Apo Whang Od is reported to be 109 years old and the last of her kind. She’s never without her signature red lippy and her ‘ghetto granny’ style. She likes to grope her male customers and she truly does have the most infectious giggle. You’ve no doubt seen the viral videos on Insta or TikTok, but what is it really like to get tattooed by the last Mambabatok?
In all honesty you’re unlikely to get tattooed by Whang Od herself
One thing you need to understand right off the bat is that this is no poor old lady. Apo Whang Od is a millionaire. She’s been charging ₱300 for a tattoo and ₱100 for a photo for years. A tattoo by Whang Od takes less than 5 minutes and the lady hardly takes a break once she’s started. Add in a photo and in 5 minutes this not so frail old woman has earned ₱400 (€5.60). She can do 15+ people an hour, depending on how she’s feeling.
An average day for Whang-od Oggay is anywhere in the region of ₱36,000 to ₱44,000. She usually does 7 days a week when she’s feeling good. This means weekly earnings of ₱252,000 (€3,685) to ₱308,000 (€4,505). By the time you do the maths for her monthly and yearly earnings, you can easily see how she became a millionaire.
While she still lives pretty frugally, money is not missing. We caught her as she was leaving the village to go see her sister. She made ₱1200 taking photos for 5 minutes and then jumped into her private minivan with blacked out windows. Gangster granny indeed!
This financial freedom means the freedom to just not give a shit. If she isn’t feeling well or if she just isn’t vibing that day, she simply doesn’t work. She goes to see her family for 5 days at least once every 3 months – usually during the week. The knock on effect being if you’re DIY or with a guide who has little idea what they’re doing, you will likely miss Apo Whang Od. It is galling to arrive and realise this epic journey you’ve undertaken is for nothing. So my advice is to go with a knowledeagble guide or a reputable tour.
Recommendations for local guides and tours can be found in my how to make it to Buscalan guide.
Speaking of the journey …
It takes at least 13 hours to get to Apo Whang’s village from Manila
There are a couple of routes to get to the Whang Od tattoo village of Busacalan, Kalinga, but for this post I’ll stick with the easiest, most direct.
- 10 hour overnight bus ride to Bonton, Mountain Province
- 1.5 hour jeepney to Tinglayan, Kalinga
- Drop off and Check-in at Bugnay Junction
- 20 minute habel habel to Buscalan jump point
- 20-30 minute hike to Buscalan village or 90 second cable car.
There is A LOT of waiting around
When you arrive at the jump off point, you’ll meet and pay for your guide. This person will be your point of contact the entire time you’re at Buscalan, and you’ll probably sleep at their homestay. At the moment you get your guide, you’ll get your number. This dictates what position in the queue you hold. We got number 4 – this was before it became apparent Apo Whang Od was leaving.
Once you have your number and your guide, you head up to the village and settle in to your homestay. You’ll probably be given a ton of rice and coffee while you wait your turn. Our host Joyce orgnised everything for us – our 3 dot tattoo with Elyang, our more intricate batok tattoos done by Espie and Udai, our tour of the village to see Apo’s house and meeting the oldest villager – 116 year old Apo Pas Ad.
As we went on a weekday we only had to wait 4 hours for the ladies to be ready to tattoo. Joyce told us that some people can wait all day and not meet Maria Whang Od Oggay until 19:30, when she’s finishing up for the evening. It can be a long day.
Your local tattoo shop it most definitely is not
This is possibly the most important of the information I can share about my exprience. It is DIRTY! Getting a tattoo in Buscalan means waving goodbye to any idea of sanitation. Gloves aren’t used – with the exception of Elyang and Grace. Designs are mapped out with a blade of dry grass. The thorn ‘needles’ are single use these days, but that matters little when the bowls of ink and the vaseline are communal.
💡 Top tip: Make sure you bring your own supplies to shave beforehand. The ladies won’t do it for you.
The artist will tap away, wipe off blood with a wetwipe, leave that on the wall where countless others, and inded the mice have been, and then repeatedly use it until it’s too full to use anymore. The charcoal ink (soot from burned wood and water), in the cocunut shell is repeatedly used until there isn’t any left.
Once your tattoo is finished the remaining ink is left to dry in the shell and then reused again by adding water. This means plenty of blood covered fingers have been in that pot time and time again.
The technique used by the ladies is to dip a finger in the ink, wipe that on the pomello thorn and then hammer it into the skin. The risk for blood born infection is incredibly high! The same finger is then dipped into the pot of vaseline and applied to the skin when the tattoo is finished. Vaseline pots are often shared amongst the ladies.
Reportedly its worse with Apo Whang Od who has been known to reuse the wipes on different people. The young lady, Evelyn, who tagged along with us to meet Whang Od Oggay had bought her own wet wipes just to avoid this. But was shocked to see the practice of sharing ink and the infection risk that goes with it.
And then there are the chickens, the mice and the children
Yes, indeed. While the sharing of ink, vaseline, wipes and possible blood borne infection may seem the worst. It was in fact the sight of the mice wandering around that really got to us. The chickens peck around the ground at your feet while you’re having a thorn poked into your skin. The ladies reguarly have to stop tapping away as a child comes careering a little too close for comfort. And the mice are darting in and out of the cloths oblivious to everything going on around them.
It is chaotic. It is utter pandemonium and hilariously good fun. You have to come to Buscalan with the mentality that it will be unlike any tattoo you have ever had before.
Poor Evelyn spent the evening in tears because her design wasn’t as flawless as she wanted. We tried to chat to her and remind her that it was made with a grass reed designs and completed as a bunch of dots done with a thorn, ffs! But she just wasn’t consolable.
And that is what you need to keep in mind when you go. Your batok tattoo is never going to look like a tattoo made with a printed, traced design and a needle that punctures 50 to 150 times a second.
It will be rough and there may be a mistake or two, but that adds to the charm and the authenticity of a handpoke tattoo. It will never be as saturated or as neat. If that’s not for you, don’t go to Buscalan for a tattoo. And don’t be like Evelyn and plan to fix it up at home – that’s just insulting.
You will begin to feel like a walking ATM
Sending your bags via the tram is ₱50. A picture with any of the elderly residents is ₱100. You’re encouraged to spend as much as possible at their little souvenir shop where items start at ₱50 for a sticker – I will say that they do have some cool merch and a keyring of your chosen tattoo design is pretty awesome. That extra egg you have with breakfast is ₱30. Your dinner, if you have something other than rice is another ₱200. The offer of help with your bags is another ₱150.
While I agree with paying your way, and supporting a local economy that has very few other ways of making money. And one that is clearly spending what they do make on infrastructure. It does get tiring constantly being asked for more, and feeling like there are few opportunities for genuine interaction and kindness beyond what you’re paying for. It all feels superficial.
The 3 dots cost ₱300 whether you have them done by Maria Od Oggay herself or one of her apprentices Elyang Wigan or Grace Palicas. The thorn needle also has a set price of ₱150. What can drastically differ is the cost of one of the other designs. I chose the simple fern representing fertility and female strength. At the jumping point the price given was ₱750. Once in Buscalan village I ended up paying ₱1700. Price gouging here is a very real problem.
That gift for Apo Whang Od will be thrown
I too fell into the trap of panic buying a red lippy to present to the magical lady. Luckily our guide Joyce mentioned that she has her favourite, and hundreds more from all over the world – YSL, Chanel, Guerlain. You name it she has it. So the last thing she needs is yet another stick to add to her collection.
The kids are suffering too. So many people bringing are sweeties for the little ones, that tooth decay is starting to be a big problem. Joyce advised against bringing chocolates and candies for the littlies. And suggested bringing the following instead:
- Cute toothbrushes and toothpaste
- Magazine and sticker books
- Toys and games that can be played by multiple children
- Items of clothing – like local football shirts
- Footballs
- Local speciality souvenirs from your country/area
We took biscuits from the island of Burano, a carnival mask fridge magent and a postcard from Venice with a note thanking Joyce for her hospitality. She loved it!
Healing the viral tattoo can take FOREVER!!
Most tattoos done by needle, and even handpoke tattoos done in a studio, will usually be fully healed within 28 days. A batok tattoo can take twice as long to heal. After 2 weeks my tattoo was still peeling and raised. After 1 month it didn’t look all that different – it was still raised and angry. It was around the 2 month mark, after I had begun to gently exfoliate, that it really started to look ok. Interestingly the dots were worse than the fern design. Total healing time was 3 months.
My husband on the other hand was healed by the 5 week mark. His looked flawless whilst mine was still bumpy, raised, peeling and angry. Moisturising doesn’t work the same either. Normally an angry tattoo can be soothed by an overnight mask of heavy duty moisturiser. My anti-psoriasis moisturiser did nothing for my batok tattoo. Only vaseline seemed to have any sort of effect on the dryness, and only when applied every 2 hours. It was a battle!
Don’t be put off by the negativity
Everything I’ve mentioned here – the constant hassling for money, the infection risk, the chaos of the tattooing, the likelihood of not getting Apo Whang Od herself, all fades into oblivion when you’re done. When you’re sat with a cup of hot coffee overlooking the rice terraces swirling with fog, listening to the pitter patter of the rain, with your shiny new artwork it will all feel worth it. It is such a peaceful place and in those quiet moments you can truly see the spirituality behind the viral tattoo.