I didn’t book a room on Koh Phangan even though my travel agent in Bangkok warned me that I was certainly going to sleep on the beach there unless I booked one beforehand. “It’s the time of the full moon party and everything is booked,” he said. July 2011 was not only the first time I was travelling alone to a foreign country, but also the first time I was be couchsurfing. So, the travel agent’s words sounded a little scary to me.
But Maria of CS had assured me that I could stay at her place and I was banking on that. And what’s life without some uncertainties? Seventeen hours after leaving Bangkok and tired from an overnight bus and a three-hour boat journey, I stepped on Koh (meaning island in Thai) Phangan, a hilly island in the gulf of Thailand.
Koh Phangan, which is 70km from the mainland, is part of the Samui archipelago, which includes
more than 40 islands. A large part of the 167sqkm island is tropical forest and there are small hills where it is possible to trek and even camp. There is some wildlife in these forests such as monkeys and beautiful birds and the waters around the island are excellent diving grounds with corals.
And of course, there is the world-famous full moon party that takes place on a beach called Haad Rin, south of the island. The full moon party is one of the world’s largest rave parties and attracts between 10,000 and 40,000 visitors, a large chunk of whom are westerners in their gap year.
I met Maria, my German CS host, in front of a departmental store in Srithanu, a hamlet in the north of the island. She lived in a beautiful cottage amidst a lot of green. Another CSr, Pablo, from Italy, was already staying at her place. After a quick shower and lunch, I rented a motorcycle (it’s cheap and a great way to go around the island), and went to check out the party beach with a friend that I had just made — Lana from Bangkok. It was nearly 20km from Srithanu through some villages, the town and the last bit was like a roller coaster over the hills.
The atmosphere on the beach seemed getting ready for the once-in-a-full moon event. There was a football tournament under way and a DJ playing English and Thai numbers. Some people were lazing on the sand, some dancing, some in the water and others racing on water scooters. I came back to Maria’s around 8.30 in the night to find she had five friends over who had cooked lots of different stuff for dinner. We sat in the verandah (we had to block the entrance with a chair to keep the friendly dog out) and had a great time sharing travel stories and dancing to world music with the nearly-full moon shining on us.
The next day, Pablo and I decided to check out a waterfall on the island and Lana came along with us. The Phaeng waterfall had very little water but the hike to it was fun. Later in the day, the four of us explored the Haad Yao and Haad Salad beaches, northwest of the island. We found Haad Salad better because the water had less seaweed in it, but I cut my foot on an underwater rock. At an eatery close to the beach, I tasted pad thai, a typical Thai dish of stir fried rice noodles for the first time and fell in love with it.
The next was the day or the party and the island seemed to be throbbing in anticipation! We went to check out the beach in the morning. Temporary structures had been built along the beach for DJs to set up their consoles. Temporary dance floors, chairs and tables were being set up. A lot of people were sunbathing and swimming and everyone talked about the party.
On the way back, Pablo stopped to buy a hammock from a popular hammock-maker of the area called Mr Moon and I couldn’t resist buying one too. Though it set me back by 1,500 baht, the hand-woven hammock was really comfortable. And Mr Moon told me: “It’s can hold 250kg. You can get in with your girlfriend!”
When we went back to the party beach that night, I was surprised to find the event so well organised despite it having every ingredient of turning into utter chaos. There were security personnel everywhere. There were lifeguards keeping vigil to ensure drunk people did not drown in the sea and there was a fenced area right on the beach set up by an NGO where completely drunk people could just plonk down and sleep.
The entire beach had five or six DJs playing different kinds of music and there were temporary shops lined up all along that sold “buckets” for around 200 baht. Buckets are well, miniature buckets, that have a cocktail of whatever drinks you prefer, the most common of them seemed vodka and Red Bull, along with some straws thrown in. Then, there were local men trying to sell you drugs by whispering “Pills? Pills?” while walking past you.
Many people had their bodies painted with florescent colours. Some had just prints of someone’s palm on their bodies, some men had cheesy messages like, “Body on rent for 20 baht”. Then there were the fire games. The craziest of them was where two persons, standing on high platforms, would swing a long rope on fire in circles and the party-goers had to jump in the middle of the circle. Every now and then, someone fell or got entangled with the rope. People got burnt. But most of them were so drunk that they probably wouldn’t realise that until the next morning!
I hung out with Pablo, Lana and some of her friends for some time and then joined a group of three girls and a guy, who were a lot of fun. I hung out with them until the guy got so drunk he couldn’t walk and we had to carry him out. Two of the girls went to get a motorcycle to take him to his hotel but never returned (I later got to know they got lost. No wonder, they were so drunk!). So, I got him and his girlfriend on a taxi and returned to the beach and hung out with an Italian girl I had met on a taxi that evening, and her brother, before heading back to Srithanu around 3am because I had to catch a boat at 7am.
It’s easy to make friends at the full moon party because everyone is in a good mood and everyone wants to make the most of the experience. When I was leaving, there were people snoring on the beach, men and women peeing into the gulf of Thailand and some making out in the sea.
You may love it or you may find it absolutely disgusting, but at the full moon party, there are no restrictions.
The post is written for us by Danny Raban who loves to travel solo and is a couchsurfer.
