Koh Phangan, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Koh Phangan is famous for their Full Moon parties. Additionally, many other moon festivals are celebrated here such as Shiva moon, black moon, half moon, etc (any excuse to party here!). Myself, Sera and Sally from the diving group, along with 2 other people, Michelle and Michael, all took the afternoon ferry to Koh Phangan to make it for the half moon party that night. We stayed in Coral Bungalows, a posh hotel right on the water with air conditioning, big beds and a resort style pool, all for 500 baht (about $16). We bought glow paint and painted each other’s bodies at the hotel to get ready for the party. We took a taxi to the venue, which was in the think of the jungle. Upon walking up, we saw massive multi-tiered stages, black lights, large decorations, the works. Everyone was decked out in paint and glowing under the black lights. It reminded me of the outdoor raves I used to go to when I was younger. The DJ played killer house and electro music. There were also many local fire dancers performing. I was able to borrow fire poi from them and did some spinning on the stage
. Sadly the music stopped at 2am due to a new government rule but we hung around for a while after before going back home. Michael and I were still wide awake, so we took his guitar down to the beach. He played and I sang until it started getting light outside. I slept a few hours and met everyone at the pool that overlooked the ocean. It was so relaxing and a perfect way to spend the day after our crazy night. At night we went to Had Rin beach to check out the beach bars. We ended up at Cactus, where they played many games throughout the night including balloon popping, fire limbo and arm wrestling. I watched a girl beat two in a row in the arm wrestling and thought to myself that I could take her. I walked up to challenge her, the whistle blew, and her arm went down in 2 seconds flat. I had 5 more matches and they all ended up the same until I got beat by the 6th . For winning I got free drinks for all of us. The most popular form of drink comes in a bucket (alcohol, ice and mixer). There are rows of vendors trying to get you to buy a bucket at their stand, offering plastic jewelry and holding signs for free shots and even free hugs! The next night I found my favorite place on the island, Treehouse Bar. This was, as you might guess, a bar made out of a large tree house. Hanging out in the hammocks, overlooking the ocean and listening to Bob Marley and Jack Johnson as the breeze comes up from the shore has made for many perfect days here. There is also an amazing view at sunset. Sera and Michelle had to take off to their next destination, while Sally and I decided to stick around for the full moon party on the 18th
. After they left I went to Treehouse by myself to do some writing and I met two lovely guys named Ariel and Tiago. Ariel was from Israel and Tiago was from Brazil. Both of them were traveling alone but are neighbors at the hotel. There was a pool party at Coral Bungalows that evening so the 4 of us went together. The party was like something I had seen on MTV Spring Break. The place was packed with young people drinking, playing games, dancing and swimming. Needless to say, it was pretty fun and it didn’t start to die until about 4am. Ariel and Tiago had motorbikes and the next morning they took us to the Paeng waterfalls. We cruised around the islands and on the way back I watched the sunset from the back of the bike. The next day Christa from our diving group came to Koh Phangan to join us for the full moon party! We had room in our place so she was able to just crash with us and split the cost. The night before full moon was crazy on the beach. Everyone was pumped for the big party the following night and so were we. Sally met a great guy named Roi at half moon and ran into him again at the beach. Sally, Roi, Christa, Ariel, Tiago and I bar hopped down the beach and ended up at a foam party at the end. Large suds were heaving out of a big machine, piling onto the sand and floating around the whole area- it was awesome! I was completely drenched from the soap and from dancing all night. Sally and I took a motorbike taxi back together to our bungalow. We were a little unsure of having 3 people on a bike, but I’ve seen much crazier done here (including a bike with 4 people, a chicken, and one person holding an IV bag!) but we told him to drive slowly and all was well
. The next morning was the day of full moon party! All of us were so excited. We spent the day relaxing at tree house and then painted each other up with some matching designs in the evening for the party. It was 100 baht to enter and we got a cool souvenir bracelet. After buying our bracelets we walked onto the beach; it was completely packed. My senses were on overload from the mass of people, all the lights, music etc. The whole beach was completely lit up and each bar played different music. It was a little hectic at first, but then we found a place with some house music that we convened at for a while. There were tons of stuff to do, including a giant slide with a fire hoop at the end which was pretty fun. I wanted to get right into the heart of it, so I grabbed Sally I grabbed Sally and Krista and we jumped up on stage, joining the mass of other high energy and sweat pouring painted bodies going nuts to the pumping music. The party lasted until sunrise but by that time Tiago and I had lost the group and he had to catch a ferry at 6am, so I walked back with him to see him off. We planned on meeting up again in our travels and he invited me to Brazil when I go back to South America. Christa and I ran into each other on the way back to the room and finally got into bed around 7am. We woke up at 3:30pm and couldn’t believe how much we had slept. 10 minutes later Sally came in the door from staying at Roi’s. The next day was our last day so we decided to take a boat trip around the island. We went on what was called the “Munchies Tour”, a full day trip that took us to some of the most beautiful beaches on the island. It also included lunch, a trip to the waterfalls and snorkeling. At the waterfalls there was a small crevice in the rocks. Our tour guide, Chris, said we could go in and climb inside the rocks to the top of the falls. Myself, Sally, and another Aussie girl named Tally were up for the challenge. It was a really small crevice to clear and there was a current pushing us back out but we conquered it like champs. After the waterfalls we had lunch and went snorkeling. After a few more stops at some beautiful beaches we cruised back to the pier, watching the sunset. We took Tally and her mate with us to dinner, ordered tons of Indian food and absolutely stuffed ourselves. Feeling full and happy, we hauled ourselves back to Treehouse to have one last night at my favorite place.
