Thong Lor would seem like it’s an odd place to have a tattoo studio. A tattoo shop is the one thing Thong Lor doesn’t have. It’s become more fashionable to get more tattoos. Before, it was like, only a certain group of people would get them. Most [of what you would see twenty years ago] would be religious tattoos. Now, there are people getting tattoos for fashion and to look good.

What was the first day like?
I get two kids, like two 13-year-old girls, walk in with school uniforms and braces and everything. I’m like, “Oh shit, my first customers!” They wanted to get matching tattoos on their wrists, but didn’t have a clue what they wanted. So I went all Dad on them and told them they were too young and they should really think on it—because a unicorn might not be cool in two years.

What’s the pain like?
It hurts! People always ask me, “How bad is it compared to a pinch?” I tell them, “Man, it’s not even one-tenth of the pain. But it’s not too much, you can take it. After that, you feel so proud.

Do you guys do sak yant tattoos?
Yeah, we do sak yant tattoos, but we don’t give blessings or anything like that. All of them are farang, they came and they give us a specific tattoo. We’ve done about five or six. My friend, a French boxer, he had done four yants. Another guy, British, he got two.

What about all that Culture Ministry talk about how they don’t want these symbols to be commercialized?
I think it seems pretty harsh. Like, the guy that came to me—he’s from England, but he loves Thailand. He loves the culture, everything. He lives here. He even hangs a phra on his neck. Most people that ask for sak yant respect the symbols. It’s a form of art. There are some bad artists, but with good Thai artists, if farangs come in and ask for them in inappropriate spots, then they would tell them a better place to put it.