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...