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Published: October 1st 2007
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There's only one reason that anyone goes to Ko Pha Ngan, and that's for the monthly full moon party. Sippy Cup, Russ, Ryan, and I quickly found a bungalow to store our belongings and made sure that we had a double lock on the door. The stories that we'd heard about this place was that it's rip-off central, and we soon found that the rumors were true. By the end of our stay Ryan caught a guy with his arm in our window trying to grab some cash, and I caught an English woman with her hand in my pocket.
After kicking around the island for three days it was finally time for the full moon party. I have to admit that I was skeptical with regard to how cool the party was really going to be. There was so much hype and build-up that I thought it'd surely be a disappointment. Kind of like one of those movies that "everyone" says is SO GOOD and you watch it only to find it lacking. I was wrong.
The night of the party we got down to the beach at 10 PM. In your mind picture a beach that's about
Rope Swing
This is the beach directly in front of our bungalow. a half mile long, lined with bars that are blaring music on to the sandy beach, which is packed out with an estimated 8,000 people. It was absolute debauchery! Women dancing with body paint, wild dogs running around nipping at your heals, drunk guys walking hand in hand with lady-boys (Definition of Lady-Boy: Men that've undergone a sex change and look exactly like a woman. Habitat: Ko Pha Ngan and throughout the major coastal regions of Thailand...especially where drunk men gather and may mistake them for women.), locals with fire sticks walking through the crowds and occasionally burning the unaware/drunk passerby, vendors selling everything from pictures with iguanas to your drug of choice, and lines of huts selling buckets of alcohol. It was almost too much to take in!
A ways down the beach there was a 20 foot long jump rope that had been soaked in kerosene and lit on fire. Ryan and I were quick to jump in to the mix of hesitant bystanders watching the line of fire swirl though the air. The premise of the fire death rope jump is to get in there while two Thai men begin speeding the
Porch
This is the view that we woke up to and went to bed to every day. rope up. You can expect 1 of 3 results: 1) You fall and quite possibly/probably will catch on fire. 2) You escape somehow before they bring the jump rope to full speed. 3) You continue jumping at full speed until they start turning it so fast that the flames go out. Definitely something to stay away from but after a few buckets full of Saeng Som whiskey and Red Bull it seemed like the greatest idea ever! Click on the videos to see Ryan and I having a go at it!
Now let me backtrack and explain a little bit about our bungalow and the sleeping situation. Due to the fact that we're trying to conserve funds, we paid for a room with two queen beds which were shared amongst the 4 of us. I'll beat everyone to the punch and let you know right now....yes, I was the Little Spoon! Anyhow, after the full moon party we walked back to our room. Ryan had fallen asleep on the beach in front of our bungalow and woke me up the next morning with chuckles and laughter. I asked him to stay quiet to which he replied, "Who'd you bring
home last night bro?" I sat up, looked to my right, and lying next to me was a man that I had never met before. Apparently he had wandered in to our room and climbed in to bed with me. After taking a bunch of harassment for sleeping with a man and looking at photos that Sippy had taken while I was still sleeping, we unsuccessfully tried to wake him. He seemed to be sleeping rather peacefully so we let him stay for an hour or so before kicking him out so that we could eat breakfast.
All in all I'd have to say that the island party was a great experience and I think that I can speak for both Ryan and I when I say that it's one of those "I'll go there once" type of deals. The thing that bothered us about the place was the fact that 90% of the people attending the party were foreigners and had complete disregard for the locals and the island...creating problems, throwing trash, and basically just being assholes. That's not to say that everyone that we met there was that way though...such as our friends that we met from
Sunset
Never can get enough of these! England and South Africa that were truly outstanding people.
Before leaving the island we parted ways with Sippy and Russ as they wanted to travel to Koa Tao (a beautiful island paradise nearby) while Ryan and I had our hearts set on leaving Thailand and going to Burma.
BURMA - This country has gone through a series of crisis and until the last decade or so was completely closed off to foreigners. There has been a recent spark of conflict between their government and religious leaders, both of which maintain a stronghold over the country. The main source of interest for Ryan and I is the fact that there is an archipelago just off of their cost which consists of hundreds of mostly unexplored islands. Research on these islands shows that some are still governed by tribal rule and the surrounding waters are ruled by sea gypsies (yeah that's right...pirates!). Ryan and I have traveled to the city of Ranong, Thailand which is on the Thai/Burma border in order to gather supplies (rope, machetes, diving gear, spears, etc.) so that we can live off the land/water for a few weeks. We hope to purchase a boat and a
Postcard Potential
Ryan took this and it's for sale on ebay. Buy Now! map once across the border so that we can start exploring the offshore islands, taking up the life of American sea gypsies. We hardly know what to expect once we get there and are really excited to see what it's like. From what I understand it looks as though our communication will be limited once in Burma. Recent reports have said that people with cameras are suspect of being news reporters and the internet is tough to come by due to the fact that the government doesn't want any information leaking to the media. It'll probably be some time before we can post again.
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Russ
non-member comment
Yo!
What up T-Bone and Little Spoon, or should I say Sippy Bucket...actually Little Spoon. Awesome time destroying our bodies at the full moon although most of the night we barely saw each other haha...be safe in Burma and score me one of them real gypsy eye patches