Editors' Pick
Editors' Pick
PH Cultural Treasure Named Apo Whang-Od
THE CENTERIAN hand-tap tattoo artist Apo Whang-od is a living cultural treasure from Kalinga, Philippines, who has single-handedly transformed global heritage tourism.
Deep in the mist-shrouded Cordillera mountains, a tiny village of stone and thatch holds the world’s most exclusive ink. Buscalan, once a remote tribal outpost known only to intrepid mountaineers, is now the epicentre of a global tourism phenomenon.
At the heart of this movement is Apo Whang-od, a centenarian traditional tattoo artist, or mambabatok, whose weathered hands carry the...