Full Moon and Familiar Friends on Ko Phangnan

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My decision to come to Ko Phangnan, some 3 year since my last visit, was the result of several influences. First, it must be said, Ko Phangan is one of my favorite islands in Thailand. Due to its cheap accommodation, beautiful beaches, and plentiful party life, I've come to view it as a very well rounded destination. Second, with the Full Moon Party set to happen on January 30th, only 4 nights after I had arrived, and despite having been before, its such a massive event that I figured a second going wouldn't be such a bad idea. Third, two friends of mine, Rob (R) and Elaina (E), were making their way to Thailand and we had decided that the Full Moon Party would be the perfect place to meet up. With not much plans beyond some partying, beach going, and meeting friends, I ended up spending the 4 days prior to the party doing just that.

The first night that I came into Jaya's Guesthouse I was greeted by a friendly, varied staff. Over the next several days I came to know quite a few of them quite well, and I must say that they were definitely a fun loving bunch who really treated me like I was part of their little family. The place definitely had atmosphere, which is why I chose it, and looking out over the lake as I ate breakfast each morning was definitely a visual treat. As well, my room was dirt cheap relative to the rest of the nearby accommodation in Haad Rin, and for me, when backpacking, cheap equals good. I actually spent a lot of time at Jaya's. Between practicing my Thai, eating food, watching Thai TV, and generally lounging with other guests, it kinda became my little get away from the madness that Haad Rin can become during the days approaching the Full Moon Party. That isn't to say I didn't get out either, in fact, while I will admit up front that I did not leave Haad Rin during my entire stay on Ko Phangnan (which to me is kinda sad really), I did end up keeping relatively active. Part of this was thanks to Rob and Elaina, who, on my second night appeared out of the blue into my guesthouse (although after talking to them I was reminded that I had mentioned my accommodation in an email). We hung out over a few beers and that evening we checked out the scene on Haad Rin Beach, with t-minus 3 nights to the party.

The beach that night was actually quite fun. There was a fairly large crowd of people partying to music at several different bars. We bought buckets, after much deliberation, from a stand that had a Canadian flag painted on it. There's actually a line of bucket selling stalls, and as you stand there deciding, everyone's waving their arms, calling out to you, holding up signs with ridiculous slogans and essentially trying to win your business in any way possible. Amusing at first, eventually overwhelming, they just continued at us, until as I said, we chose the Canadian stall. We picked up a couple of buckets from there, mine being a Sang Som, Coke, Red Bull combo, and made our way down the beach to enjoy the party. The music was good, and there was some entertainment as well. Several bars had Fire Skip-Rope happening. 20-Foot long cuts of rope, doused in gasoline and lit on fire were being swung like a skip rope as drunken fool made their way from the crowd to make their attempt at a skip. Great entertainment, I must say. Some people were skilled, and others, to my enjoyment were much less proficient, crashing down in faceplants as the rope caught their legs. The night ended for me at Chicken Corner, at Mama's Chicken, where I had a late night chicken schnitzel sub. Mmmm Schnitzel.

The next morning wasn't so awesome. Drinking combined with not enough sleep meant I was feeling a little delirious in the morning. However, Rob and Elaina stopped by and we did manage to make it to the beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the wavy ocean and watching a beach soccer tournament. There was this one team with matching uniforms, waving a Danish flag, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I recognized two of the guys from the soccer match in Khorat between Denmark and Thailand, they had been the guys who lead us to our seats in the Danish section. I actually saw these guys guys again in Kuala Lumpur a few weeks later, and they have become my most encountered backpackers so far. But, while the afternoon was alright, the evening wasn't. The night before had taken its toll, and foolishly not having drunken enough water and really haven't gotten too much sun, I had started to feel ill. I actually spent that evening, and all of the next day trying to fight off whatever was ailing me. I had chills, rough stomach, none of the stuff anyone wants to have while on a tropical island, let alone anywhere else. That first night, trying to help myself out, I went to bed quite early, around 8 o'clock. However, I was unexpectedly awoken at the hour of 3am to some racket in the hallway. This is when I first heard, "Buddy Remember!"

"Buddy Remember?!", yells someone in my hallway, "Buddy, Buddy, Remember!!"
*SLAM* (A door slams shut).....followed by about 10 seconds of silence......"Buddy....REMEMBER!!!!"

This went on for about 15 minutes, until I finally couldn't take it anymore. I was tired, and I needed sleep. I decided I would take a look in the hall. The first thing I saw was a shirtless guy laying on the floor covered in neon body pain. He saw me looking at him and just smiled up at me. I kinda grinned, then made my way down to the washroom. When I came back out, both this guy and another buddy suddenly appeared to be standing right outside the washroom. These guys were in rough shape. Both shirtless and covered in body paint, with big grins spread across their faces and pupils that looked like they had been living in a cave, I tried to figure out what these boys had been up to. Well, lets just say that they weren't making a lot of sense, but I managed to get some key words out of them which, in addition to "Buddy" and "Remember", included "Magic Mountain" and "I can see Buddha". Okay, so these guys were as high as kites, but the way I saw it was all they needed as a little wind to blow them in the right direction (that being away from where I was trying to sleep). I somehow convinced them that an adventure to the beach would be a fabulous option, and after some further antics and of course door slamming and repetition of their mantra (Buddy Remember), they finally left and I finally was able to sleep.

The next two days I took easy. Recovering, eating tasty food, talking with the staff, and hanging out with Rob and Elaina in the evening. At one point, after noticing that there was wifi in the area, but not at my guesthouse, I pulled the old trick of going the restaurant that has wifi, eating dining while using my computer, then taking the access code home with me. While this worked, my little scheme hit me with a small dose of bad karma, as when I brought out my laptop at the restaurant, the ketchup bottle I was using to sauce my fries exploded all over my when I opened it.

So, after finally recovering, the time had come for the big party. That day I had recieved an email from my friend Monica, that she would be on the island as well, also attending the party. R & E, and myself had plans to watch the sunset over a few beers at their place on the beach opposite the Full Moon Party beach, so I informed Monica we would meet her at 10 at Chicken Corner. In fact, we had told several people this place. R&E had an old travelling friend coming from Germany and there was also a random Canadian guy we would meet there. So, after the sunset, some beers, and a little freakout about my laptop that I left plugged in during an ensuring power outage, we made our way into town to Chicken Corner. The Germans were there, as was the Canadian, but Monica did now show up. But all was well, and we made our way down to the beach, to the Full Moon Party.

The following hours were a whirlwind of madness. The crowd was immense. Only from the party lodge perched at the very end of one of the beaches could one really gain a perspective on how immense it was. While we were up there, they lit up a scafolded monument that had the worlds "Full Moon Part 2010" written on it. From its torchlight we could see the entirety of the crowd, and it was an amazing experience. After some time perched above the crowds, we felt it was time to join them. We went our separate ways, but with a plan to meet at a specific time, about an hour later. I then spent the next hour wandering the crowds in amazement. I saw a ladyboy manhandling a random shirtless dude with a pony tail. I saw people having pushup competitions. I saw an explosion go off and people run away from it, only to watch them gather back around the blaze some minutes later and start partying around it. I saw people, en masse, treating the ocean as their own personal toilet. I saw people only feet away treating it as their own personal swimming pool. I saw people dancing, people sleeping, people making out, but I can honestly say I didn't see anyone fighting. While I was thoroughly enjoying the craziness, I sensed it was almost time to go meet up with the rest of my posse. While in a dance circle, I turned to a girl dancing next to me, and asked her for the time. She looked down at her watch, and told me 1:25, just 5 minutes before I was supposed to meet up. I noticed the girl had a Canadian accent, so, i asked, "Hey, are you Canadian?". Before the girl could asnwer I heard screamed out "BRODIEEEEEE" and Monica Murphy pounced on me with a hug! Of the 8,000+ people in this crowd, I had asked the one girl travelling with Monica for the time. Yeah, hows that for coincidence.

So, Monica came and met Rob and Elaina and the rest of the group and we caught up over chicken schnitzel sandwiches. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur. At one point I went back to the guesthouse and chatted up some workers. At another point I found myself eating a ham and cheese toastie at 7-11. I made my way back to the beach and did some dancing, but I was running out of energy, at at about 5 o'clock, I decided I'd give up on the Full Moon cliche of seeing the sun rise and make my way back to my room.

However, little did I know, I would in fact experience the ol' cliche. I got to my room and realized I wasn't that tired. I spent the next hour on the wifi chatting with friends on the internet. However, around 6 I decided that I should call it a night, turned off my lights, and tucked into bed. Not more than 5 minutes later, I heard it again....this time from a group of girls....the saying....

"Buddy, Remember!" they belted out "Remember! Buddy!"

With a grin on my face I joined in, repeating the phrase, echoing them saying it in the hall. I even opened my door and slammed it once or twice for effect. Yet, their chanted started to seem a little angry, and a little directed at my room. At this point I realized that they probably thought I was Buddy Remember. So, I emerged, and explained to them what had happened before. We continued acting as fools for another couple of minutes, and then it seemed like we might finish our nights and head to our rooms. But first one of the girls wanted to show off this old hag mask she had bought down at the beach. It was truly hideous, and only applicable to this story because of what happened next. At that moment, one of the girls realized that the Buddy Remember guys room door was unlocked. I must say, that some of the most ignorant harassment then ensued. We opened their door, turned on the lights, and just started hitting them with "Buddy Remember" as they rolled around and groaned. The Hag Mask girl jumped into bed with them, repeating the mantra, and I got some absolutely fantastic photos. When we finally tired of our own antics, we closed their room door, and made our way back to our own rooms. As I finally laid back in bed, I took one last look out the window. The sun was coming up. Cliche clinched.

The next couple of days were dedicated to relaxing and recouperating. I had an oil massage the day after the big party, and it was one of the better massages I've gotten. I still can't decide if I hate worse the oil left all over your body after a massage, or the pain left all over your body after a thai massage. That night I booked my ticket for the next morning, to Ko Lanta. My plan was to potentially meet up with some old friends from the Bamboo Bay Resort, and to just generally enjoy the slower paced island life. My journey was to start the next morning at 6am, and I was scheduled to arrive on Ko Lanta sometime in the early evening. So with that plan in place, I got an early night sleep, well rested for the journey the next morning.

Not.

What actually happened was that the staff of the resort decided they were going to throw themselves a party, and being such a good guest, I was naturally invited. It would be just plain rude to turn down such an invitation, so of course I accepted. It was an awesome night, but far too much fun and far too much sleep were had. The next morning, with only an hour and a half of rest under my belt, I stumbled out into the lobby and waiting for my minivan. As it pulled up, and I dragged myself into the car, I knew it was gonna be another long journey, but at least I was keeping the tradition alive.

I spent the next 12 hours traveling from boat to car to bus to car to boat. It was definitely a long day, but I managed to sleep a good majority of the journey, which actually passes the time quite nicely. When I got to Krabi town in the evening, I attempted to book with Bamboo Bay, but try as I might, no amount of effect could make it happen. Their phones were offline, and being the last resort on the island, I couldn't risk the travel all the way out to them.

So, as headed by ferry over to Ko Lanta, with no booked accommodation, but with some potential guesthouses in mind, I looked out at the setting sun against a backdrop of island mountains and blue ocean, and I knew right then, I was in for a good time.

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