and we realized that there was a huge interest in creating a platform for the bear community.
When that happened, we started thinking seriously about organizing a pageant. So, we held the competition right here in this bar. The response was incredible. We crowned our very first winner in 2018, and his name was Trong.
At that time, we had a large number of applicants. We narrowed them down to 30 contestants, then to 10, then 5, and finally to the Top 3. Surprisingly, two of the three finalists were straight men. It was something we had never expected.
At first, we wondered whether Trong might actually be part of the LGBT community because he hadn’t publicly spoken about it yet and we hadn’t had the opportunity to discuss it with him. In the end, we discovered that we had straight men participating in the competition for the very first time. That was how we crowned our first Mister Bear in 2018.
We continued with another competition in 2019 and crowned another Mister Bear—and once again, the winner was a straight man. It was unbelievable that we had straight winners for two consecutive years.
After the 2019 competition, we decided to take a break because COVID-19 was beginning to emerge. The pandemic disrupted everything. At first, we thought the bar would be able to reopen before long, but unfortunately, it eventually had to close down.
Before that, I have to mention that in 2018, we launched Mister Bear Asia. One day, someone from the Philippines contacted us through our Facebook page and asked who owned Mister Bear Asia. I replied, “It’s me—Vachira, or Boy. I’m the owner of Mister Bear Asia and Mister Bear Bangkok,” because at that time we were still using the name Mister Bear Bangkok.
He then told me that he was interested in joining and collaborating with Mister Bear because he came from the Philippines. At that moment, I felt incredibly happy. I was excited and honestly couldn’t believe that someone was interested in a small event that we had created in our little bar.
A few months later, Bear World in the United States published an article about our first competition. They featured our event and wrote about this new Bear pageant happening in Thailand. Suddenly, our little bar was being talked about all the way in America. That was when David Goodman, the owner of Bear World, contacted me. We had a long conversation, and he asked about our ideas, our motivations, and why we decided to organize Mister Bear. I told him that it was our first attempt at creating a pageant because we came from a small community, but now we had a dream and an inspiration to make it grow.
I promised David Goodman that if he gave us this opportunity and helped promote us around the world, I would do my best to help the Bear community in Thailand and Asia grow.
Later, our friend from the Philippines messaged us again and said that he was interested in creating a similar platform in his country. At that time, there were no international Bear competitions, and he wanted to work with us.
In 2019, the Philippines organized the first-ever Mister Bear Philippines, and I was invited to serve as one of the judges. It was there that I witnessed their production process and creativity, and I have to say, it was amazing. Our competition in Thailand was still being held in a regular bar, but their production was on another level. They had professional hosts, a structured workflow, and high-quality filming and production. It made me realize that we still had a long way to go, and the Philippines became a model and inspiration for us.
I returned to Thailand feeling inspired and determined to improve our platform. My inspiration came from two places: David Goodman in the United States and Ryan in the Philippines. They gave me the motivation to build Mister Bear Thailand and Mister Bear International.
Then COVID-19 happened.
Everything came to a halt—our economy, our businesses, and our pageant. The platform had to stop for several years. In 2024, we finally returned, with a new group of young team members who were passionate and full of energy. Thanks to them, Mister Bear made its comeback.
We continued in 2025, and after working with this team for about two years, I decided that in 2026 I wanted to take back the leadership and personally oversee Mister Bear International again.
Today, we have contestants from 16 countries around the world.
At first, we only had Asian countries participating. Then we started asking ourselves: how do we bring Europe into this? So, we began expanding the competition to welcome European countries as well.
Throughout this journey, I have always asked myself one question: How can Mister Bear survive and continue to belong to the Bear community?
We realized that Mister Bear needed to stay connected to the community and to the times when Bears naturally gather together.
That’s why I came up with the idea that Mister Bear International should take place during Songkran. Songkran is when Bears from all over Asia travel to Thailand, making it the perfect opportunity to host an international competition.
Since then, we’ve organized Mister Bear International during Songkran, and the very first edition was a success.
At the same time, I was already organizing other events, including Bangkok Twilight. When Bangkok Twilight and Mister Bear came together, Bear communities from many countries joined us for pool parties, foam parties, and our pageant.
This also led to another project—our parade.
From a business perspective, we started thinking about how to expand Mister Bear even further. We asked ourselves: how can we create events that people love, encourage tourism, and bring communities together?
That led us to discussions with government agencies about creating a parade in Silom. In 2024, we successfully organized the first parade in Silom in decades.
HiFive Group Co., Ltd. organized the event together with the government and Bang Rak District Office. Mister Bear became the grand finale of the parade, which marked another important milestone in the growth of both Mister Bear International and Mister Bear Thailand.
Everything we do is operated under HiFive Group Co., Ltd. Although we are not an NGO or a charity organization, we work closely with both government and private sectors to stimulate the economy.
In many ways, Mister Bear is also social work—both directly and indirectly—because the events we organize create positive impacts through tourism, travel, spending, and community gatherings.
Today, Mister Bear is much more than just a pageant. It depends on the ecosystem of around four to five events that we organize together, including parties, community gatherings, and Songkran activities. All of these events are interconnected and help Mister Bear continue to grow.
In my view, if we want this platform to survive, it cannot be just a competition. It has to become a platform that inspires people to travel, participate, and return year after year.
Ultimately, Mister Bear can only survive through the support of the community and by creating meaningful experiences for everyone.
From a small bar that once served as a gathering place for the Bear community in Bangkok, we have grown into an international platform with contestants from many countries around the world.
All of this has happened because of dedication, consistency, and the belief that Thailand’s Bear community can grow and be recognized on the global stage.
The journey of Mr. Bear really starts with Thailand itself. We first had Mr. Bear Bangkok, which has now become Mr. Bear Thailand.
Our goal is to create opportunities for a new generation—young people with talent and dreams who want to use the Mr. Bear platform to showcase themselves and reach their full potential.
As for what we want Mr. Bear to achieve, it is certainly an entertainment business. We would like to see Mr. Bear expand into different forms of entertainment, such as: Mr. Bear Dance, Mr. Bear Singing, Mr. Bear International, and Mr. Bear Parade. These are all the directions we want the platform to grow.
Now that we have achieved success in Thailand, the next question is: How do we go international? Everything has to work together.
We already have the parade, which supports both government and private-sector initiatives. That’s why Mr. Bear Thailand and Mr. Bear International have become part of the Amazing Bangkok Songkran Parade.
This is a worldwide event, and therefore Mister Bear International also needs to be positioned on a worldwide stage.
There are two key elements: Growing alongside the Amazing Bangkok Songkran Parade. Developing Mister Bear International at the same time. These two things must move forward together if we want Mister Bear to continue succeeding in the future.
What has been the highlight for Mr Bear so far?
There are two major highlights.
The first highlight is creating a platform for plus-size or chubby individuals with larger body types in Thailand to showcase their talents, whether it’s singing, dancing, or other special abilities. This is one of our most important highlights.
We also want our contestants to represent diversity in every sense—people from different professions, genders, and backgrounds. Individuals of all genders and all ages are welcome to join the competition. At the heart of Mr. Bear Thailand is our commitment to promoting equal rights and social equality.
As for Mr. Bear International, we started with Mr. Bear Asia, welcoming contestants from across Asia. Today, our highlight and our ambition are much bigger—we want to attract participants from Europe, North and South America, and many other regions. We want to see white, Black, Asian, and people from all backgrounds and countries—Canada, the United States, and beyond—competing on our stage. In fact, this vision for 2026 had already begun to take shape in 2025. We welcomed contestants from South Africa, including one of our first participants from the country, who was white.
That is why, when I speak with government representatives, I always ask: How can we attract people from around the world—whether they are white, Asian, or from any other background—to visit Bangkok?
This has become one of the key highlights of positioning Bangkok as a destination for the Bear and broader LGBTQ+ communities. We need to bring people from all over the world to our city.
And we have already started doing that. We have welcomed participants from Canada, the United States, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and many Asian countries. These are the milestones that we need to continue building upon to make Mr. Bear a truly global platform.
Our most recent winner is Mister Bear Malaysia, and I have a special admiration for Malaysia. I had the opportunity to serve as a judge for Mister Bear Malaysia, and because Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country with relatively strict laws, their participation carries special significance.
What we are trying to achieve—whether it’s promoting equal rights or human equality—is creating a platform where anyone can participate. We want to create opportunities for everyone, and that includes respecting different faiths and religions.
We respect every religion, every gender, and every ethnicity. Even though Malaysia has certain legal restrictions, members of the Bear community and contestants there still have a strong desire to express themselves and be part of our community through Mr. Bear International.
Therefore, I believe that having Malaysia crowned as Mister Bear International this year is a powerful reflection of our values. It demonstrates that we truly welcome people of all genders, all ages, all religions, and from all around the world.
Tell us some not known information about this year’s Mr Bear competition.
To be honest, this is not something I usually talk about in detail, but I want people to understand that what we are trying to build requires an enormous amount of effort. We created this from the ground up without any global marketing support. We do not have an agency or organization helping us promote or coordinate internationally. Because of that, it has been incredibly challenging for our team—from making connections and doing public relations to building trust and credibility for the Mister Bear organization.
So, what do we do? This is actually our little secret. It’s all about word-of-mouth, person to person. Of course, in today’s world we use social media, but something I have never shared before is that our strategy is to first create an unforgettable experience for our contestants, and then they become our ambassadors.
We make our activities fun and meaningful. We want participants to fall in love with Thailand—to experience Thai culture and traditions, enjoy Thai food, join our activities, and see the beauty and hospitality of our country. That is something we are truly proud of.
Another thing I have never told anyone is that many of our international contestants cry when it is time to go home. They develop a deep sense of connection, warmth, and love for us and for Thailand. For me, that is one of our proudest achievements.
I want people to understand and support us because what we do is driven by passion, hard work, and perseverance. There are countless hours of networking, coordinating, and people traveling long distances to participate in our events. It is difficult to fully explain how much effort our team puts into making all of this happen. There are so many moving parts, and we have very limited resources and time.
Especially when it comes to sponsorship, we still rely heavily on ticket sales and, to a considerable extent, my own personal funds. Sponsorship support has not yet reached the level we hope for, but we will continue to push forward and keep building this platform.
So, if there is one thing that no one really knows, it is just how dedicated our team is. Without the incredible efforts of the Mister Bear International team, the Parade team, and everyone involved in our events that bring people from around the world to Thailand, none of these beautiful memories and impressions would have been possible.
What can we expect in next year’s Mr Bear competition?
What we truly hope for, first and foremost, is more support and sponsorship for Mr. Bear Thailand. We need support to help make the Mr. Bear competition and our organization even stronger and more professional. Today, we already have a dedicated team and a diverse group of contestants joining our platform. The next important step is securing more partners and supporters who believe in our vision.
As for Mr. Bear International, we now have participants from across Asia, and our hope is that more countries will establish their own national Mr. Bear competitions. At the moment, not every country has an official competition yet. In some places, there are already community events and competitions, and they are able to send representatives to join us. Therefore, one of our biggest expectations for next year is to see official Mr. Bear competitions are being organized in more countries around the world.
We would love to see more countries sending representatives to compete because it gives us the opportunity to learn about the traditions and cultures of different regions and continents. We want to understand the lifestyles, interests, and experiences of plus-size and bear communities in different countries, and to create a space where everyone can come together to exchange cultures, traditions, and experiences here in Thailand.
Anything else you would like to share?
Actually, for both Mr. Bear Thailand and Mr. Bear International, what we really want to share is the opportunity for each country to showcase its traditions, culture, and unique beauty. We want to create a space where people can come together, celebrate diversity, and build unity within the Plus Size and Bear Community. That is our ultimate goal.
We also hope that society and the public will continue to follow and support our work. Bringing people and teams from different countries together in Thailand takes an incredible amount of time, effort, and dedication—from building relationships and teams to organizing and presenting these events. We truly hope people will continue to follow our journey and help promote what we do, because that support means a lot to us.
And of course, we would like everyone to support and recognize that Plus Size or Oversize individuals deserve a strong place in society. In reality, everyone has value and potential. Plus Size people are no different from anyone else. Unfortunately, they are sometimes judged unfairly or made to feel less worthy because of their appearance. But like everyone else, Plus Size individuals simply want to live good lives and enjoy meaningful activities and opportunities.
Through Mr. Bear Thailand, we want to create positive activities and opportunities for Plus Size people and for society as a whole. Therefore, we warmly invite everyone to support and follow the journeys of Mr. Bear Thailand, Mr. Bear International, and the global Bear Community.
Our dream is for Bangkok to become a global hub for the Bear Community, a destination where people from around the world can gather, connect, and celebrate together.
