Thanks for liking my new tattoo’s photos and all of your support. Much appreciated. If you have ever got one tattoo, you’ll understand what I meant and how I truly felt by saying “I’m happy” looking at Tadashi’s product after 5 hours of sketching and more than two hours working on it. Yes, I’m more than happy.

A lot of you must wonder where I got this idea from, why I chose this traditional design, what the influence was and why I actually made the change on the birds. This note is going to answer all of those questions.

I believe most of my Vietnamese friends know what my tattoo is, the infamous Dong Son drum, but I’d make it clear in this post since a lot of my friends are American who are not familiar with Vietnamese culture. (Don’t hate me, I even think a lot of Viet students out there don’t really know the story of this drum lol. It’s OK. Majority failed in history. It’s been proven.)

Dong Son drums are bronze drums fabricated by the Dong Son culture, in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam, about 2500 years ago.

The patterns on drums bear a realistic style and show stilted houses, dancing people, people pounding rice, beating drums and sailing, together with animal and birds. The scenes depict daily life of ancient Vietnamese and reflect the artistic talent and mind. The drums were used as musical instruments in festivals, such as prayers for rain, for good harvest and rituals, such as weddings and funerals, as well as command in army. They were also used as funerary objects and symbol of power of tribe leaders. (Wikipedia)

I myself got the first chance to see this real drum on my last visit to Champa Museum (Da Nang city - Viet Nam) during my last trip around Viet Nam last July. Professor Vuong must have wondered why I ridiculously stood at one section only for so long. (!)

It was the urge of having something "Viet" on my body that made me keep thinking while I was in the States 9 months ago, 2010. I love tattoos. I always want to get more and more ink on my body but I already told myself that the second tattoo should also be the last one; therefore I'd better get something special I really want.

Once in a while, my friends saw me staring at the computer screen searching for bronze drums. I know many guys in Saigon who are male rockers, rappers or just guys loving arts have the same design of bronze drum in ink, but I bet it's not as difficult as mine because they got the picture of the drum in large size which made it possible for them to get all the small details right.  

Me being a girl – I want something that is small, bold and soft at the same time to reflect my personalities and to fit well on my upper back. Imagine putting this picture on your back and trying to get most of the details right? A challenge right there.

Two weeks ago, I came to Tadashi Tattoo to sketch out my design. It was so frustrating at first to realize how hard it was to pick the details to keep and the details to get rid of. I knew it'd be hard, but really, it got me upset to think that it wouldn't be possible to get the design I wanted. 

While I and Tadashi were all silently staring at the picture on his screen, all of a sudden he said, “Why don’t we let the birds fly out freely, instead of making them stay inside the rings?”

I was like, “Oh my God, anh, that is so true, that is right!”

For less than 10 seconds all these crazy, awesome thoughts ran through my mind, I couldn’t hold my excitement that his idea was just what I always meant to express for so long yet couldn’t find the right delivery. I literally felt like I needed to grasp hard for air.

Thanks @[665429297:2048:Phuong Tran] for helping me fix this <3

Why the bronze drum? I’m proud of the finest artwork of the ancient Viet that proves we’ve had a strong and longstanding culture for almost 3000 years. That is my root. That is the symbol of power of the tribe leaders. That is how my people started.

Why the birds no longer stay inside the rings?

I am the flying bird. I never stay at one place for so long and always strive to see new things, new people and new places. I accept life challenges and wish to be better at everything after struggles. Family offered an easy life and I told them no, let me be on my own road, let me face life, let me fly away.

Among many nice compliments I’ve received, one said “It’s culture with a modern twist. This guy got skill, you got gut and soul.” (Tri Nguyen) It’s one of the reasons why I’m so in love with this design.

Most of the time I feel like I’m the mixture of many things around me: tradition and modern, breakouts and the staying true with the real life values. Doesn’t matter where and how long the birds fly away, they’ll always come back to where they come from, where everything started: the sun that brings life to every creature in this world. Many of you must know I joke about myself sometimes that “The sun loves me ;)”. Well, I do mean what I say.  

Did it hurt?

Really, it hurt. But it’s the pleasurable pain. Only tattoo lovers know what I’m talking about ;) You may see me smiling and talking in my upcoming videos but foreals - I always smile or break into laughters when I'm physically hurt or freaked out. 

How long did it take? Two hours and a half, with 3 breaks actually… I freaked the artist out one time when I fell asleep and dropped my Iphone on the floor LOL

At first, Tadashi said “If anything, don’t get mad at me. This tattoo is really difficult to do. I’ll try my best though…” which sort of scared me. I mean, it’s MY tattoo, I want it to be a beautiful scar… So I crossed my fingers while he’s doing my tattoo until he stopped and said (I think he was smiling too) “Shiet. Beautiful. This is gonna be epic!” A huge relief in my chest!

Take a look. You can still see my blood there haha :) 

I finally got it, my second tattoo and probably the last one. I'm happy and proud of it. Even when my parents see this, I'm gonna ask them, "Wassup dad and mom? Doesn't it look nice that I'm carrying such a piece of art around with me?" 

Much appreciate to my tattoo artist. 

And again, thank you for all of your support.