A New Tattoo in Ubon Ratchathani, Isaan Thailand.

Tonight I ventured over to a newish tattoo shop here in Ubon Ratchathani. The shop is near Big C shopping centre, but on the smaller soi where all the food shops are. If you know where the toilets are on this soi, then straight across the road is the tattoo shop. Right next door is an internet shop. Both these shops are owned by family, the internet shop is owned by my sister in law and the tattoo shop is owned by my brother in law.

The tattoo shop opened around 3 months ago. The tattooist is Pean (Pen) and he is a long time family friend. He has 22 years experience and has had shops in Bangkok and Pattaya, but now he is in Ubon Ratchathani. Pean loves it here and is really busy. I have been trying to get this tattoo done for a good 2 months but every time I have free time he is busy.

Pean is incredibly talented, I have seen the tattoos he has produced over the few months he has been here and they are excellent, the best I have seen here in Thailand or abroad. Some of the repairs and cover-ups he has done are amazing. He has a book full of such jobs in different stages in his shop.

Anyway, I had time and so did Pean this afternoon so it meant tattoo time again. I have another one ready as well but that can be next week or the one after that. This tattoo captivated me the first time I came across it. It just grabbed my attention.

I travelled to Japan the first time for my Surf Club, Northcliffe on the Gold Coast of Australia. I fell in love with Japan, not just its beautiful girls but the amazing scenery, places and the people as well. After I returned I wanted to learn more about Japan and its history and I read so much about it.

Samurais always captivated me and I read many books on them. I knew I was always going to get a samurai tattoo one day, but I just happened to stumble upon one drawing that I knew was the samurai tattoo I wanted about 6 months ago.

It is A4 paper size and sits on my right shoulder and comes down towards a dragon I have. I will have me left shoulder tattooed in a few weeks if time permits. Pean took the drawing and made it better, I am blown away with it. If you want to see it in a larger size, just click on the photo.

And this is the finished product, the shading has been done and finicky little touches added. In all it was just over three hours under the needle. I am really gobsmacked by it and look forward to it settling down in the next few days and getting better photos.

I have spent plenty of time looking at the face of the samurai; Pean has captured it unbelievably well. Click on it for a larger size.

I will say it again, Pean is one of the best tattoo artist I have seen in Thailand or abroad. I cannot say how happy this tattoo has turned out.

The bony fingers of the samurai running through the grass have also been captured by Pean, way above my expectations. I cannot wait for the tattoo to settle down and then really get some close ups of the detail.

If you live in Ubon Ratchathani, or are travelling to Ubon and you want or are thinking about getting a tattoo, you cannot go past Pean’s work. It is the best quality you will find anywhere. If you have a tattoo you make covered up or repaired this is your man.

You can ring Pean on 0896262142 (he speaks hardly any English) or if you want you can leave a message here and I could meet you at the shop as it is a 30 second motorbike ride away for me. Tell them I sent you as you might even get a discount off the already stupidly cheap price. Can anyone guess the cost of the tattoo? A full A4 paper size, 4 needles and 3hrs and 20 minutes of work.

He uses new needles each time for a new customer, and he will keep your needles wrapped up in the stencil of the tattoo and your name on it, so when you return for another tattoo, you are not forking out for new needles. (I used 4 different needles for this tattoo and they were cleaned, wrapped in tissue ready for next time)

Anyway I must go as it is 12.30am and I do have to work tomorrow, sadly as that is.

Brunty