Full Moon Party in Ko Phangan

So, you heard from the last post that we found paradise. It was a crazy journey, but the rewards were well worth the hassle. Our pre-booked (no need...unless we were booking right on the beach of the full moon party) bungalow rocked. The ride over the mountain may have been hairy, but the beach was out of the way and our little hut was right next to the beach. We made friends with our neighbors, Mike and Sheila (from UK, but Mike is originally from Australia). It was great to chill for a bit. We spent just as much money on our motorbike rental for four days as it would have cost us for a taxi ride in the back of a pick-up, there and back. Our first full day, we took a tour of the island and came to the conclusion (after much research) that our beach was the best. We therefore spent the next two days there and no where else. It was so relaxing. Ethan even enjoyed staying put for a bit. We were invited to a great little spot in the jungle by Mike and Sheila. It was not a tourist spot and the traffic they did see from farang was the type of people that found the out of the way spots. The guys that ran it are really cool hippie-Thai-rasta that are into art of all forms and life out in their little jungle getaway.
We ate great seafood, we sunbathed, we drank, and we rested up for our long night at the fullmoon party.

Pre-party with Mike, note the bucket of RedBull, Thai Whiskey, and Coke

The night of the fullmoon party, we loaded up in a longtail boat and got super salty wet on our 1 hour trip to the other side of the island (Hat Rin). Even over the deafening engine of the boat, we could hear the base from the beach as we rounded the bay towards the cove. The lights were crazy wild at all these beach bars and everyone on the boat agreed that we were happy to be staying NOT on this beach but of course excited about the party.


Crazy beach picture...

Hat Rin was about 1/2 mile long with continuous music blaring from each bar onto the beach. There were vendors selling body art, food, buckets of drink, clothes, and of course great music. We wished the DJs were a bit more visible, but besides that we loved the music and the vibe and the whole thing. We danced like rock-stars (I think the redbull helped)...and by 4AM were ready to go back to rest. By then, the beach was full of peope passed out, people pissing in the bay, and boats starting to take people home.


Hat Rin Beach, later that night...

About 5AM, we waded through that cove to our boat and headed back. Just out of the cove, the engine died. Ethan put on his lifejacket and we all sat there bobbing in the open ocean (about 10 minutes) and watched the sun rise over the horizon. What a great way to end a night, start a day.

On shore, Ethan praised me not for missing my bedtime, but also my wakeup time and we went to sleep. It was about 10AM when I woke up covered in bites of some sort, probably from Hat Rin and spent the rest of the day swimming, sleeping, a bit more sunbathing, and relaxing. This was something Ethan had planned over 6 months ago and I was soooo worried that I wouldn't be able to stay up all night, but I am so glad we did it. And once again, the redbull helped.


From Ko Phangan (Nai Pan Yai), we loaded up the motorbike....
and headed back to the wharf. We took a boat to Ko Samui, where we took a flight back to Bangkok. We arrived into BKK after 10PM and our morning flight was at 7AM to Cambodia, so we found a quiet spot (well, it is an airport) and tried to get a few Zzzzz before heading out in the morning.