Koh Pha-Ngan and the Full Moon Party

We took the bus to Laos’ capital, Vientiane, and rested overnight before catching the 14-hour bus to Bangkok. We cannot go without mentioning that our double-decker bus had multi-colored lights and elaborate and quite tacky paintings on the side (it went nicely with the bright pink trim). This was our first overland border crossing—something both of us hadn’t done since separate trips to Tijuana, Mexico. Even though we had to wait and switch to the other side of the road, the transition over the Friendship Bridge and into Thailand went smoothly. We made it to Bangkok at 7 am and were to fly south to Ko Samui the following morning at 6 am. This was our marathon journey down to southern Thailand to make the full moon party on October 26th a few days in advance so that we could secure accommodation and a normal (yea right) sleeping pattern before pulling the infamous all-nighter. Before 5:30 am, we managed to drive 45 minutes out of the way to the wrong airport and make record-breaking time all the way back across the city—just barely making our flight. It was our stressful situation for the week, but hey, we’re in the land of smiles.

By the time we made it to Koh Pha-ngan, it was raining. We have been fortunate to have wonderful weather up to this point so the rain (at first) turned out to be relaxing and tolerable. Somehow we managed to get a bungalow right off the beach at Paradise Bungalows—the original home of the full moon party. While the location was right on Haad Rin, we knew we would pay the price for thumping techno until dawn even days before the main event. A little glimpse into our world on Haad Rin: a bamboo-woven bungalow with fan, cold water, and an abundance of cockroaches, centipedes, and mosquitoes to kill. The toilet “flushes” when you dump water from the nearby bucket into the bowl. One employee goes by Handsome and the other walks around in hot pink fisherman pants with a pet squirrel on a leash. The power cuts on and off sporadically, but the atmosphere was unique and we enjoyed fitting in and making ourselves at home for several days.

Backpackers migrate here once a month to partake in the world’s largest party at that time. The tradition has consumed the island and its popularity has even started up black and half moon parties for those who cannot make that one special day each month. Prices and crowds increase as the date gets closer and the sound of beach party music never seems to leave your head. The most budget beverage of choice here is a Sang Som (Thai rum) bucket. Dozens of stalls and bars sell plastic buckets with a pint of liquor, a can of soda to mix, a small bottle of Red Bull, and about 10 straws (even though no one every uses that many). The key to these buckets is pacing yourself because if you’re not careful, their strength can sneak up on you.

The full moon party kicked off around 9 pm. Fire dancers twirled flames at high speeds, police patrolled the beach, young children sold glow sticks, the main crowd started sipping on buckets, others enjoyed people watching, and the fluorescent colored lights lit up body paint to go along with the insanely loud music. The tide had receded and there was plenty of room to pack on 10,000 or so people around all the action. We both bought matching Nemo hats so that we could keep up with each other. By early morning, some partygoers had called it a night or even opted to pass out on the beach (you know you’ve had too much when you can sleep with thousands of other people dancing to terrible techno). Meanwhile, deceitful lady boys (Thai male prostitutes dressed as women—don’t ask; we don’t understand) are taking advantage of ignorant and intoxicated guys and tons of people from all over the world are dancing to a song that has probably already been played once before. Late into the night we even scored a job behind the bar serving up buckets to the brave and mighty. With the amount of people on the beach at daybreak, you would think it was only 2 am. The gradual light slowly dissolved a party that could have kept going had the sun never risen. Morning, however, was our excuse to sleep, which we didn’t think twice about. We had survived the full moon party and done it well, but it was now time to rest a body that wasn’t used to this rock star lifestyle.