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On the eve of the full moon party you can almost feel the anticipation building up to the largest party in South East Asia. The islands vibe begins to change into full on party mode and everyone begins gearing up for a night of insanity along the beautiful beach of Haad Rin. Yes its the world renowned but over hyped Full Moon Party. Its 20 hours of mayhem fuelled by drugs, fire, music, sex and alcohol. But more importantly its a night most people never remember, or purposely choose to forget!
We arrived on the party boat from Koh Tao allowing us the opportunity to meet some fellow travelers while stashing our worldly belongings on the next island safely out of reach from the tea leafs descending upon Koh Pha Ngan.
When we arrived on Koh Pha Ngan, the party boat had dropped us off at Thong Sala pier so we had to make our way to Haad Rin by choosing one of several mental taxi driver who thought they were race car driver. All of the taxis raced each another along the winding mountain roads at lightening speed while deafening their passengers with a random mix of drum
& base. We closed our eyes, preyed and held on tightly while placing our lives in the hands of a drugged up driver. We were in for a roller-coaster of a night!
As we drove into the town of Haad Rin I was instantly struck by the energy buzzing in the atmosphere. I instinctively knew we had descended upon what was to be another insane night in Thailand!. There were thousands of people everywhere, most just wearing shorts or bikinis. Everyone was painted up with neon paint, usually with Thai symbols or dragons. Others had just done it themselves and looked a complete mess while staggering around with buckets of alcohol before the party had even began!
As the taxi driver quickly drove off for his next pickup, he shouted "Meet here at 8am". It was now 6pm and the sun was going down meaning we had 14 hours of partying before we could return to a nice comfy bed! We slowly walked through the town of Haad Rin heading towards the beach while trying to take in the madness of the over crowded streets full of drugged up party goers. We weaved in and out of staggering
travelers before the beach was in sight.
As I approached the beach the ground began to vibrate. Luckily this was not a repeat of the China earthquake disaster, it was the million and one sound systems vibrating the sand beneath our feet. As we walked out onto the beach we were met by lots of Thai people shouting "fuck buckets, fuck bucket for you sir, fuck buckets 150 THB" (buckets of alcohol), together with the quiet whisper of "Ecstasy, Hashish, or Mushie Shake".
As I looked around you could clearly see 10,000 people off their faces running around like lunatics. People were dancing on rickety stages, on the beach and in the sea. Some were running around naked while others were jumping over one of many fire skipping ropes, fire high jumps or running over hot coals. Everyone was burnt in some way or another, only in Thailand could you get away with such reckless behavior. The Full Moon party was indeed in full flow, with ravers waving glow sticks while modern day hippies were vegged out stoned or just shagging in the sea!
The Full Moon Party is a cross between a rave, hippie fest and
rock concert. All sorts of people arrive for a night of mayhem, and the lady boys are on full alert picking off the un-suspecting teenage lad while under cover police try to catch drug users and hold them to ransom! The Thai girls grab every lad at the party while everyone just staggers up and down the beach after losing their friends in a haze of 10,000 wasted people! Most would say its hell on earth, others would say its a party!
As I walked along the beach with my bucket wondering what alcohol it contained, I was asked to participated in a fire show. I borrowed a performers Pois and joined several Thai lads in a show to the applaud of what seemed like more than a hundred people. I have never had such a large audience before, it was quite a rush! After I had done the fire show one guy came up to me and said "Who are you man..., the colors man... Who are you?" He was clearly on mushies, I couldn't help but laugh, it was hysterical!
As the night went on people began to fall. I remember witnessing one lad staggering towards
me then falling flat on his face. He just didn't get back up! I walked passed a couple of hours later and he was still lying there face down in the sand. This is the state people get into at the Full Moon Party!
Apparently lots of people die each month as a result of the Full Moon Party. I have heard stories of boats flipping over because they were over packed, people taking too many drugs and trying to swim back to their island while others just drink themselves stupid and end up in a comer.
While the full moon was in clear view, a sign celebrating the Full Moon Party burnt brightly at the end of the beach surrounded by hundreds of ravers. Everyone was in such a state that very few could comprehend anything other than the vibrating music, fire and colors. As I walked down the beach stepping over what seemed like a hundred people passed out on the beach, I stumbled across a lad who was in a real mess. He told me he had been mugged so I helped him to the police station.
As night became day the partying continued.
We were woken up out of our trance by the stunning colors of the sunrise helped by the beat of an unbelievably loud sound system. As the sun light crossed the beach I finally got to see the full scale of the Full Moon Party. I climbed high up on a ridge to overlook the entire Party. Even at 6am there must have been 5000 people raving on the beach. It was an amazing sight, everyone looked like zombies!
As 8am approached I slowly made my way back to the collection point. I climbed into a random taxi for our long drive back to the pier. Our driver was still buzzing from the nights events and drove yet again like a complete lunatic. This time no one said a thing, everyone was in such a state that their senses were already overloaded.
The boat journey back to Koh Tao was long and painful. Most people were ill while others just passed out all the way back to the island. When I arrived back at my resort I was so tired I didnt recognise my surroundings and struggled to find my bungalow.
Eventually I climbed into bed and slept for the next 24 hours!
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