Day 169 -- Koh Phangan (Full Moon Party)

So for all the hype I've been giving this day...it couldn't have turned out any other way! Woke up at about 10am with a good headache....first thing I remembered is that I lost my wallet, but since the card was deactivated nothing big to worry about. Made it down to the lounge area of the bungalows for breakfast and the rain began. Ended up watching about 6 episodes of Friends, had some food and the rain finally slowed down enough to let me run back to the bungalow. Within minutes it was back so forced to stay inside...I took a nap all afternoon and woke up at about 7pm. This rainy season sure has started early...anyways, when I got up, there was no power in the bungalow or anywhere on the property so I went back to the lounge area to find that most of the guests/residents were there using candles. Kitchen was still open since, so got some food and met up with a group of Australians who were also headed to the Full Moon Party. Had planned to be in Haad Rin, base of the party by 9pm to meet up with Pieter and others, but since the power was out across all of Koh Phangan we decided to take it slow. By about 10pm, the power was back on, but too late for me since I had already taken a shower in the dark...very fun! We all jumped in the back of a taxi and headed into the party....paid the 100 baht entrance and hit the beach. First stop was to pick up a Bacardi bucket with red bull and coke and see who we can find. Surprisingly I saw everyone I wanted to within the first 10 minutes but it wouldn't be that easy the rest of the night.

So the party....the rain came down sporadically throughout the entire night but the crowd made the most of it! I would estimate about 7,000-8,000 people and it was for sure the biggest beach party I've ever been to. Bars set up all along the beach and everyone one had a different genre of music so you had something to appeal to everyone. I got separated from Mike and the Australians shortly after we arrived and never ran into them again. Spent the majority of the night on a solo wandering mission, but it was really fun nonetheless. Hung out with some Canadians, Swedish, Australians, British and a few Americans but the details are all a bit hazy. Lots of buckets, Singha beers, dancing meant good fun until about sunrise when I finally jumped in a cab back to Ban Tai. Overall the party was a great time, but I do wish the weather would have been just a little better! Next time I think I'll check out one of these Black Moon or Half Moon parties...Half Moon is in the jungle - might be interesting!