Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan Island, Thailand

Hi friends! Hope all is well in the world with you :) 

[Momster and Popster - this might be a post that you want to skip...you have been forewarned!]

I am laying on the beach as I write this, munching on some new snacks: seaweed flavoured chips ( my new fave), dried seaweed crisps (what can I say, I was feelin' the seaweed vibe today) and a yogurt drink that I seen a bunch of people drinking here. Pretty sweet, but delish. 

 

[Another side note - I don't actually have any pics from the night on my iPhone since I decided to leave my iPhone in the safety of our hotel room and just being my point-and-shoot, which I'm SO glad that I did because I probs would have lost or destroyed it haha so enjoy a medley of other pics]

Anywho, the full moon party on Koh Phangan island was amazing. Point finale. I want to do it again haha. 

We took a ferry over from Koh Samui Island at around noon, where we were staying since the ENTIRE island was booked solid, no joke. If you want to stay on the island (which I would recommend so you don't have to worry about the ferry in the morning) definitely book your place in advance! 

We got to the island and got immediately lost, as per usual. We ended up on a beach and asked someone where we were. 'Haad Rin Nok, yo. Sunrise beach. Full moon party tonight!' 

Sweet. 

We wandered back through the town and got our supplies for the night - neon full moon party tank top, glow in the dark paint, and flower headbands for our hair. We then continued on to the sunset side of Haad Rin, the southern area of the island, since it was less crowded and we could chill and sleep for a bit. 

We ended up meeting some Israelis who were playing volleyball and ended up hanging out with them til after sunset. They wanted to take proper naps, so we decided it was time to find something to eat. We said we would see them later, and they replied 'yeeeah there's only going to be 30,000 people on the beach tonight, right?' 

We ended up leaving a couple of restaurants since the service was so slow - everywhere was flooded with people from all over the world, all decked out in neon and flowers - and ended up waiting in line for some street food. 

Mangosteen fruit- our fave!!

It turned into about an hour-long wait, but it was totally worth it. The man made everything one at a time, and it was seriously the best pad thai of my life. We made a couple of Canadian friends in line, who helped us get our war paint on. 

We were ready to tackle the beach! 

The rest of the night was a beautiful mixture of buckets (Thai alcohol, pop and redbull), dancing in the sand, dancing on stages, running along the beach...it was a ridiculously good time. 

Dragon fruit - not my fave

We ended up finding our Israeli buddies by pure chance. Crazy pants! 

A couple of downfalls from the night [Momster and Popster, skip this part]:

i) We saw people doing the limbo under a stick that was on fire. Everyone else did it but I said I was afraid of fire. Peer pressure kicked in and I thought, what the heck. BAD IDEA - the stick was balanced on two stools and rolled off just as I went under. I was SO freaking lucky - I had a black stripe across my chest and got away with only a few singe marks on my thigh and leg. I was kind of shaken, but decided to get back on the horse and went under...making sure two people were holding onto either end. 

Lesson learned: don't do the limbo under a fire-y stick unless it's held down. 

ii) Pickpocketing happened. I noticed someone tug on my bag, and then looked and saw that some of the shirts I had bought were gone. We looked around and somehow managed to find them all soaking wet in the sand. I didn't, however, find my glasses. Seeing is overrated, I guess...I'm secretly still hoping that someone will get them back to me, but might just have to get some made in Bangkok. I'm glad I was prepared for this, though, and didn't have anything else valuable to be taken. 

Lesson learned: be vigilant with your bags! Use a lock if you have one! It's dorky, but handy ;)

iii) The lady who sold us the tickets for the ferry had warned us to take one earlier than the last one (at 7am) but we didn't listen to her. After watching the sun rise, which was the highlight of the night, we wandered back to the pier to see a gaggle of people waiting in line. We stood there for about an hour when we started getting antsy. An Australian guy that I met in line said that he found a boat that would take us for 3000 baht (ridiculously expensive). 'I don't have cash on me, but if you pay for it I'll pay you back the whole lot'. Deal. Get me the hell off this island! 

So, off we went to our 'speed boat' aka wooden long boat. I would NOT recommend taking one of those things out into the open sea. We put life jackets on and stashed our stuff in the front of the boat and off we went into the craziest waves of all time. We were soaking wet in no time, laughing our pants off at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. We were near shore when we stalled. And then again. And again. It was all I could do not to kiss the ground when we docked. 

Lesson learned: stay on Koh Phangan or take an early ferry back to Koh Samui. Don't take a wooden boat. Or if you do, make sure the motor works ;) 

So, it was an adventure to say the least. But an epic time and seriously an experience I think everyone should have at least once in their lives. Don't be afraid - I let people freak me out beforehand. Be vigilant, but enjoy it!!