Full Moon Party

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There was no way we were getting up on time after last night’s Thai birthday bash. We got up probably half an hour too late and when we were packed and ready to go, there was no sign of Mr Tawee at the restaurant, maybe he had had one bamboo bong and one whiskey too many last night. His wife informed us we had missed the 9’0clock bus and would have to wait until ten; plenty of time for breakfast then we thought. Mrs Tawee prepared us bolied eggs and toast and for Verity Fruit, Yoghurt and museli. It was brought to us with a big smile and a hug for Verity, we really did feel like part of the family and we really didn’t want to leave! I think Mr and Mrs Tawee were our Thai Mum and Dad. Mr Tawee eventually showed up all smiles and laughing, asking if we had a good night, we poked fun at him saying “you don’t smoke weed hey Mr Tawee….only Whiskey!” there were giggles all round as we piled into the back of the pickup truck. I took a last glimpse back at our jungle abode and its residents as we headed off down the dusty track. The mini bus was already waiting when we arrived, we hugged Mr Tawee and thanked him for everything and he pretended to grab Verity’s arm and take her with him, we all laughed as we boarded the bus. We all felt genuinely sad to leave and as Mr Tawee gave popped his head around the door to say one last goodbye. He stood there a few seconds with the sign advertising his bungalows, but everyone that arrived on the bus got into another person’s truck and zoomed off. Mr Tawee threw the sign into the back of his van and that’s the last I saw of him as we headed off up the road. If only more people would stray out of the main tourist area and stay at Mr Tawees, I’m sure they would be in for a much better experience. But as he said no one understands why his accommodation is so cheap and they think there is going to be something wrong with it, when really it is the complete opposite. He really needs to get himself out there a bit more. The most I can do, is tell every traveller heading that direction to stay at his, because there is nowhere else to review this fantastic place. My ponderings about Mr Tawee were soon halted by the crazy bus ride. I thought I would be used to the Thai style driving by now, but it has my stomach in my throat everytime.





I was glad to arrive in Surat Thani 2 hours later. We didn’t have to wait long for the coach from the travel agency that would take us to the ferry and it was a pretty short hour long journey, at a normal speed for once! We arrived at the ferry and managed to grab one of the few remaining seats, by forcing ourselves past a grumbling man and sliding onto the seats, just beating another man to it. The Ferry took around two and a half hours, which passed incredibly quickly, as I had a nap. Once off the ferry we had no problem finding our free shuttle truck to the Haad Grauud Resort, which is about 20 minutes from the pier, on the North West side of the island. The roads were crazily hilly and there was nothing but dirt leading down off the main road to the resort! Good job they had a 4x4! It was incredibly steep and we were bouncing all over the shot. We were shown to our bungalow, which was pretty reasonable for the price. They were pretty enclosed in the the area they called ‘The village’ but there was still a good atmosphere. Our room had a large double bed and a single for Verity. It also had a bathroom with a toilet that lacked a flush..nice. But it could have been worse for just 400B (8punds) between us. After settling in we nipped to the beachfront restaurant and tried to choose a seat that wasn’t directly under a coconut tree. The food was also a reasonable price with good portions. I had a spicy cashew nut and beef dish with all stir fired vegetable in it, which was pretty good.





We then got ready for the full moon party and made the incredibly steep and unlit walk to the 7/11 to pick up some samsong and redbull . We had heard the ‘buckets’ were a bit of a rip off, so we had decided to make our own. We chilled outside out bungalow, drinking and chatting until about 1am. We then headed to the reception to order a taxi. “Last taxi was at 11” said the extremely unhelpful manager, who was incapable of making any other suggestions; probably because he was constantly high on the copious amounts of weed he smokes. Then came an Australian voice “Just go up to the road you can flag one down there” ..”Thanks” we said, simultaneously giving Mr unhelpful a look. We moaned about him the entire way up the road. It was like he got joy out of the thought we might miss the full moon party. Idiot.





The taxi truck to the party took a good hair-raising half hour. And the first thing we saw as th taxi pulled up were people lined up along the walls, looking worse for wear. We grabbed a bucket that turned out to be only 300B and paid the 100B entrance fee each. Someone had told us not to pay the fee and to just walk past, but that just turned out to be an epic fail! The woman grabbed Verity’s arm and insisted we pay. When we pointed out a Thai woman hadn’t paid for a wristband she just started squealing about how she was Thai and she was allowed to in for free! Whatever, we said, reluctantly accepting that as tourists, we are going to get ripped off everywhere we go in Thailand. The narrow streets were filled with stalls selling all sorts of full moon party tat. We eventually found our way down onto the beach which was full of people covered in UV paint etc. There were lots of stages all playing different music and we made our way down gradually, stopping to dance at several stages. At one point there were some crazy Malaysians covered in UV paint, that were dancing with us! It was all very light hearted and everyone was in good spirits, nothing like what I expected after reading Lonely Planet and all the terrible things that happen at the Full Moon Parties. I think you just have to be a complete retarded idiot, that has drunk WAY too much, to get yourself in any trouble. All way well until we went down a lethal looking slide that would never in a blue moon, pass a health and safety check in Uk. The slide had virtually no sides, and fire at the bottom. A guy at the top, chucks water down it so you can pick up some real speed, shoot off the end and land on a crash mat. I forgot to mention you have to climb up a cargo net, drunk, to reach the top. The first slide was fine, with just me and Verity. But when some other guys insisted we all go down together, I knew it was a bad idea! We all squashed on, and as we slid and came flying down onto the crash mat, it felt like my ribs were about to crack with the weight of the guy behind me. But this was soon forgotten about, when I looked over and Verity was bunched up on the floor holding her knee. She had caught her foot in the mat on the way down but the people behind her just carried on going and so her knee got wrenched around. At first all I could think was she had broken it by the way she was reacting. Everything stopped and people crowded round to help her onto a hair. After a minute I think she realised it wasn’t broken, but it was seriously injured. We headed to the medical tent but Verity insisted it felt better.





There was plenty of entertainment for the rest of the night as people gradually fell asleep on the beach and people piled cans of rink and food on top of them. There were also some bizarre characters, like a huge Swedish Man that insisted we all come to his hotel for a swim. We also bumped into one of Ste’s friends from home; Sarah Devine and she told us to get in contact and she would show us around the island. We danced and danced (must have been the super sonic red bul that they put in all the buckets) and headed back as the sun began to rise.

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Photos

In the 'Taxi'
...or pickup truck

Bucket on Head
The moment before Ste started dancing oddly

More Crazy Malaysians
raving it up!

Taxi Back
at sunrise