[Music] the story starts here in the streets of Manila it's one that could only take place in the Philippines gruesome yet beautiful at the same time full of courage and paint it's a story that will take Egon and Charlie to the most remote region of the island group the trip of a lifetime starts here in a dimly lit tattoo studio in Manila [Music] grace Politis uses a bamboo stick and a thorn from a lemon tree to create her tattoos the technique is hundreds of years old grace learned it from her great-aunt a dignified old lady she's old but she's one of the most beautiful women I know and she's an outstanding tattoo artist I hope I can still learn a lot from her her name's one god she's my great-aunt a gern and Charlie really want to meet Wang odd they've already heard so much about her Wang odd is the last of her kind the last tattoo artist of the Kalinga tribe and graces her pupil everyone in bush colin has tattoos women for beauty while the men have to earn this in the past only the brave warriors got a tattoo anyone wishing to meet Wang odd has to travel to the far north of the Philippines to the province of Kalinga [Music] just getting there takes two days it's not a trip for the faint-hearted to this day Kalinga provinces more remote and less explored than any other region in the Philippines Teagan and Charlie are best friends only together do they have the courage to come here the roads will end soon then they'll have to continue on foot for a long time people didn't have the courage to come here the land of the Kalinga the headhunters that's how terrifying the thought of the wild warriors lurking in the bushes was Eagan and Charlie are expected visitors [Music] there's just a narrow path that leads to the village through the jungle first they have to climb down into a canyon then they have to walk half a kilometer up into the mountains they can put a man on the moon the people here say but nobody's managed to build a road to busca lanyard [Music] where it we've been challenging there are some faster ways that you really have to put your foot in front of another or else it'll slip down it's quite a challenge Keegan and his friend Charlie the two visitors from Manila want to meet the one-time headhunters and their unique tattoo art it's an art form that now only exists in the remote mountains and the only real practitioner these days is an old lady why not a tattoo artist but until then until the tattooing gods have other plans for England Charlie a pig is slaughtered in honor of the visitors are [Applause] the guests from far away even welcome here it's all written in the liver of the slaughtered animal according to the people here in Kalinga when strangers visit us I search the liver for secret signs the livers big round and full then everything's ok if it's small or misshapen then that's a bad omen the two strangers are allowed to stay Wang odd decides that the men will get their tattoos the next day [Laughter] the pig has been slaughtered roasted and shared out among the villages [Music] as a thank you the Kalinga performed their war dance there's a custom for everything in Kalinga a rule a ritual for birth and for death for a wedding and for a divorce for the harvest and the hunt and for tattooing [Music] Hwang odd prepares the tattooing process carefully [Music] she gets her needles from right behind her Hut she uses thorns from a lemon tree [Music] a little and make real nails would rust that would result in infections that's why these thorns are so good they're long sturdy and sharp they're perfect for tattooing wang odd mixes the ink from charcoal water and a dash of sugarcane juice that'll make the tattoo especially shiny she marks out the pattern on the skin using a rice stalk Charlie's going first today so far he's not scared at first you would think it it hurts about once you get the feel of the first pinch of the needle or the thorn you'll get used to it well for me it's it's the same it's the same as getting a real pad with the machine and getting the hand ups it's totally the same feeling of course it hurts but you just have to take it not even why God knows exactly how old she is well over 90 at any rate the elderly lady still possesses an elegant beauty she learned tattooing from her father she was a young girl at the time [Applause] there's no school for tattooing you either have talent or you don't when I was young my friends and I tattooed each other they practice on my legs my tattoos were always the better ones [Music] the Kalinga haven't always been so hospitable to visitors [Music] until well into the 1930s strangers had to fear for their lives here the Kalinga had bloodthirsty battles for land and honor with neighboring villages too to deter them the Warriors cut off their opponents heads and were rewarded with magnificent tattoos for the Kalinga they were a sign of courage and strength [Music] the proud warriors of the past are gradually dying off Gorge kassing is one of maybe 30 living warriors with tattoos the main design is a magnificent eagle with huge wings when the young ones were in our favor we went to battle it was man against man we all had a knife the spear and the machete my only thought was about killing my opponent I wasn't nervous at all it was like a duty to me I wanted to protect my village when we got ahead we brought it back to the village and slaughtered a buffalo [Music] the celebratory feasts after the battle must have been quite raucous in the evening fire sent flames into killing as night sky just like a hundred years ago rice liquor was drunk out of the skulls of enemies the victorious warriors danced themselves into a trance to the rhythm of the gangs our gongs the gongs with the human jaw bones still exist there passed on from generation to generation like a treasured heirloom we always celebrated a victorious battle we danced and beat the gongs we know whose jaw this once was but we don't want to say the name that would only hurt the relatives we don't want discord anymore this day's visitors are mainly adventurers from the city Hwang God has spent her whole life tattooing brave head hunters Egon wants a millipede design number one I don't know what to expect but I was excited about the final product this is the first trick I think this is [Music] creating tattoos takes time sometimes days or even weeks because it's so painful long breaks are needed to calm the nerves it's basically repeat though one threshold no one threshold of pain and then it just repeats it's a good that she puts on some more ink because then your skin gets and takes a break ah so and then your nerves I think just exhales go tank up but yes it's very calculated respect Keegan isn't the first to be scared getting a tattoo is torture just as it always has been funny because who would think of submitting to this kind of torture I cannot answer to the other people but for me I think it's a price to pay for bang God once had a proud warrior in front of her he beheaded three enemies but the man couldn't cope with her needle for long I've seen men and women who faint some wet themselves because of the pain that's why you see some people here who still have unfinished tattoos they couldn't cope with the pain isolated from the world for so long the Kalinga have so far been able to preserve their culture [Music] the jeepney brings visitors to the village just a few times a week grace wagons nice is also on board [Music] I'm happy to be home I miss my family and everything that's dear to me there's no shortage of rice maybe there are even some people icon to to the Kalinga gave up headhunting long ago but occasionally they're still trouble with neighboring tribes these days they shoot bullets instead of using Spears and knives but they've always used bamboo and thorns for tattoos a hundred taps per minute the ink mixes with blood but Wang gods needle finds its way with precision you can see it and I think if I can I decided to get this if I can every tattoo has a meaning the millipedes many legs stand for all the people here we have to walk with the same rhythm then we can achieve anything anyone wanting to learn the art of tattooing has to feel it's a the Kalinga they have to experience the pain on their own bodies as for grace she's almost completed to climb up to the village grace started tattooing when she was nine the young woman is still undergoing training where's why not why not became a teacher as an old woman she teaches grace everything passing on her knowledge like an inheritance that's why grace is visiting her home village life in the village is so simple and peaceful the city is just noisy I prefer to live in the village forever [Music] Nature has always protected the people living in the mountains but will the Kalinga be able to preserve their exceptional culture in the modern world some women got their first tattoo at 13 or 14 the more tattoos you have the more beautiful you are the killing you say a tattoo turns a girl into a woman lets her find a husband get married and have children I got my tattoo as a young woman when I was around 20 why did you get tutus we did it because we wanted more sex appeal to be more attractive to the men Whang God never married and she has no children she does everything on her own cooking eating pounding rice and tattooing even at her advanced age my eyesight's still really good I can do as many tattoos as I want but who knows if I'll be able to see this well next year I'll quit when my vision gets blurry why God teaches grace everything how she should hold the bamboo stick what thorns make suitable needles and how to make precise pricks wang odd has often allowed grace to practice on her arm time and again I'm proud that I'm allowed to tattoo I've learned everything I know from Wang odd I'm going to try to be a good tattoo artist I'm happy that someone's continuing this I'd be sad at this artform were to die with me grace is still young she has to learn to work hard and be patient and modest you're doing the tattoo for someone else not for yourself [Music] [Music] [Music] for Eagan and Charlie this was the trip of a lifetime an adventure with the headhunters everyone was so nice coffee and whatever we needed they gave us during the slaughtering of the pigs who even had portions of it then repeat the testicles yeah it's a trip to the mountain it's the way of going up for example the first one is the stairs I go into these the rice fields right and the rice fields of course this is what you see if you go up and then the village and in the protection and then of course does the summit of the mountain and that's the whole people going up I bring a lot of ink and a blog a lot of pain it's a rewarding but painful blood-soaked trip to the Kalinga sometimes keeping a culture alive involves pain [Music] you