Day 24 - Full Moon Party!

As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, we had the good fortune (or misfortune) of having our trip to Koh Phangan coincide with the notorious full moon party. It originally started off in the 1980's (according to wikipedia) with about 20 - 30 travellers having a good time and has now evolved into a huge all night rave party with 20,000 to 30,000 party goers descending on a strip of beach with about 8 different bars playing different types of dance music. We didn't even know there were that many different types of dance music!

We spent the morning on the beach and made sure to stock up on some drinks. That afternoon we had a good sleep so that we didn't fade early and we also had a strong cup of coffee. Our taxi to the party was only leaving at 10:00 pm so we had some time to spare. When we walked to the shops to buy some ice we noticed that everybody was decked out in bright lumo singlets and matching pants. They all looked totally ridiculous but the peer pressure was starting to get to Luisa and I caught her asking the lady in the shop how much one of the vests were. When we got back to the bungalow we filled a plastic bin with ice and put all our drinks in there to cool down. It didn't help much so I just started drinking the beer over ice. The guy in the bungalow next to us was playing guitar and occasionally he would break out a recorder and play some haunting tunes. After one rendition we decided to give him a round of applause and invited him over. His name was Valentine and he was from Austria. He had been travelling in India for 6 months and that's were he learnt to play the recorder and where he learned to smoke hashish. Very interesting.

We left for the full moon party and in the truck with us were 6 guys from Singapore. They were really friendly and we had lots of laughs on the 40 minute drive to the party - we made the wise decision in staying on the other side of the island! When we eventually arrived in Haad Rin there was an amazing buzz in the air and it felt like New Years Eve. Everybody was in party mode  and the streets were absolutely packed with people (all wearing lumo clothing of course). We made our way to the beach and when we eventually found it, it was madness. There were literally thousands of people in various stages of inebriation dancing on the beach and on stages and generally having a good time.

   

We walked up and down the beach just to get a feel for the place and every now and then we would dance to a song or just watch some of the goings on. The beach was also lined with small stalls selling "buckets". These are basically small plastic buckets that they pour a nip of your poison of choice, red bull, a can of coke and then top it up with ice. A great way to get you into party mode. We decided to give them a skip. Apparently there were also stalls selling magic mushroom shakes.

Another favourite place of ours was the bars that had some form of fire jumping. This is a ring of rope that they douse with paraffin and light and then hold it up for some of the braver party goers to jump through. We liked it because not everybody was sober enough to make it through unscathed!

At some of the bars, especially those playing the more hectic dance music, some people looked they were on cloud 9 and there were some really strange people floating around. At around midnight it started pouring with rain. We danced in it for a while until we were sopping wet and then decided to protect the camera and find some shelter. When the rain stopped we would just take strolls along the beach to watch all the very amusing antics. Hours flew by and at around 3:00 am we decided we were ready for our beds. Our Singaporean friends had said that they would organise us a lift back with them and as we were wandering around the streets we spotted them. They were very well oiled and gave us a huge hello and then broke into Shakira's Waka Waka song. I think they thought it was the South African national anthem.One of the guys was a fire fighter and grabbed both our arms in a firm grip and said ""it is my duty to preserve life and property and I will lead you to safety!". He then almost dragged us to the spot where the van back to our beach was.

It was an awesome night and we collapsed onto our beds knowing that what we had experienced was a once in a life time party, or once a month if you live on Koh Phangan :)

Phil