Ko Phangan and the Full Moon Party

The one the middle is ours....10 meters from the sea on the left

Ok so its the day after the day after the Full Moon Party and I can finally string a sequence of words together again. We've been on the island since the 1st of Feb and this has been some of the most relaxing times we've had so far (other than the Full Moon Party that is).

We left Ko Tao on the 1st and came pretty close to missing the ferry but in reality we had about 9 minutes to spare so we definitely woke up too early. We arrived in Ko Phangan and had been reccommended a place to stay through a friend in London. By him reccommending the place we qualified for a 10% discount on all accommodation as well as on booze and food, plus a free taxi to the spot. Not a bad start. On arrival we were greeted by this English guy who runs the place. He's been traveling for 15 years - and it shows. Being one or two teeth short of a full set and with eyes as red as Ferraris, you find yourself drawing some pretty quick conclusions about this guy and how he might operate the place. The first words he spoke to us were "Sheesh guys I've been on such a bender, got so hammered last night I can't even see straight. " As it turned out he'd overbooked and as a result we were bumped up to superior accommodation at no extra cost. Fine by me.

Considering the English guy (Karl) spends all the nights drinking and going to bed last out of everyone and sometimes sleeping in the restaurant area of the resort (because he's overbooked and has had to rent his own room out) the whole operation somehow manages to tick itself over, with the help of some very Thai dedicated staff. The whole atmosphere here is so relaxed that when Karl is especially not in any condition to operate his business you could find yourself being sent to the kitchen to make your own cup of tea because he couldn't be asked to do it himself and all the staff are in bed. Like I said, it's very laid back here and the location is insane. Our bungalow is literally 10 meters from the water's edge and anything you need to get you through the day is not much further than that either.

The first day we spent doing the usual. Lie in the sun, read a book, get hot, get in the water and go snorkelling then get out the water and lie in the sun, read a book, get hot............... you get the idea.

The next day was the calm before the storm. We spent the day cruising around on bikes and having lunch at a pretty cool restaurant with a good lookout point. The road that leads you to the restaurant has one hell of a steep section just before the top of the hill and you have to floor it to make sure you get to the top. Which is exactly what I was doing, but as you get to the top of the hill you suddenly realise that it goes downhill almost as steeply on the other side. Not only that, but it also kind of drops off a bit and turns into a dirt road. I hit the brakes and literally stopped about 5 cms before the dirt road. Here's the skid mark and dirt road that I very nearly tackled involuntarily.

That night it was Full Moon night and there was a buzz around the place. Karl had arranged taxis for 10, 11 and 12 o'clock to take us to the Haad Rin beach where the world famous dance party takes place. We wanted to take the 11 bells taxi but it was already full so we ended up heading to the party at 12 (that's midnight) and arrived there about half an hour later. Mayhem is what greeted us. But good mayhem. All along the stretch of beach there are clubs opening up onto the sand and each club has a sound system to rival anything else I've ever heard before. In front of each club are masses of people all dancing to the beat that's been thown at them and they all seem to be having a great time. The beach is flanked by a hill on either side of it and on these hills are more clubs which, if you're in them, are offered an awesome view of the madness that unfolds on the beach below.

A lot of people say that the Full Moon Party is over-rated and it's just a tourist trap.......of course it is, but you'd be stupid not to go to it if you had the opportunity because it really is like nothing else I've ever been to. People going mental on the beach, vendors selling booze and food right on the sand, some pretty wierd people milling around or stopping to talk to you (sometimes not making much sense) and one of the best vibes you could hope to see when you go out for a party with thousands of strangers. So we did the Full Moon Party and although we weren't perhaps dancing and going as balls to the wall as some, there was plenty to keep us entertained and we managed to stay up 'til sunrise which is the expected thing to do. 14 of us got a taxi back to our resort at about 6 in the morning and I finally fell into bed around 7:15. That was yesterday and it took a whole day of sleeping waking up for lunch and then sleeping to get me to where I am now...somewhere back in the realm of normality.

Tomorrow we're heading to Ko Samui, the last of the 3 islands on the East side of the mainland and we'll be there for 2 short days before Bren and Laura head back to Bangkok to catch their flight to Ireland before heading back to SA. Otta has to do a visa run so will either head to Hong Kong, Singapore or Cambodia but he's not sure which, a good problem to have as he so rightly pointed out. I'm not 100% sure of what I',m going to do but it's not something I'm worried about. If I find a good beach in Ko Samui then I'll stay there for a couple of days or otherwise come back to Ko Phangan or possibly even back to Ko Tao.

**This post is slightly out-dated and I'm already in Ko Samui wracking up more photos so keep an eye open for the end of the week for another update**