Ko Phangan: Full Moon Party

We spend the morning and afternoon lazing around the pool and the beach, preparing ourselves mind, body, and soul for the madness of the Full Moon Party. For those of you who have no idea what this means, don’t worry, I didn’t either until recently. The Full Moon Party may well be the most infamous party in all of Asia, and is up there on the list when it comes to the world. Thousands of tourists and Thais flock to the tiny peninsula of Hat Rin on the southern tip of Ko Phangan once a month to party the night away. I know there is a reason why all this started, some Thai tradition dating back to the days of yore and whatnot, but I have no idea what that reason is and neither do 99% of the Full Mooners. According to the vast majority, it is a night of drunken debauchery on the beach with the goal to see the sunrise the following morning (and have the time of your life, of course). I would bet money that less than half of the partiers make it, and of those that do less than half remember it!

Regardless of rhyme or reason, we were ready for the madness to begin. We headed to Hat Rin with the Canadians wearing our Full Moon “gear” (cheap tees and sandals that would most likely be ruined) to meet with Scott and the French. While at dinner, we decided that it would be cheaper if we made our own buckets to preparty with. Quick reminder: buckets are literally plastic sand toy buckets filled with ice, a can of soda, a can of red bull, and a flask of booze. So we got all the fixings for half price and created a few ridiculous drinking games on the spot that involved drinking from buckets and painting neon glow in the dark body art on everyone involved. Needless to say, we got drunk enough to dance and looked the part by the end of an hour.

We arrived on Sunrise Beach on the east side of Hat Rin when the party was in full swing. I’m not sure the Full Moon Party is something that words or photos can do justice, but we will try! There were literally thousands of drunken, half naked tourists and Thais dancing on the sandy shores, buckets in hand, to the blaring techno beats. The party stretched for at least half a mile down the beach, and it looked the same everywhere you turned: the beach party goers were separated from town by a narrow row of bucket shacks with obscenities painted on them in neon colors and black lights above them interspersed with DJs and speakers the size of houses. It was quite literally madness!

We lost Scott, our friend from Cal Poly, within five minutes. He was last seen holding two buckets overhead with a shirt tied around his head like a turban, eyes closed, swaying to the music with a huge, boyish grin on his face. Shortly after Scott disappeared, Adam and Laura went to get a snack, looking slightly overwhelmed by the whole scene but still in full control of themselves. We never saw them again at the party. Somehow, we managed to keep track of Roman and Marie, and we shared buckets and danced with them all night. Throughout our beach wanderings, we ran into our German friends from Kanchanaburi and our Dutch friends from Ko Tao. It was great! And I do have to mention that everyone else’s body paint looked fantastic and artistic and almost professionally done, and we all just looked sloppy, but in the best possible way.

Around 5 am, we decided that there was no way we would make it to sunrise and it was time to call it a night (or day…). We went to the pancake lady for a snack, and found none other than Adam and Laura at the pancake stand! So ironic! We all grabbed a cab and braved the treacherous drive home. All in all, the party was fantastic: so many people with so many buckets and so much music combine to equal shear and utter fun. If you ever have a chance, you should go!

Full Moon Party pictures will be uploaded soon… they are on the other camera in the other room!!!