PHUKET: Happy to be alive, Vorasit ''Wan'' Issara showed us the photographs today of the shocking wounds inflicted when he was set upon by six men with a tomahawk and knives in an after-hours Phuket bar this week.

''They thought I was Korean,'' he told Phuketwan in an exclusive interview from his bed in the Intensive Care Unit at Bangkok Hospital Phuket. ''That was shocking, too.''

Khun Wan looked surprisingly well, sitting on the edge of his bed, chatting on his mobile telephone, with his head half-shaved around wounds and large bandages on his belly and shoulders. Monitors and wiring are everywhere.

His resort-owning father Songkran, who joined us as we talked, said: ''My son is lucky to survive. The cuts were very deep and they came close to major blood vessels.''

It was in the Rassada Pub in a notorious part of Phuket City about 4.30am on Wednesday, with Hollywood star Jeremy Renner, two or three colleagues and his driver that 30-year-old Khun Wan's life almost came to an abrupt end.

''I'd been to that pub about six times before and the place has always had a bit of a reputation,'' he said. ''We headed out that night because it was Jeremy's second-last night on Phuket.

''We started out at my place (the swank Sri panwa resort on Phuket's eastern Cape Panwa) then we moved to Kor Tor Mor (a popular spot with visiting celebrities) and after that closed, we moved on to the Rassada Pub.''

Khun Wan confirmed that Jeremy Renner had been unscathed in the bloody assault and was now back at work in the Philippines, filming on his latest project. The two have been talking by telephone about the incident, he said.

''We pushed Jeremy to safety as soon as the fight broke out,'' Khun Wan said.

The photographs he showed us today were taken at the Phuket City private hospital soon after he arrived.

They show shocking injuries. Part of his intestines spilled from the knife wound. The long slashes to his neck and shoulders appear to have been executed with deadly intent.

''The adrenaline was flowing. Only when I got into the car did I realise I had been stabbed in the stomach,'' Khun Wan said. ''And when I took off my shirt we realised how bad the chop wounds were to my back.''

Khun Wan took the brunt of the assault by the six male staff at the Rassada Pub, with the worst wounds inflicted with a homemade tomahawk to his back and a knife to his stomach.

His hand was also badly cut and required stitches. Fortunately the hospital was just five or 10 minutes from the bar at that time of the morning.

''I had been there (to the Rassada Pub) about six times before but I don't think they remembered,'' he said. ''Those guys have a bad reputation. They thought I was Korean.''

At the pub, sitting in a middle table, a woman at a neighboring table dropped a glass and it broke.

''I'm an experienced hotelier so I used my foot to sweep the glass under a chair to make sure it was out of the way,'' Khun Wan said. ''Everything seemed fine. A guy did come and shone a torch in my face twice, though.''

Khun Wan said that the partying continued for a while. ''Then as I was standing, I felt this arm around my neck from behind. At first, I thought it was one of my friends, playing a joke.

''In fun, I grabbed the person's arm and tried to swing it, as if we were dancing.''

In the drama that quickly unfolded, Khun Wan was struck time and time again with various weapons, including the tomahawk and a knife.

''I am very pleased that the police did such a good job,'' Khun Wan said.

Police apprehended all six Rassada staff. One of six - the one who wielded the tomahawk - is under 18 and, as a minor, cannot be identified. All six are likely to face charges of attempted murder.

With the spate of bad publicity worldwide for Phuket and Thailand, Phuket's new Police Commander, Major General Chonsit Wadhnawarangkun, is likely to oversee a crackdown on after-hours bars all over Phuket.

Khun Wan is hoping to be out of hospital and home to the Sri panwa resort within a few days. He has been told he will regain full use of his arms.