I love tattoos. Not so much til I have to be covered head to toe with tattoos, but yeah I love tattoos. I love coming up with ideas on how my tattoos should look like, I love the sound that the needles make, I even love the pain and that weird sense of euphoria while getting inked.

I got my first tattoo back in 2001. I had wanted to get one for the longest time. And it was like a cruel joke when Ernesto made me wait for a year before he honored me with his work. It even has become a tradition to talk about how I got mine done every time the two of us meet up.

Initially, I had wanted a Japanese lotus flower inked onto my lower back (I was into many things Japanese back then). But he suggested, since I'm afterall Sarawakian, I should get one that represents me being a native. So he suggested a tribal hornbill design instead.


I was only in Kuching for 3 days, which was spent mostly hanging out at Ernesto's studio. I fell asleep on his couch and suddenly he woke me up and said,"Hey, your design's done. Take a look at it and when you're ready, we'll start".

Drowsy and dazed from sleep, I was like,"Huh? Are you serious?"

So I took a look at the original designs he had for me. One was the hornbill he mentioned and the other, I can't seem to remember because I didn't like it. This is one of the reasons why it's very important to choose your tattooist. You want an artist who is not only creative, but very flexible to work with. I'm sure everyone has their own reasons behind their inks, but I absolutely cannot have my design picked from a portfolio. Mine has to be an original. The idea of someone out there having the same tattoo as mine would just kill me.

Also, you shouldn't be stingy when forking up the moolah for tattoos. It doesn't hurt in the long run to pay a lil bit extra for a good tattooist as your tattoos stay with you for life. And having a world class tribal tattooist do it for me, I knew I was in good hands.