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Between 1 and 2 am on the 27th Chris Ho, Zai Kuning and Ren visit a
tattoo shop in Orchard Towers.
They hang out with the tattoo artists and their customers. A bar
upstairs has just been raided by the police. Zai and Ren swap the DV
camera between them. Pictures of tattoo designs on the walls. Loud pop
music is playing. The sound of metallic buzzing from various tattoo
instruments is heard on the soundtrack.
A middle-aged Chinese guy on a mobile phone has his ex-girlfriend's name
tattooed to his back. No one is fazed by the camera. A Caucasian guy
comes by for a chat and then shows the camera the tattoo on his bum.
Hello Kitty. Some drinks are passed round. A young man from Sarawak is
getting his first tattoo on his upper arm.
Chris talks to camera about how until recently tattoos couldn't be shown
on TV, but now, when they are, the shows completely fail to capture the
essence of what tattoos are all about. They are all about the moment,
about doing something that's permanent. You may regret it, you may not,
but its about giving yourself to that moment in time.
About 35 minutes into the hour, after more chatting, laughing and
hanging around, Chris takes down his trousers and the tattoo artist
tattoos some Thai words on his penis. At the end of the film, Chris
insists that everyone should visit Bangkok.
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