Despite feeling slightly out of my depth, I had survived my first diving
experience on Koh Tao. We'd done what we'd come for, and our next port of call
offered a completely different experience. Koh Phangan is famous for nothing
other than its Full Moon Party, and since being featured on 'The Beach' the
party has become a rite of passage for any traveller who sets foot in
Thailand.
Our boat (or Songserm to be more precise) from Koh Tao was packed and
not air conditioned, so we were thankful that it would take only an hour and a
half to get to Phangan. When we arrived, we took what was possibly the most
pointless taxi ride to our hostel and made our way to the beach. Like in Tao,
we had bagged ourselves a beachfront bungalow, which was absolutely perfect
(Phangan Bungalows). Despite the lack of air con and the infestation of ants in
the bathroom, being ten metres from the sea and having an unimpeded view of the
sunset from our porch meant that we were more than happy with our
accommodation.
One slight problem was that we were kind of in the middle of nowhere,
with the nearest 7/11 (which had, by this stage, become our safe haven in every
place we'd been) a whole fifteen minute walk away. Our best hope of a good
lunch was with the couple of hotels which neighboured ours on the beach, and we
hit the jackpot when we found one (Beck's) which had a free ping pong table and
offered a wide selection of Western food. This occupied us for the afternoon
before we prepared ourselves for the warm up to the Full Moon Party, the Jungle
Experience.
The Jungle Experience takes place, you guessed it, in a jungle. An area
has been cleared and filled with a few bars in the form of shacks, with one
large dance floor the centrepiece of the party. At the front of the dance floor
lies a semi-circular stage with swivelling lights and huge speakers, blaring
out what I guess must be called something like 'Jungle House' music. Whatever
it was, it was very repetitive and most of us were left in a state of nostalgia
for the awful top 40 music played week in, week out at most of Oxford's finest
establishments. We bumped into some friends we'd met in Bangkok and seen again
in Koh Phi Phi and spent the night dancing with them. One highlight was meeting
a man with an 80's style 'fro and an Albert Einstein style 'tash who looked
suspiciously like Borat, and yet had no idea who Borat was. Pete spent the
night lifting up various girls onto his shoulders and nearly dropping them on
the floor. 
The next day was spent in a similar way as the day before: chill and lie
on the beach, play some pong and get ready for the night ahead. We'd bought our
Full Moon 'outfits' on Koh Tao in anticipation of inflated prices on Phangan
(an anticipation which turned out to be false) so we were all kitted out when
we met with our friends for dinner at 'Chicken Corner' at 7 pm. We had a less
than average dinner before getting our buckets (go to the ones which offer free
paint too) and painting all sorts of obscenities on one another. Pete loved
cock and I loved ladyboys while Charlotte had a pretty pattern on her face. I
decided to follow suit and paint a pretty pattern for Pete, and the finished
product was absolutely beautiful. Some even stopped Pete to ask how he got Van
Gogh drawn on his face, and he told them that he'd had to pay a lot of Monet
for it. 
I feared that the Full Moon Party would be one of those occasions which
is hyped so much that it can't possibly live up to its name. Indeed, we'd been
told by many that the Jungle Experience is actually better. However, for us,
the Full Moon Party was fantastic. It's difficult to do it justice with a
description but the Full Moon Party, which takes place on Haad Rin beach, has
bars stretching from end to end playing all sorts of music and is looked over
by 'Mushroom Mountain' at the far end of the beach. I imagine it's a bit like a
Malia strip on the beach, only with a more diverse crowd and, accordingly, a
different atmosphere. It is (I imagine - I've never been to Malia) a bit more
grown up while retaining the madness and the fun which make beach parties so
great. We danced the night away, Charlotte and I making it all the way through
to sunrise, while Pete took a nap face down in the sand for an hour or two.
When he refused to wake up, he was rewarded with a moonie, fitting for the occasion.
Needless to say, his full moon was not as spectacular as that which had lit up
the beach all night long.
Bidding our farewells to our friends, we took a taxi back to our
bungalow and got some sleep. A lazy day awaited us, once more filled with food
and ping pong, although we woke up enough to make the twenty-minute taxi-ride
into Haad Rin to watch Murray win the gold medal in the tennis final. It was a
great end to a great weekend. The next day we would complete our cyclical tour
of Thailand by returning to Bangkok.
Recognising that the boat would be packed after the party, we made it to
the port early and managed to get three seats in the air conditioned zone. The
aisle became full of tired travellers, so we'd made a good decision,
particularly as this ferry was four hours long. We slept little on the bus to
Bangkok and were absolutely shattered when we arrived just before 5 am.
Charlotte and I slept on the futons provided in the foyer of our hostel
(NapPark - highly recommended) before we showered and walked through Bangkok's
markets in a desperate search of shoes and jeans for me. That night we'd be
going to the Sky Bar (featured in The Hangover 2) and the dress code was
trousers and shoes; I had neither, having made the decision not to bring trousers
and having left both pairs of shoes I brought with me in a bus earlier in the
trip. Finding shoes which fitted me was no easy task, Thai people being
somewhat smaller than I am, but eventually we did find some. I will be needing
a shoe horn if I want to wear them at any point in the future, however.
The Sky Bar was extremely posh. Situated at the top of a very nice
hotel, it has amazing views over Bangkok. While Pete and Charlotte viewed the
city from the bar overhanging the edge of the building, I chose to observe from
a comfortable distance back. I'd already tackled my fear of open water and
sharks this trip, and that was enough; my fear of heights would have to remain
for a while longer. We soaked in the views, and having decided not to pay £7
for a beer made our way back to our trustworthy Kao San Road for our last few
Changs of the holiday. We managed to see Chris Hoy win his gold in the keirin
which was nice, and went back to our hostel for some well earned sleep.
The next day we bought a couple of last minute purchases from the Kao
San markets before embarking on a very bumpy minibus journey to the airport. A
smooth couple of flights home and 14 hours later we were at London Heathrow,
happy to be home but already missing Thailand. We'd had a wonderful trip but it
had to end sometime. Followers of the blog will be equally sad, I'm sure, that
they won't have the regular witty updates to look forward to every few days,
but you do get us home, and we can tell you all about it in the flesh. What
more could you want?
Ben, Pete and Charlotte
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