PHOTOS!!!!
It feels a bit like boxing day today – minus the leftovers… mmmm leftovers. Right. What I mean is for the last week I’ve been getting stoked about the Full Moon Party and really the stoking began long before that. I don’t remember when I first heard about the Full Moon parties of Koh Pha Ngan, but likely when I first started to read about Thailand around four or five years ago, and I’ve wanted to go ever since. The idea of thousands of people jumping around on the beach under the light of the moon just seemed like a really cool idea (anyone up for starting a similar party in the Niagara Region? Oh wait, you’re not aloud to party anywhere in Canada…). Anyway, so right, my expectations, though I always fight such things, were built up quite a bit and now, sitting here the day after, I’m sad that it’s done.
It was a complete blast.
Martin, Jin and I had a bit of a slow start yesterday after spending the better portion of the night before jumping around on the beach. Apparently it was a Buddha Day so alcohol didn’t start flowing until after midnight. It was sort of surreal walking along the beach and seeing all these people just sitting there waiting for the bars to light up and the music to start… and when it did everyone made up for lost time.
After drinking for a bit I got the brilliant idea to go for a dip in the buff. I ran it by Jin and Martin, they were game so we travelled down to a little more secluded section of the beach, found a spot to stash our stuff and I was out of my clothes and streaking across the sand before you could say “Shark Attack” (as that was all I kept thinking about while prancing around in the dark waters). After breaking through some waves I turned around to make sure I wasn’t alone. Thankfully I had been followed by the two of them, but apparently they didn’t get the memo as Martin was in his gitch and Jin her bright yellow bathing suit. Jin played the sly “I no speaka the Engish well. I no understand skinny dip” (she most certainly did as I went to some lengths explaining it to her before we got to the water), and Martin said that he didn’t mind his stuff getting stolen, but didn’t particularly want to walk home nakid. Meh.
We swam for a bit and then headed back to our stuff. As I was walking down the beach I passed a couple having a romantic gaze at the stars. They gave me a very quizical look, so I just smiled, waved and said “Good Evening”. As you do.
Anyway… so we got up yesterday and shook off our Changovers and started preparing for the eve ahead. Around 10 p.m. we met up with a girl named Jody who we’ve been hanging out with quite a bit (I met her on the boat over and she is in that photo of the boat from the pics the other day) and she had bought some neon body paint. Jin being an artist lent her abilities to our limbs and faces. I asked for a Ziggy Stardust star on my face, but she’s Korean and I think Bowie is illegal there 🙂 So I got a big orange star that with a bit of imagination looked about right. We hit the beach and it was just JAM PACKED! I mean it had been busy the nights before, but last night was insane! People everywhere, music all over the place and just general chaos. The evening broke up into sections when I had my video camera and when I didn’t… and really with the amount consumption, it is only in reviewing the tape that I get some idea as to what happened.
The whole thing passed very quickly and it seemed like only an hour after getting to the beach that Martin and I were dancing in the surf watching the sun come up. Jin didn’t make it to sunset and even though we tried to load her up with water and Red Bull, no luck and she was safely passed out at the bungalow. It’s a funny thing that with all those people we actually ran in to some people we knew. Jody (who we lost almost immediately after getting to the beach) and this cool Swedish guy who we had met the day before found us on the beach and hung out for a while. One of the best lines on the video tape is him saying in all seriousness and with a great Swed accent… “You should film the breasts!” and then he told me I should “rent a Thai girl and make a porno, but then you’ll have problems getting rid of her.” (experience can be a harsh teacher I guess).
We got back to the bungalow at about 7 or 8 this morning… sat around for a bit (from photos I know that Jin was up for this) and then crashed until about 3 this afternoon. Most of tonight I’ve spent trying to figure out where the heck I should go next. I’m nearly out of money, so it’ll have to involve camping or very simplistic accomm for 100B or less. I think I might go to Ang Thong, a group of islands just west of here, and camp there for a few days. One of the islands is what the beach in The Beach is based on – as it has an inland lake fed by an underground tunnel from the ocean. But I think first I’ll head to the north end of the island and see what it’s all about – likely nothing as mostly people just come to Koh Pha Ngan for the Full Moon Parties and now that it’s done, I think it’ll be clearing out quite quickly.
Can you all believe that in 20 days I’ll be heading home? I really can’t wait. I’ve already made vows about copious amounts of pizza and pop.. I’m going to stuff myself silly.
Peace
