Koh Phangan and the Full Moon

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After a short flight from Bali to Phuket, southern thailand, we soon found out how long it actually takes to get from point A to B in south east asia. Promised a 3pm arrival on the Full Moon Party island of Koh Phangan we arrived at 8pm in the dark - most of the people traveling with us on the bus/boat were really frustrated but Hillary and I couldn't help but laugh at how long it took. On the ferry over we witnessed a stunning sunset over the islands of southern Thailand and the rise of the orange full moon. We took a taxi shared by 4 other strangers and headed up the dark hilly roads to reach JB Hut bungalows on the far side of the Island. The taxi's here are pretty entertaining: the driver sits in the front of a pick up truck while the passengers are on benches holding on for dear life in the bed of the truck as it races up and down the hills on the island. We made our way to Haat Rin beach for the Full Moon Party and paid to have some glow in the dark painted designs. There were hundreds of people piled onto the sand, water, dance stages - even slides. Instead of regular jump rope and limbo, there was fire jump rope and fire limbo - it was hot to say the least. Hillary and I made sure to stick together for fear of all the horror stories we'd heard, and made it home in one piece aroud 5 am. The next day we headed to the beach to have a "refreshing" dunk, but unfortunately the water was actually akin to a hot tub so that was a bust. Later that night we lit chinese laterns with a few Kiwi's we'd bumped into the night before and made wishes as we watched them float up like orange stars into the night sky to be greeted by the nightly array of fireworks on Haat Yao beach. Yesterday we rented a baby blue scooter (with matching baby blue helmet) and doubled around the island to check out the full moon party beach in the morning. On the way we saw two elephants and were so ecstatic by the surprise that I nearly had to pull over. We've decided to stay one more night here because of our late arrival due to travel malfunctions, and also because we just love it too much. Next stop is Northern thailand's Chang mai! Much love to everyone at home.

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Photos

Sunset on the Ferry
over the southern islands of Thailand

Rising of the Full Moon
rushing to get to Koh Phangan before the party ends

Koh Phangan Full Moon beach
haat rin beach in the daylight