It’s early morning and I’m wandering around a dirt market with the light shining through the holes in the tarps and umbrellas. They’re covering old men and women selling their wares – everything from sex toys to packs of cigarettes, antiques and arts to toys for their kids; everything you can think of is being sold here.

Even tattoos?

So I’m wandering around and after a couple of hours I bought some interesting things including a glass bead made to look like a panda! I thought it would be really cute but now I’m starting to get hungry so I went around the edges passing by one old lady that’s selling a single toy for some odd reason and I eventually get to the edges where the restaurants are.

I feel like noodles or maybe donkey burgers – yes I said donkey burgers, they are absolutely delicious and highly suggest you try them – but as I’m wandering I see right in the corner what looks like a tattoo gun and I think now that can’t mean tattoos in a Chinese dirt market? Where everything is covered in a patina of dust but I was wrong.

I quickly pop my head in and say “hello it’s a young gentleman”, he smiles back and he’s tattooing a big fat Chinese man. I look over to see what he’s getting tattooed on him and it’s a big Dragon. How cliché but I like it! Still he stops, shakes my hands, and drops the butt of his cigarettes onto the floor. I laughed thinking how that would not be allowed in Canada then I get going to find my food, eventually getting myself a nice bowl of soup with a nice cold beer.

As I’m eating it I can’t get over the tattoo shop, it’s stuck in my head. Fast forward to the night as I’m teaching my hosts about something I just can’t get that tattoo place out of my head, so I decided I’m going to go and get tattoo from there. I decided not to tell my mom or my dad or anybody really because it sounds crazy!

That night I fall into a deep sleep where I dream I’m a banana…it was an odd dream but eventually I wake up, stretch and roll out of bed still thinking about that tattoo shop. I realise that I have the day off so quickly run back to the market, determined. There’s the same old lady selling the same weird toy which made me wonder how much money she makes. Probably not alot…but I passed her not thinking too much at the time and go to the tattoo parlour. The gentleman greets me with a smile again.

Now it should state that I did not speak Mandarin Chinese at this time so it’s basically Google translate – yes I’m getting a tattoo through Google translate!

I asked him if everything is safe and he shows me that the needles are completely new and everything is sanitised. I’m not quite surprised he seems like professional man and then I start asking how much it would cost for me to get a tattoo – now if you’ve ever seen a photo of me you’ve noticed I’m white and a lot of Chinese people believe that means I must have a lot of money. I’ve never haggled for a tattoo but this time I try; I told him I want my whole left side and my shoulder done. He smiles and says one thousand dollars! I told him I can’t do that so we go back and forth for a couple minutes until I get down to about 400. I think to myself that’s really cheap so I agree.

Then comes the difficult part, but I knew what tattoo I wanted to get on my shoulder – a Maple leaf. But I also wanted to get a tattoo that represents China. Not a dragon or Chinese symbols or food, I wanted something that has always been an interest for me in Chinese philosophy so I started looking over some cool paintings of some Chinese philosophers, and eventually after talking to the tattoo artist he tells me that there’s this old painting of a Chinese philosopher sitting under a tree. He shows it to me and I instantly fall in love.

He told me what days are free so we set it up – it’s a week from now. I told him I wanted it to be done in one sitting, he agrees and I leave the tattoo parlour excited knowing that I’m maybe doing some crazy stuff! Fast forward to the day I get tattooed my friends tag along as they are interested to see what it’s like to get a tattoo in China.

We’re laughing and giggling, and eventually make to the tattoo parlour. They look at it and realise that it’s in a dirt market, making them wonder if it’s safe. I tell them it’s going to be fine.

The gentleman sits me down on the chair, tells me to relax and starts tattooing. It feels fine and I’m not too fussed about the pain but I later realised he’s doing it free hand. The whole thing! He has a picture of the painting and is just drawing it on me. It’s amazing! He tried having a stencil but it smudged so now I’m watching in amazement as he is tattooing me and it’s funny that the people that came with me are laughing and chatting with me and the tattoo artist. This little girl is running around tattooist who is chain-smoking and it’s an odd situation but I love it. Hours pass and the two girls leave to go for lunch. The tattooist is slowly and methodically working and I can see the painting come alive on my side. Eventually he sits me up and tells me to look. I look in the mirror and I’m about to cry – it’s beautiful. All the blood and sweat was worth it!

He tells me that it’s time for a break this time so I’m sitting down and having a beer, I can’t complain as the beer is totally good. I ask him if he wants one as he pulls a cigarette out of his mouth, he’ll have one this tattoo. It was quick and only takes about an hour then he sits me up, take some photos and says thank you. I give them a quick hug for the great job he did and off I go.

The sun is setting, people are still selling stuff and the one old lady is still there, she’s sold some of her merchandise and seems happy – just as happy as I am.