FULL MOON PARTYY

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This was a very, very long day. But before I begin describing today's adventures, I feel I should describe the pizza place from last night a bit more. The restaurant was absolutely spotless, and there were barely any customers inside. However, of the four families that were sitting down, two of them appeared to be Thai. How could any Thai family afford $18 pizzas? One family consisted of 6 people, the other of four. That's an expensive outing! I imagine they were there on a special occasion, but really, a fast-food pizza place? A very interesting choice for such an expensive meal.

This morning I awoke early to catch a long-tail boat to Ao Nang. I needed to be in Ao Nang by 10:00, and hoped to catch a long-tail with several people, and pay a low price. I ate a pineapple pancake for breakfast, and made it to the long-tail at the perfect time. The boat was nearly full. I then waited for an hour and a half for tour agency to pick me up and take me to the bus station. I expected this to be a quick ride, about 15 minutes, but it took about an hour. I believe we drove in a giant circle, picking up more and more people until the car was full. By this time it was noon, and before I hopped on the bus I grabbed a few bags of sticky rice and a chicken leg for lunch.

I sat with a guy from Chile, who has been traveling for the past 7 months. He completed half of university, but got fed up with it, 'cashed out' as he called it, and headed for New Zealand. It sounds like he sold everything he owned, packed a bag, and just left. He's made some money being a fruit picker in New Zealand and Australia, and plans on traveling for a couple of years. I can't imagine just leaving everything behind.

After a 3 hour bus ride, we made it to the pier where the ferries departed for Koph Samui and Koh Pha Ngan. The Chilean guy left for Koh Samui, and I waited an hour for the ferry to Koh Pha-Ngan. While waiting I met two German kids, and then hung out with them on the ferry. i also met a British guy on the ferry who has been gone for 4 months, traveling through Australia and New Zealand, working as a fruit picker. Shit. Did they both work as fruit pickers? Or just the Brit? Now I can't remember. Not like any of you care who the hell worked as a fruit picker...

He had just been tattooed in New Zealand - a Maori depiction of a shark and some other designs, all in black. Really, really cool. He was a cool guy, and I would have offered to share a tuk-tuk with him to look for a guesthouse (the typical backapcker offer of friendship haha), but he already had a guesthouse reserved for 13 quid a night! Whoa! That's like $25 a night!

By 7:30 the ferry arrived at the port of Koh Pha Ngan, and as we exited the boat we were completely bombarded by songthaew drivers (a songthaew is a converted pickup truck). The Germans and I decided to look for a guesthouse in Ban Tai, because we read that there was little chance of finding a guesthouse on the main beach of Hat Rin the night of the Full-Moon Party. For 100 baht each, ($3 - ridiculously expensive), the songthaew driver took us to Ban Tai, and pointed us down a dirt road where supposedly all of the guesthouses were.

Before I describe more of the night, I forgot to explain why I was coming to Koh Pha-Ngan in the first place, and what the 'Full Moon Party' actually is! The Full Moon Party supposedly started in 1988 or 1989 when a group of people threw a party on Hat Rin beach on the night of a full moon. They decided to repeat it the next month, and it slowly grew into what it is today: the largest monthly rave in the world. The number of partiers varies between 5,000 and 8,000 on a typical full moon, but on New Year's Eve Hat Rin beach fills up with 30,000 people! I figured I had to see it.

So here we are on this firt road, with no lights. We follow the trail a quarter kilometer, and finally find tons of guesthouses lining the beach. 'Liberty Guesthouse' was charging $10 a night for bungalows on stilts, with 24 hour electricity. I later learned that none of the outlets worked in my room, and so the portable fan didn't work, but I wasn't ACTUALLY going to sleep there! I was going to party all night!

By 8:30 I was ready to go to the beach party, but the Germans wanted to grab dinner at the guesthouse, so I joined them and had a fantastic Phad Thai. After dinner we took another songthaew ride for $3 each to Hat Rin. Walking through town, the place was packed. Throngs of people were everywhere, and you could hear the techno music down on the beach. Lining the streets of the town were vendors selling 'buckets' - which I was quite familiar with from Vang Vieng, and tons of different kinds of food - spring rolls, homemade pizza, pork kebabs, chicken legs, fried vegetables - anything you can imagine, and all at three times the regular price.

One of the Germans needed to give his girlfriend a call, so the other German and I waited around while he made his call on a public phone. Girlfriend? Who goes to the Full Moon Party with a girlfriend? And if you are going to call her, why would you call her from the Full Moon Party?? Of course there wasn't a single cute girl there. None at all. Hahaha, just kidding. Mom and I have fun ranking cities by how attractive the women are, and mom, I must say that hands down the island of Koh Pha-Ngan has the cutest girls of any city or island I have yet to see. The problem is that the guys are just as attractive, if not even better looking. (No dad, you can still be sure I'm not gay). I don't think of myself as a small guy, but I felt like a little shrimp around these guys. Every guy seemed to be between 6' 2" and 6' 4", and had Abercrombie and Fitch worthy bodies. Their biceps were five times the size of mine haha. This seemed to basically be a gathering of the world's most gorgeous people.

But back to these German guys. One of them had a girlfriend, and the other seemed pretty lame, so I walked the length of the beach with them, watched a 'fire show' where locals twirl strings with balls of fire, and then happened to lose the Germans in the crowd. I would have killed to have a few buddies from home with me. This, besides climbing at Railay, is the first time I've really wished I was traveling with somebody. It's tough to meet people at such a large venue as the Full Moon Party, and it's impossible if you're alone, as nobody else seemed to be there alone.

I wasn't going to let this deter me though. I walked the beach some more, just people-watching. There were 5 or 6 really popular bars playing music out onto the beach, with dance parties inside the bars, on the beach, and on the tables set out on the beach. Loads of people painted their bodies in glow paints, so whenever they were near a black light their bodies would glow. I paid a local about $5 for a giant sun on my back and a vine traveling down one arm.

It's tough to describe the night, as it is such a blur. Not because I was so drunk, but because there was just so much action. I drank a few beers, and nursed a 'bucket' ($4) for the rest of the night, being careful to not get a bucket with M-150, but RedBull instead. I'd prefer my drink wihtout Meth thank you very much.

Each bar played a different type of music. There was trance, techno, hip-hop, and who knows what. Surprisingly there were a lot of Thai girls at the party, but, as always, it's impossible to tell whether they're there just for fun, as prostitutes, or as lady boys. . It's easy to pick out which Thai girls (girls?) certainly are prostitutes bywhat they're wearing, and I saw many men and teenagers leaving the party with prostitutes and hopping on motorbikes. I like to be STD free. I danced until sunrise, well....I'd like to say I danced until sunrise. I danced until about 6 in the morning, but was too tired to hang out until the actual sunrise. I didn't originally plan on staying so late, but I kept on hanging out at the party, waiting to see something ridiculous happen. I needed at least one story from the party! However, by 6:00 am I gave up. It was light outside by the time I left though, and I saw the destruction along the beach. EVERYWHERE were bodies of people passed out in the sand, a pick-pocket's dream.

I hopped in a songthaew with 8 other people who were headed back to their guesthouse to have a pool party. They asked me to join them, but I was wayyy too tired. I got back to 'Liberty Guesthouse' by 6:30 in the morning, and immediately brushed my teeth and tried to take a shower. The shower didn't work! Shit. I gave up, and went to sleep still covered in sweat, sand and body paint.

I later heard stories of people having sex on the beach while others took flash photos, people having sex in the ocean, ridiculous fights, and guys passed out on the beach with bloodied faces. I didn't see any of this though. Supposedly the party didn't end until about 1 in the afternoon the next day! Maybe it's best I survived the Full Moon Party with no stories, and got to sleep at a 'decent time.'

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