Tattoos today are not only decorative strokes but are also preferred by many people as a way of expressing themselves or marking adulthooda.
Batek (or Bontok, Batok) is a symbol of courage in the Philippines, used to mark the maturity of the person being tattooed. The tattooist will use a needle (gisi) attached to a small wooden stick (pat-ik) to tattoo on the skin the image of animals such as birds, centipedes, lizards...
Sak Yant (or Sak Yan, Yantra) is a type of tattoo worn by tattoo clothing brands monks on ancient warriors to protect and strengthen them during battles in Thailand and Cambodia. Sak Yant tattoo artists use sharp rods made of iron or bamboo (mai sak) dipped in a special ink made from snake venom, charcoal, herbs, cigarette butts and tattooed on the skin. But no one knows the full extent of the actual ingredients in the ink because that is the secret of the monks.