Thursday, July 19, 2007

Full moon partying - Thai style

The Samui - neighbouring island of Koh Pha Ngan has long been a haven for party-goers from around the globe, with the now world-famous Full Moon parties kicking up a storm each month. Fancy joining thousands of hedonists watch the sun rise in a beautiful bay to a background of thumping dance beats and bongo drums? Here’s the low-down on the art to full mooning Thai style.

Arriving at Thong Sala Pier from the mainland or neighbouring islands, party-fiends are hustled into the back of pick-up trucks for the heart-stopping journey to Hat Rin. If you are lucky, negotiating these sharp bends at high speeds will be the only close call with trouble you have here. Expect a police check en-route if you are arriving on the eve of the party, and have your ID/passport at the ready.

If you haven’t arrived at least a few days before the Full Moon Party, finding a place to stay will likely involve a walk to the western side of the Hat Rin cape, a sort of unappealing overflow for tie dye clad ravers. Many prefer to stay on Samui and come over for the evening.

Many opt for no accommodation, preferring to spend their baht on booze and other thrills. This is a real option for those coming from Samui, but don’t cancel out the possibility that you will find yourself snoozing in the shrubbery around the bungalows set back from the beach in an effort to kill time before your return ferry.

Glorified in the 2000 Hollywood blockbuster The Beach, many tourists come to the Koh pha Ngan full moon party expecting to see Leonardo Di Caprico and have the time of their lives. After all, how could all-night entertainment at a stunning beach setting fail to impress? Add to this thousands of gorgeous men and women all on holiday and looking for a good time, and bingo! You have the party of the century, or do you?

“It was a let down. I came to hear cutting-edge dance music and was confronted with over intoxicated youths juggling fire”, said Angela, a 25-year-old surveyor from London. She continued, “Full Moon parties may have been rocking in the early 1990s, but they’ve past their sell by date”.

Well past their sell-by date in some people’s books, the days of recreational drugs passing freely among intrepid full mooners who had to do more than just buy an all-inclusive ferry ticket from Samui to get here are gone. Nowadays, the police stroll among the nearly 10,000 party-goers looking to nab any old greasy haired hippie who dares to spark up a joint in between applying day-glow paint. What happened to the chilled out Thai vibe?

Today, full mooning Thai style requires partiers to have a different set of skills than mooners of decades past. It is not all about expanding your mind with hallucinogenic properties anymore. The heightened police presence makes it unwise to consider consuming anything but a couple of shared buckets of Sang Som, coke and Red Bull. Keeping an eye on your wallet is also wise and leaving nothing of value in your bungalow even wiser. That’s what Koh Pha Ngan is like these days.

Despite the greater police presence, the Full Moon Party is a prime spot for meeting weirdos, drug addicts and those who look like they’ve been away from home so long they’ve forgotten their names. Steer clear of undesirables and don’t walk back to your bungalow alone. Perhaps equally important is the warning not to go swimming. With most of the male mooners preferring to pee in the sea than use the smelly and crowded club toilets, you’re more likely to get a mouthful of urine than have a pleasurable cooling off session as you watch the sun rise.

Regardless of the drawbacks, the Koh Pha Ngan full moon party can be a fun experience for many. “We had an awesome time”, exclaimed Andy Brucks from Melbourne. “The DJs played heaps of hot tunes and the atmosphere was electric. When the sun came up, the party started all over again”, he added.

Plenty of party epicures enjoy this event, many returning year after year to Koh Pha Ngan, or monthly in some cases. The freedom to wear what you want and shuffle from bar to club in between intermittent splashing in the Gulf’s waters is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some, and a nightmare for others.

The art of full mooning is difficult to define. While the party has moved on from its humble beginnings, the spirit of all-night revelry on the tip of a secluded Thai island is still alive and kicking among the painted faces, skimpy bikini-clad ladies, fire-eaters and outrageous costumes. It’s a lot different from nearby Samui, that’s for sure.

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