We found out about the Full Moon Party when we were in Koh Samui. Travel agents were promoting it because they offer speed boats to and fro Koh Phangan. Since Shervin and I wanted the trip to be as cheap as possible, we didn’t hang out in bars and clubs. We would buy beer from the grocery or 7-11 instead. But since Koh Phangan is famous for this full moon event (also for Half-Moon Party, Black Moon and Shiva Moon Party), we thought, might as well check it out.

Dancing from dusk ’til dawn – or ’til the next dusk.
We were thinking of posting the event on Couchsurfing’s Koh Phangan thread, but we found out there already is one. A few people were already exchanging messages about attending and sharing accommodation. I saw Poch’s (a fellow Pinoy) post that he’s going to be there, I was so excited there would be someone I could talk Tagalog with! I jotted down the attendees’ mobile numbers and got ecstatic about the party all the more.

We shared a room with three other people in Koh Phangan: Poch, Mac and Amaan. We instantly became a party group.

Drop In Bar, where it all began.
Night before Full Moon Party, the bars at Had Rin Nok (Sunrise Beach) were already pumping. We met up with the three at Drop In Bar (we went up the second floor balcony and spotted Amaan dancing in the crowd) after we took a long nap because of the three-hour hike we did earlier that day. Shervin and I weren’t in the mood to drink, so we just split a bottle of Beer Chang. We were also the first to go back to the hotel.

The following night… Full Moon Party was an invasion of the glow-in-the-dark-painted people. Girls wore bright orange/green headbands as if it was the 80s and guys had their favorite football teams painted on their bodies as if they’re on their way to a match.

Full Moon Party’s famous buckets.
We soaked up the lunacy and ordered a Songsam+Red Bull+Sprite bucket for 160 THB. We danced, like there’s no tomorrow.

Exhausted and dehydrated (nope, not caused by drugs), we walked to the other end of the beach just to see what’s going on. We passed by the first aid station and the sleeping area. It was funny to see drunks stagger with their buckets and bump into people, splashing their booze on them – but can still say sorry no matter how intoxicated they were. And the people who got wet from the booze merely shrugs it off.

Along the beach, amidst couples making out and uhm – stuff, we saw a guy lying motionless. Half of his body in the water. Another drunk came across him and woke him up to check if he was still alive and told him it’s not safe to lie down there. It was pretty cool to see how humans look after each other, even if they’re on auto-pilot mode.

We went back to Drop In and looked for our slippers under a ledge I danced on earlier. I couldn’t find mine, someone must have stolen them. Even if they weren’t, they could be anywhere camouflaged in the sand (since they’re color silver).

As for Shervin, his sandals were in the middle of a group of dancing Thais. When Shervin picked them up, the Thai girl said it was her friend’s. I scrutinized the pair and said, “See this is Tribu, it’s from the Philippines. And look at this (I pointed at its broken strap), it was damaged and I fixed it!”. I said so with such conviction, that the Thai’s friends finally said they’re not theirs. Damn, they finally gave in. I would have fought for the sandals until death (that’s what alco does to ya)!

Back at the hotel, we were tired but could not sleep at 2:30 AM. The Red Bull kicked in, and our hearts were still palpitating. Poch arrived minutes after us, annoyed that someone also took his slipper – but just one of them!

[This blog is part of the South East Asia in Six Weeks series which took place May-June 2009. Price of goods, transportation and so forth may already be different.]

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