For every Filipino traveler like me, being able to see Apo Whang Od in the flesh and get inked by her is part of the bucketlist. And for a reason: she is the last traditional tattoo artist of her generation and it is a privilege to witness or experience how she executes her art called pambabatok.
Apo Whang od, or Whang-od Oggay Maria, has reached the age of 100 in 2017 according to the people living in her village. She lives on top of a mountain in Buscalan, Tinglayan in Kalinga, located in the northern part of Luzon, Philippines.
Considered as the oldest mambabatok, Apo Whang Od is most famous for her tattoo art. Next would be her habit of grabbing the crotches of her male guests, popular among travelers at least, and her fascination with celebrity Coco Martin.
No issue with the last one whatsoever. She can go gaga over Piolo Pascual or Empoy all she wants, but her crotch-grabbing I had an issue with.
I called out this habit of hers once in my Twitter account before I got to visit Apo. See this screenshot of her kaharutan below:
My concern was double standards. What if a traditional male tattooist did this to female visitors? Wouldn’t that be deemed disgusting, more so scandalous?
I set that idea aside, and instead looked forward to my visit Buscalan and meet Apo. Especially at that time when reports say that her health is already deteriorating considering her age. I badly wanted to get inked by Apo.
Lemuel, my friend from college who is also a traveler, joined me in my journey to get my first ever tattoo courtesy of the famous tattooist. Originally, he didn’t want an ink but I was able to convince him upon arriving there.
Before lunchtime, we reached Tinglayan. Upon unloading from the van, with a pained ass after the long drive, I saw how steep the mountain we were about to hike. That’s where I told myself that I should have taken my cardio at the gym more seriously.
Regrets come last indeed. It was a short yet difficult hike, as I was always catching my breath and taking regular breaks. Our tour guide, who is a female teenager, said it would only take 15 minutes on average to reach the peak but being the inexperienced mountaineers that we are, of course it was longer.