Tattoo - Decision to get tattooed in Thailand

Recently I started getting my left leg tattooed. When I first arrived in Pai I met a tattooist called Mink who works out of a studio called 'Cross tattoo'. He had tattooed my friends Petr and Guy from the gym and is an extremely talented tattoo artist.

We started talks about doing a large back piece for me but when my triple entry visa became a single entry and my stay in Thailand was no longer guaranteed I had to cancel my plans with Mink. I couldn't start such a massive under taking when I didn't know month by month whether my re-entry would be approved.

Months later, after my fight and after my trip to Cambodia I find myself back in Pai but with a little spare time before leaving for the monastery, and still the desire to get something tattooed. Just something small. A little momento. But isn't that how all these things start.

My decision to get tattooed was clearly influenced both by the trainers getting tattooed and by the prevalence of tattoo artists in the gym. I started to see everyone getting tattooed, and not just gym logos or small designs but larger mandala pieces and they were having the work done either in the gym itself or in their relevant guesthouses by the swimming pool or in other beautiful locations. I made my mind up and started talking with Iris, a dutch tattooist training at the gym who specialised in black and grey dot work. She had recently tattooed my friend Germaine and it just seemed like a good fit. I left the design very much up to her and my input was simply that I wanted to incorporate some dot work geometric patterns and the whole shape to follow the shape of the shin guards we wear when training/sparring.

I moved into the same guesthouse as Iris (Pai Chan) to make things simpler in the hope progress would be quick so that I could heal up and get back to training without losing too much of my time in Pai. I needed to avoid rushing back to the gym and catching an infection as so many others had suffered.

The experience of getting tattooed whilst sat in a bamboo hut next to the pool over looking the mountain ranges was amazing. It made the pain really easy to manage as I was able to look out over the mountains and not concentrate on the localised pain. I also think after the Muay Thai training my shins were very desensitised.

After starting the front of my shin with Iris I decided to do the back of my left calf with Mink. The idea was to link the two pieces and have the large shin guard shape on the front with a mandala tattoo on the back to balance out the distribution of ink/weight when looking at the whole piece.

The work done in the studio was the same experience as I have had in London based studios. Very clean, very professional and very precise. I am extremely happy with the work Mink has done and  I'm really looking forward to getting more of his input on finishing the design and making sure both pieces work well together. Both him and his team at Cross tattoo have been extremely helpful with the design element of the work being done. The plan for this week is to fill the area behind the mandala, framed by the black border with dot work geometric patterns to better match and work with the panels on the front of the leg.

Neither the front nor back are finished as I write this, but I will update soon enough with another post that shows the 2 pieces once they are all finished and healed up.

Tattoo - The Western influence on Thai style.

When I arrived at Charn Chai Muay Thai 6 months ago the trainers took a great deal of notice of my tattoos. When they got chance they would closely inspect each arm commenting on how they thought they were beautiful. The traditional Japanese tattoos I have on my arms are very different to the traditional Sak Yant tattoo style from Thailand and on my very white skin the colours really popped.

I have encountered this open like and interest in tattoos everywhere I have travelled in South East Asia. It would really seem that tattoos don't carry the same negative connotations here as they do back home or even in China/Japan. 

The difference between the tattoos Farang arrive with and the local Sak Yant style is very pronounced. The nature of the designs, inks and techniques used in Sak Yant mean they can be low on detail. They also don't seem to age well, they fade and blur very quickly. I say "they don't age well", this is obviously a personal opinion, some may well feel the changing of a tattoo over time as the skin changes is in keeping with the tattoo ageing process. This may well be different now as the inks have been developed over the years and now age a lot better. After all, old sailor style tattoos suffer the same fading and blurring.

Of all the trainers at the gym the young guys seem to be most influenced by western style and this constant influx of tattooed farang. Even the fashion here follows a mix of European football teams and American college style (Baseball caps,Varsity jackets). 

In the 6 months since I have arrived I have seen all the trainers take an interest in getting tattooed for the first time or adding big designs to the smaller older ones they already have. The most notable being two of the younger trainers, Kaew and Kong who have been covered in massive hyper masculine tattoo designs in early 2015. The designs they have chosen maintain only the slightest link with the traditional Sak Yant style. As with any youth culture they are progressive, incorporating the influences they have been exposed too. It definitely feels like the prominence of tattoos on the people coming through the gym has effected them. 

An American tattoo artist called Garth arrived at the gym wanting to trade tattoo time for one on one private training time. Garth presented a very affordable option for the trainers and they jumped at the chance. Kong choosing to cover his back with a graphic novel fantasy style rendition of Hanuman (Hindu monkey god) for his first ever tattoo. Pain did not seem to play a part for Kong and he had his back covered in 3 sessions with colour detail to be added in the future.

Kong and his Hanuman back piece.

Kaew is the youngest trainer and was the first to get tattooed. Using excess cash from his fight earnings he had a local studio tattoo his arm with Bamboo. Encouraged by the lack of pain and with Garth's deal on offer he then chose to cover his arm and chest. 

Diving into this machine work he suddenly realised just how painful tattooing can be. So now having signed up to such a big piece he uses Sangsom (Thai Rum) as a pain killer before each session. 

Kaew has chosen a modern take on a Japanese sleeve featuring Koi Carp. I tried to stress to him that he should look into the symbolism of what he was doing and that he needed to get the Koi swimming up his arm. But he is 19, and the tattoos are essentially free, so he didn't listen to me. Unfortunately Garth does not seem to have been as fussed about the symbolism as me and so has tattooed all the Koi (except the one done in Bamboo) swimming down Kaew's arm. As far as my understanding goes, this is bad luck and does not resemble the traditional depiction of the Koi, which should be swimming up the arm. This reflects the story of how a great Koi swam up, against the waterfall of Yellow River in its pursuit of passing through the Dragon Gate and as a result was transformed into a Blue Dragon. This story reflects the pursuit of personal advancement and achievement. The Koi has also come to depict masculine qualities because of its bravery both in climbing the rivers and when the fish is caught it will lie still on the chopping board awaiting the knife much like a warrior facing his own death.

Thai people in general are very superstitious. I wonder if Garth had properly explained the symbolism whether it would have affected Kaew's choice of design. I'm a little disappointed Garth didn't make him more aware.

Also, Koi is the Thai word for 'cock'... so Kaew now has multiple cocks tattooed on him and the other trainers seem to find this massively amusing.

With Garth doing this tattoo trade it has perked an interest in all the other trainers who are now talking about getting gym logo's or fight names tattooed on themselves. We'll see how many go through with it now that Kaew keeps telling them how much it hurts.

It's funny to see these guys who get in a ring and fight every couple of weeks worrying about the pain aspect. You'd think they would be macho tough guys who see it as a challenge but they really never act macho. I guess if you have nothing to prove you can be way more honest.

Next under Garths needle will be Bank. Nephew of Kru Bee. Although not a trainer he has done a deal with Garth and be covering up an older drunken tattoo... a tattoo that words cannot describe... so i'll leave it to a drunken picture...