The 48-year-old – known online as the 'caveman of Koh Phangan' – is a sex-mad hippy who gets his kicks from seducing tourists and sleeping with them in his off-the-grid hidey hole.
He's also a viral star, having made a name for himself on Facebook and on national news channels after he started sharing the wild details of his many cave conquests online.
But many have criticised his gloating behaviour and locals are reportedly unhappy at his lack of decency, leading cops to pay him a visit.
Sun Online met him at his infamous hideaway on the Full Moon party island to talk find out more.
As we chat over coffee, tells me about his flings with British women.
"I've been with many British women, but not in my cave – it's just not been the right timing for that, I'd say.
"But I was with them in Pai [a town in north Thailand], in a rental house on Koh Phangan, in Singapore.
"Most of them were cool and open for sexuality, and when we separated we separated with ease: but some of them drank a lot…"
Most recently, he seduced an Indian women into his makeshift home after meeting her in front of the cave, saying he "used to think Indian people were conservative."
However, Gollum-thin and with long black hair draped over his naked torso, he gestures to a bed fashioned from rocks, coral, a thin mattress and driftwood, adding: “She had a boyfriend in India and an open relationship.” He slurps his coffee. “Very open.”
The naked hippy who seduces tourists
It's this candidness about his sexual shenanigans which made Chatupoom 2018’s most unlikely internet celebrity.
Since moving into the cave in February on the island, popular with backpackers and known for its wild Full Moon parties, his antics have earned him hundreds of fans on his Facebook page.
Earlier this month one particular Facebook yarn about Chatupoom’s failed attempts to seduce a Russian tourist went viral, along with complaints from locals that he "lacks decency".
Along with a photo of an unnamed female conquest sleeping in his bed that Chatupoom posted online – since deleted – the story sparked debate about whether he is a harmless hippy or something creepier.
Chatupoom insists he is the former. “Creepy is when you don’t have clear intentions,” he says.
“You talk to a girl nicely, showing up as a nice guy, being friends with them… then at the end of the day you try to have sex with them.
“That’s creepy. But my intention is clear at the beginning. It’s so clear that I want to be more than just friends. That’s not creepy, because they know my intention.
"And if they want, they will join me. If they don’t they will separate, like oil and water.”
Life in the seaside 'harem'
Chatupoom's cave – a former tin mine – is on private land, in earshot of the waves lapping against the beach down below.
He initially rented accommodation on the island but the lure of a free love nest proved strong, and he moved in eight months ago after chancing upon the hidey hole when he was walking along the beach.
The owner even gave Chatupoom her blessing to stay there after reading about him online.
As for his low living costs, Chatupoom covers these by selling artworks, like the drawing of an eagle that’s pinned to the cave wall.
“I wanted to make it like a harem, because I love girls,” he says. But this is one harem where there are no velvet curtains or silk sheets.
Instead, there are insects – a large brown spider clings to a dumbbell lying near a home-made clay oven, and Chatupoom says that snakes regularly visit.
Despite these challenging conditions, Chatupoom manages to keep himself in top condition for his frequent lady callers.
Plastic bottles of brown-tinged water collected from another cave plus a battered wooden boat, flipped vertically to make a shelving unit, make up a “shower area”.
Meanwhile, boxes of oats and rice neatly stacked near the dumbbell give further clues about how he maintains his lean, muscly figure.
“Your place is a reflection of who you are,” Chatupoom says, proudly.
Picking up girls in bars, clubs or on the street
Born in Bangkok in 1970 to a comfortably well-off Buddhist family, Chatupoom says he gets his “freedom-loving” spirit from his mother and his sexual prowess from his father, who was “very good with women”.
He studied art at Silpakorn University in the Thai capital, graduated aged 28, then briefly worked as a cameraman on films and commercials.
By the age of 30 he was bored with the job and began travelling around Thailand, earning a living creating portraits for tourists.
Around this time he says he had a five-year relationship with a Canadian woman – the mother of a 13 year-old daughter he is not currently in contact with.
He moved to Koh Phangan three years ago, where he played in a band while continuing to paint portraits – a fact he tells me between parps on a gleaming trumpet.
After decorating his cave home, he quickly got into the swing of living on his paradise beach, in the heart of a Thai party hot-spot.
He uses nearby beach bars to charge his phone, and soon attracted a cult following for the videos and pictures of his unusual life which he shared on Facebook.
One key aspect of his life is cruising around Koh Phangan on his motorcycle, approaching women half his age and trying to convince them to come to his cave for sex. “I pick them up in the street, like in the news,” he says.
The “news” he is referring to is an Indonesian TV report showing a bizarre animated depiction of Chatupoom spotting a woman outside a 7-Eleven shop.
It shows him making her blush with his chat, then giving her a ride to his cave while jealous men look on.
That story, picked up by news outlets around the world, made Chatupoom a star – but also caught the attention of local police, who visited Chatupoom’s cave but found nothing untoward.
In fact, they ending up taking selfies with him.
'My handsomeness is over the limit'
Having found fame, Chatupoom was even visited by a team of local doctors for a free checkup.
His health, he boasts, was perfect, “Except my handsomeness. It’s over the limit.”
Beyond convenience stores, restaurants and bars are fertile hunting grounds for Chatupoom.
He explains: “If she [a prospective lover] was sitting in a restaurant and I keep looking at her [and thinking], ‘Wow, she’s so stunning,’ I tell her: ‘You look so stunning, I cannot stop looking at you.’ I just express it, then it’s up to her.”
Chatupoom, who does not drink alcohol or take drugs, is oddly cagey about how many notches he has on his driftwood bed posts, saying “a few” when pressed.
He does reveal that sometimes, as was the case with his Indian lover, finding a sex partner is as easy as walking out of his cave.
“Tourists walk by – I say hello and sometimes they’re curious about what’s up here,” he says. “They come and take a look. Some of them, we just chat. Some of them, we become friends. Some of them, we become lovers.”
As well as brazen confidence, he puts his success with women down to him representing the ultimate one-time holiday romance.
Fulfilling women's fantasies
“It could be a city girl having a fantasy,” he says. “Maybe at home they’re afraid of being judged… but they have desire to fulfil their fantasy and experience something different.
"I had experiences with some who had proper boyfriends, but they had desire to be free. I support them to fulfil that desire. It’s healthy.”
Chatupoom’s attitude towards sexually transmitted diseases is not so healthy.
He says he “sometimes” uses condoms for sex but, somewhat worryingly, tends to rely more on intuition than latex, saying: “I can sense who I need protection from.”
As we finish chatting in the cave Chatupoom ties a large green leaf in front of his genitals and walks down to the beach for photographs.
As he poses wistfully a gust of salty sea breeze lifts the leaf, giving me a glimpse of the famous cave snake.
Chatupoom laughs nonchalantly. “I’m usually naked around here,” he says.
Before I leave, I ask again if he is rattled by criticism he has faced.
Fittingly for a man who meditates daily, he remains highly zen about it all. “I can’t control what people think,” he says.
“I love freedom… I want to give them freedom. The freedom to think, the freedom to judge me. I try not to take it seriously.
“I just want to promote sexuality. It’s a beautiful thing. When you suppress sexuality that’s when crime happens… it’s like a balloon.
"Eventually… bang! Explode. But if you come from a place of, ‘Sexuality is natural', it’s nothing to be ashamed of, you’re happy. I feel good sharing my philosophy to the world.”
He turns and clambers up a rock face, heading towards his cave entrance, his bare bottom winking in the sun.
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