Cafe owner Veeranut Rojanaprapa hopes his morbid hangout will be a welcome daily reminder to locals that life is very short
This Bangkok coffee shop has been dubbed the “death awareness” café, where customers are encouraged to reflect on their own mortality by taking a time out in a coffin.
The “Kid Mai Death Café” – literally meaning “Think New”, is kitted out with a skeleton, aptly named drinks like “death” and “painful”, and even decorated white coffins.
Customers visiting the macabre lunch spot are encouraged to lay down in the coffins for a few moments to think about their dying moments.
Those that choose to do so will land themselves a discounted beverage.
One customer said the whole atmosphere felt like she was at a funeral – which is just what anyone would want on a Saturday afternoon.
According to the owner of the outlet, the restaurant is more than just a gimmick.
Veeranut Rojanaprapa hopes his new venture will teach Thai folks – most of whom are Buddhist – about the benefits of being “death aware”.
He claims that by spending a few minutes in the dark isolation of a coffin, Thailand’s technology-obsessed younger generation will be forced to rethink their life choices.
With his café slap-bang in the middle of a small neighbourhood in northern Bangkok, Rojanaprapa hopes his morbid café will be a welcome daily reminder that life is very short.
However, the café’s presence has not been met with a glowing welcome, with some locals reportedly taking shortcuts just to avoid looking at it.
