It had been a tough journey, yet here I was in the remote village of Buscalan in the North Philippine Mountains, about to receive a tribal tattoo from a young woman under the tutelage of the 102 year old living legend, Whang Od. I had heard about this remarkable elder, the last of the “mambabatok”, traditional tattoo artists who use citrus thorns and natural charcoal the way their headhunting ancestors had for 1000 years. On a recent 3 week walkabout in this glorious country, I trekked beautiful Mount Apo in Mindanao, hitchhiked and took buses across Samar, Bicol and Catanduanes provinces. While traveling, I learned of the legend of this woman Whang Od from numerous people and wondered if somehow I could meet her. It was a shot in the dark but with 5 days left
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