My Sak Yant Thai Tattoo Story

My Sak Yant Thai Tattoo Story My husband John had survived five full years in the Royal Navy, many runs ashore with his mates and a close encounter with a tattooist who refused to tattoo a very delicate part of his anatomy one drunken trip to Malaysia. It came as no surprise to me that when I expressed my wish to get a tattoo several times over the years, he always came up with a good reason not to have one.

When we moved to Thailand to live during my contract teaching at the university there, I broached the subject again to him. I had seen an article and a website about Sak Yant sacred tattoos and it really interested me to read about their history and spiritual significance. However, he pointed out that my bosses would definitely frown on me getting one done while I worked at the university. I continued to browse the website designs, which were now on my book marks list on my computer. The designs were so intricate and beautiful, infused with meaning and magic.

Last year, my husband was very ill with cancer of the blood and bone. He told me that he understood the wish I had for a Sacred tattoo, a Sak Yant. He told me to go ahead and get one on my future travels and to pay for the best and get one that was a true work of art.

So a year later and I am back in Thailand, a lone female traveller at the age of 61. Fortunately still very fit and active, I had followed his wishes and gone back to my favourite country, Thailand. There is something so special about this diverse country and its amazing people. I had decided to seek out a Sak Yant Master who was willing to do a Sak Yant tattoo for a woman. Not all of them will tattoo a woman.

 

I had read about the famous temple where you could go at the crack of dawn and form a queue with all the other Sak Yant seeking Nomads who had turned up to get tattooed by the monk on duty that day. Fortunately I read many of the reviews underneath the article and had decided it was not for me. I might just be at the end of the queue and chicken out or I might just get unlucky with the needles used for more than one person in the communal ink pot. After experiencing an emergency landing at Bangkok airport this trip there was no way I was taking any more chance

I started exchanging emails with Paeng at Bangkok ink about their Sak Yant service. It sounded good to me but I am afraid I was very vague as to what I actually wanted. Thankfully she had a huge amount of patience and good command of English and eventually helped me to make a decision and a date was set.