Full Moon to Prachuap

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Having enjoyed our time in the serene jungle setting of Khao Sok it was now that time of month for a party. The party happened to be none other than the infamous Koh Pha Ngan Full Moon Party (FMP) on Haad Rin beach.

Due to very high accommodation prices on the island around party time, we decided to do an all-nighter and just not sleep. So having reached Surat Thani (our base for Koh Pha Ngan ferries) we left around
lunchtime equipped with nothing more than some suncream and UV face paint. No camera, bag or any belongings as that would just be asking for trouble.

Due to unforeseen journey times we didn't reach the party island until sunset but that was perfect as the party was just getting started. On the long ferry crossing we met Henry a business undergraduate from
Canada studying in Hong Kong. Like us, he was coming for one night only.

We hopped on a Swangthaew (open ended van) to head for the action and already it was plain to see that this Full Moon business was big business. Street vendors were selling buckets (beach buckets filled
with rum and coke), people were face painting and shops were selling Chang for double the price. This was all before we paid entrance (to a beach!) to get down to the main party beach strip.

You may wonder why so much hype and now money for a party on a beach. Well it's just one of those things that has to be done. At home and on our travels we had heard mixed reviews of the FMP and yet people still say "you just gotta do it" (well they say it like that if they're American). Thousands of travellers head to Haad Rin every month so something must be good, or is the monthly party purely someone else's turn to be able to say been there done that.

Despite all of this we were ready to embrace everything the FMP had to offer and it didn't disappoint. With faces painted and buckets emptied we entered the beach which was a sea of colour, lights, people and a lot of flames. It didn't take long for Henry to try fire breathing, Hannah to do limbo under a flaming pole and me to go down a long slide which was less fancy but a damn sight safer. This together with the
music pumping from all angles and stereo systems made the dancing, fire breathing beach a fun place to be.

We met a nice French couple who had travelled down from Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand, for the party. He (I can't remember his name) had worked in Wimbledon for many years and so had a very funny French-cockney accent. We consumed more bottles of Sang Som Rum together whilst Hannah successfully partook in yet more flaming limbo, much to the delight of the crowd. The sea was glistening under the moonlight and people were happy.

The problem, however, with thousands of people (mainly in beach wear) on the beach is that it is very easy to get lost. A quick trip to the sea toilet resulted in me not finding the group for ages. Then in
trying to find me, we lost Henry. Was it the beach or the rum? I did find them in the end but still no Henry. We danced and looked up the beach having still not found him before I then was lost again. This
time it was definitely the rum as I don't remember much after that until Hannah found me dancing on the beach just as the sun was rising. Luckily she had the Frenchman and his partner Audrey to be with as she wandered up and down the beach for a long time. We watched the sunrise together, on an emptying beach, having now lost Audrey & Frenchman before promptly falling asleep. We woke when the sun got too hot to find my flip flops had been stolen from beside my feet, Han had lost hers earlier in the night. So, glad we had found each other unlike our flip flops we hot footed it to the pier where we caught the 11am ferry back with the rest of the distinctly partied out people.

So that was that and, although having lost each other for a large part of the night, what we do remember was a good party and enough to warrant thousands of people each month. I guess now we too can say
been there, done that, lost the flip flops.

The next day was recovery time from the party with Han puzzled as to why her back was hurting so much. I was in no state to analyse any potential causes other than the party. It wasn't until we were on the bus up to Prachuap when I saw Han stretch that it occurred to me her internal pains were from all the limbo she did. "Should of kept to the slide" I said.

From Surat Thani we wanted to go to Bangkok but decided to break the journey up with a day and night in Prachuap. We arrived late to what we were told was Prachuap but was actually a busy motorway. Instead of paying an inflated price to go on a motorbike taxi, which would of been dangerous, we went to a nearby petrol station and hitched. Don't worry parents it wasn't with a dodgy lorry driver from Pattaya but a respectable policeman (plain clothed of course) who took us the 5km to town. We seem to have good luck with Thai policeman; first they helped us hail a coach to Trang and now they drove us to Prachuap, if only all policemen were like this.

The seaside town of Prachuap was a beautiful place with three golden sand bays lined with colourful fishing boats and a long promenade with rows of drying fish along it. It was more touristy than we had first expected but less so than most places in Thailand. The locals were smiley and gave 'normal' prices for such commodities as ice tea, noodle soup & Chang.

We spent the day walking the long hot promenade, finding shade to play my didgeridoo interspersed with a cool off in the very warm sea. Set back from the promenade was a picturesque pagoda where we had a delicious papaya salad for lunch. What better way to spend a Thursday afternoon.

As the day started to cool, maybe from 38 degrees to a refreshing 30, we decided to walk to the temple that sits high above Prachuap affording great views over the bay. As we began our ascent we were
harassed by a toothy monkey, obviously furious that we hadn't bought bananas to feed him like others had done before. He went for our bag thinking it was food but got more angry when I shouted at him. We had to empty the bag before the malicious macaque would let us through. It wasn't the nicest experience and as we finally got up the first flight of stairs we were greeted by a troop of monkeys all the way up the stairs. Luckily they weren't quite as desperate as the earlier macaque so we hurriedly made it past them. By the time we reached the top we were drenched in sweat from both physical and mental monkey exhaustion but it was all worth it.

The temple was spectacular especially with the sun beginning to set behind it. We wandered around the Buddhist stupa, monkey-free and in awe of the colours that were forming around us. After an hour or so
the time had come to go back down. Neither of us were looking forward to this and as we came down past the first flight of stairs all we could see was delinquent monkeys blocking our path. They were
fighting, humping, growling and if they could they would probably have been drinking and smoking. We pushed on and made it out alive. We have seen many monkeys on our travels but the temple monkeys of Prachuap are not to be messed with.

We went back to a smiley local night market where, as always in Thailand, we had some great food. Thank god the people of Prachuap are nicer than the monkeys.

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Comments

[Josho]

LEGENDS!
Another enlightening Saturday morning in the office. Brings back the memories (the FMP - not so much the peace and love bit - he he he!) Enjoy the North with Hannah's folks - Pai is beautiful - enjoy meeting the old hippies who never left! Keep em coming!