Tick that off the list: Full Moon Party, Koh Pha Ngan

Ok, so take the craziest party you've ever been to...and multiply it by ten...THAT is the Full Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan... an idyllic island full of palm trees and unspoilt nature in the gulf of Thailand. A group of us from the Coral Bay resort caught a taxi (twelve people crammed in the back of a pick-up truck...lol) to Haad Rin beach, ground zero for all the fun. When we got there, it was super quiet in the town, which worried me. Ha ha, we had just engaged in a heated debate over whether the party was on the 18th, or on the 19th...ads had posted both dates, but I was sure it was on the 18th because of the internet. Thinking back, it is pretty hilarious that your biggest concern is what night is the party on again? But seriously, I didn't want to miss this!! LOL. Live in the moment people. :)

The story right on the beach was completely different though!! Blaring tunes from the huge sound systems set up right in the sand, bodies swaying to a variety of tunes...hip hop, techno, hard rock, funky stuff, top 40...anything, people making out, glow in the dark body paint everywhere...I think some were doing it right in the sand...so ridiculous! So what was there to do but try my first bucket? LOL, as the name suggests, you get a plastic pail, a few straws and yep, your choice of vodka or whisky. So I went with the Sangsom (Thai whisky), Coke and Redbull combination, with plenty of ice. LOL, I polished off my own mickey? Crazy!! Over the course of the next few hours, I almost converted to Battism (but I told her I'd have to drink behind her back), took a dip in the water (white underwear I remembered later...ga!), rocked out at all of the beachside hot spots, signed a Canadian girl's t-shirt in a special place and just had an all around wicked time. Even through the throngs of thousands, I spotted Christopher and Linnus! Two swedish guys who were staying a couple doors down, at Coral Grand. I also bumped into a few people from Vietnam! Small world...or big party? Both I guess! Actually, in high season (dec-mar), the FMP can attract up to 30, 000...yikes! I don't think there would be any room to even move! Batti & I were hit with the tired bug around 5am, so we plopped ourselves down in front of the local 7-11 (there are 10 on every street in Thailand) and people watched for an hour...then the sun came up and wow...the amount of straws, bottles and stuff on the beach told the story! All the hardcore partiers were still dancing though, so we mustered up a second wave of energy and joined then. The beats slowly winded down, and they played the last tune at 8:30...whoa! I ended up grabbing some breakfast with the Canadian girls (ha ha, we first spent an hour "shopping" on the beach for matching sandals because they had lost theirs) and cabbed it back to Coral Bay. They wouldn't take me all the way to the resort (VERY crazy road, a la Koh Tao) so I had to walk (with my large bottle of water) back to the bungalow...LOL, the battle scar on my foot is from walking home? typical!!
So what is the moral of this story??

GO TO THE FULL MOON PARTY ON KOH PHA NGAN!!! it is awesome!!!!

Just to recap: I saw a turtle on my last dive at Shark Island in Koh Tao!!! So graceful, just paddling around the corals without a care in the world. The few hours before taking the ferry to Pha Ngan were hectic though! The lady at the laundromat had given my bag of clothes to some guy! noo! I spent the next hour running around like a chicken with its head cut off....but thankfully was able to retrieve the clothes after finding the dude eating lunch at the restaurant around the corner from the laundry place. Who takes clothes from a laundromat without checking them first??? And these were PINK! Ugh...

This is the whaleshark that we saw!!! SO COOL hey? 4 or 5 m long baby...wow!!

Simone has a couple other cool pics of Koh Tao on her site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31025008@N00/