If anything, I’d wish to relive this moment again and again ❤️ This months issue of
@voguephilippines features mambabatok legend
@apowhangod (at 106 years old, she’s their oldest cover model, EVER!) and I couldn’t feel any prouder to be a Filipina 🇵🇭
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✨STORYTIME✨
When I finally went back to the Philippines in January for my pre-birthday vacation, I was adamant about making the trek to pay homage to this goddess and hopefully receive the 3 dots that she taps onto visitors that make it to her village. ⚫️⚫️⚫️
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And let me tell you, there is no sugarcoating this journey. 😅 An 11 hour overnight drive from Manila (with a private hire van!), bumpy and windy roads (hello, carsickness!), and a 45-60 minute hike up into the Tinglayan mountains, and we arrived just to be told she wasn’t tattooing anyone that day because they were throwing a party for a family member 😅🥲
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Luckily we were welcomed and made comfortable by our homestay host (S/O Tita Belen!), and after a cold “shower”with buckets, we received our first batok tattoos from the new generation of protégés of Apo.
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The next morning, we received the bad news that Apo had partied too hard the night before & wasn’t feeling well, and at her age they were considering taking her to the hospital. 😥
After several hours of waiting patiently she said she felt well enough for photos. And after meeting us (you can see she’s VERY lively 😂) she told our tour guide she would only tattoo the 3 dots on our group of girls that day 🙏🏽🫶🏽
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This year I’d love to make the trek again to be tattooed next by
@palicasgrace . Buscalan will always have a piece of my heart, and now it will forever be on my skin. A mark of beauty from a living legend herself. So grateful to have shared this experience with my loves
@sarahvee.asia @ariellehill @ssamantha.jo ❤️ Immense and infinite gratitude to everyone who made my birthday this year unforgettable 🙏🏽
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#vogue #voguephilippines #apowhangod #mambabatok #filipina #explore #buscalan #itsmorefuninthephilippines
