If you have ever been between the ages of 19-35 (or older) and planned a trip to Thailand, you've probably heard about making a stop to Ko Pha Ngan for the Full Moon Party. The Full Moon party takes place once on a month on the Haad Rin beach on the island, which is supposedly the best place in the entire world to see the Full Moon. This, of course, is debatable, but the all night beach party has been raging monthly since the first group of backpackers in 1985. Think loud music (in varying styles, dance, house, trance, hip hop, etc. were all heard that night), fire hoops and flaming signs, glow sticks and neon body paint, and partying till the sun comes up. Crowds for the party can reach up to 30,000.
We started the evening off relatively calmly, preparing our bodies with a quick dinner before heading to the beach. We had already purchased our supplies (neon t-shirts, body paints and brushes, flower crowns...all the finest accessories). We wandered around, mesmerised at the fire ropes, bright lights, signs and crowds of people starting to quickly teem in by the minute. One of the infamous things you just **have** to do at a Full Moon party is to drink a bucket, so we had to get one of those to start us off. Quite literally, it is a plastic bucket full of alcohol (a mickey), red bull and some sort of mix. That'll get the party started...unless you were like myself and bought one from the wrong vendor who was either watering down her alcohol or not putting in any at all. Note to anyone attending: make sure you buy from the vendors who give you the unopened liquor bottle rather than having them pour in the alcohol themselves. It's not worth the money otherwise.
Afterwards we sat down to start painting ourselves with the neon/glow in the dark paint, which was pretty fun. Once we mustered up enough courage (i.e. had enough to drink), we made our way to the even busier beach that had somehow quickly doubled in population. As we walked along the huge sandy stretch of land, we encountered fortune tellers, drunken 20-somethings, a napping section, a few people "getting to know each other" and many more interesting sights along the way. We were desperate to keep our group of 4 together, but as we had been warned - we lost half of the group relatively early on and couldn't find them. It happened in mere seconds.
We met new best friends, danced and observed many things that I've tried to forget, but around 5:00AM, I knew it was over for me. We had an 8:30AM ferry the next morning to Koh Samui, and if anyone knows me well, even 2 hours of sleep is better than none (or else grumpy Amanda comes out, and man, you don't want to see that). I hopped into a tuk-tuk taxi and made the seemingly long trip back to my (terrible) resort. I made it back safely to my uncomfortable bed for a couple of hours of shut eye before the exhaustively early ferry. Looking back, I should not have booked that early of a ferry, but it was worth it for the time on the beach and the views of nearby Koh Samui island.
One of the best stories from the Full Moon Party I heard was from a friend of mine who woke up on the beach the next morning with no purse, and no shoes. She was staying on a nearby island and her friends had disappeared. Oh man, I couldn't even imagine - that's probably a very tame story in comparison to thousands of others who have lived through the night of debauchery.
Moral of the story - The Full Moon Party is worth it to see and do, as it is one of those quintessential backpacker experiences in Thailand. People plan their entire South East Asia itineraries around this experience. Would I do it again? Not unless you paid me in buckets. Buckets of cash, that is.
Have you been to the Full Moon Party? What was your experience like?