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Published: March 23rd 2007
Well, we've been in Thailand for a little over three weeks now, and I've yet to give you all a substantive blog entry. Really, it's because there's not much to say. Mostly we've been spending our time surrounded by various arrangements and hues of turquoise, emerald, and pearl. The beauty of the beaches here in Southern Thailand is really something else - but they do tend to run together. Not much to distinguish one beach from another and they all begin to look and feel alike. We will both be glad to get some "real" Thai culture in Bangkok next week. Furthermore, there's not much to relate when you spend your days in idleness and evening parties 😊 In the meantime, I'll tell you all about my birthday celebrations.
We left Koh Phi Phi after a few days of bleeding funds to camp by the beachside. Getting to Koh Phan-Ngan invovled just shy of 20 hours of transit: ferry to Krabi, bus to Surat Thani, and overnight ferry to Thong Sala. The overnight ferry was something esle - a 40-60m long double-decker wooden boat, lined down each side with a flat mattress and hard pillow (and thankfully, clean sheets). There was literally about 24" for each person; luckily the boat wasn't too full and we spread out a little bit. It was actually quite a cool atmosphere, with 60ish other pepole all passed out around you, sleeping on the floor with packs tucked between their feet. Everything was Thai-sized, so I had to duck and sort of waddle along with my pack until I reached my "berth". We arrived without event very early the next morning, and too one of the sorng-thaew (literally, "two benches", and that's what it is, in the back of a pickup truck with a couple boards above for shade) to Haad Rin.
Haad Rin is an infamous party beach. Once a month, the coincident Full Moon Party brings in 10,000+ people to rave all night and day on the beach. Legendary, it retains this party atmosphere even when the biggest throngs are gone. One word describes it best: extreme. The people are there to party, and hard, dammit! Walking up and down the main strip, restaurant after restaurant serves identical menus with identical pirated movies at different rotations. Every night you could literally choose to watch movies beginning at noon and going until midnight, without repeat. It was the same 6 or 8 movies on rotation for the whole five days we were there. There were also restaurants that played Friends, Family Guy, and the Simpsons, all day long. If that wasn't enough stimulation, you could divert yourself shopping for hippy traveler gear, jewellery, leather toolbelts for women, sunglasses, dresses, swimsuits, etc. And when you got bored of that, you could plunk yourself on the shade-deprived beach. Kate & I threw a frisbee at least twice a day, on the sand and in the surf. (Side note: I'm getting really good at frisbee! I suppose practice really does make perfect, as I've basically mastered the forehand, backhand, high release, bbq, and scooper. I'd work on my hammer except that Kate's shoulder prevents it so that will have to wait til home. Maybe I'll join some ultimate pickup when I get back!)
At night, the beach turned into something, a monster, that flabbergasted the both of us. Walk out onto the sands, and you were inundated by dueling clubs. Immediately next to each other (no joke, some even shared walls), bars blasted their heart-thumping tunes at deafening decibels. Hip-hop fought trance threatened old school scared drum & bass. You could literally not keep at beat dancing there because there were simply too many of them, totally out of synch with each other. But that's ok; the bucket brigade was there to entertain you.
This is a row of 20 of your new best friends all trying to get you to buy their bucket (the drunkards' choice: a flask of whiskey, a can of coke, and lots of ice and straws to go around, all in a sand bucket - quite classy, really). They shout at you, wave their arms, dress outlandishly, and all manner of crazy antics to catch your attention. It's really quite overwhelming. But, escape from the bucket mob, and turn your gaze shoreward. On the wide swath of sand, the open-faced bars have set up mats, chairs, and tables, low in the sand for easy lounging. Each grouping is lit by gently flickering candles, giving the beach a wonderfully ethereal atmosphere. The bars have also set up a torch-lined stage for the semi-professional firethrowers and spinners. Apparently all who come to Haad Rin are pyros, since there are an obscene number of Thai throwers and the theme of fire is repeated over and over. They perform tricks with staffs, chains, stilts, hoops, and more - pretty much anything that can burn they will spin. With a good thrower, the fire goes so fast that the light makes a closed circle, and you can hear it whiz by. Some places even allow revelers to play fire games, like jumping over a flaming rope or sommersault through a small hoop (which Kate did, go her!).
Now imagine that none of this gets lively until 1 or 2am. They are very serious about exactly two things in Haad Rin, things that are, ironically, the exact opposite: idleness and partying.
Along the way we met a few cool people - Carly & Julia, also from Nor Cal (near Walnut Creek), their baby Swedish friend Manz, and a charming British bloke named Rafi. Them, plus Rafi's Israeli friend Asaf, helped me celebrate my 24th to much success at the Black Moon Party which happened on the 18-19th. At the stroke of midnight, they all sang happy birthday to me and the painting commenced. I got painted all over with flourescent paints - hair, eyes, face, back, arms, and even a little unintentionally on my dress. We then went to the party and danced ourselves silly on the sand of the beach until dawn, at which point we went back and collapsed for the rest of the day. This of course is the parent-rated version of the story; you can imagine what mayhem the real celebrations were, and bonus points for you if you can guess which boy took me home (one hint: the Mathlete 😊. Regardless, it was quite unforgettable, and probably the craziest birthday celebration I've ever had. Thank you everyone who helped make it special! And many thanks to those at home who wrote words of encouragement as well 😊
Now we're off to do some diving for the next three days. Yay!
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Dad
non-member comment
Hey, I grew up in the 60's!
but still, dads don't need to know the details.