22/07/2008
Koh Phangan, Thailand.
With no expectations of a great party on the 19th, but overly curious and in need of a dance, we arrived back in Thong Nai Pan Yai on the 17th. Our plan was to stay at Haad Rin, where the party is held, but the entire island was full. Our friends at Ping Chan had a single spare bungalow left at 400 baht - everywhere else i called was either full, or over 1000 baht. It is crazy what the parties have done for the island - a week before, it starts to fill, prices rise, all boats to the island are overflowing. Even the north, our quiet beach and pool, was teething with teenage and 20-something poms, showing all the disrespect you'd expect of someone on a drunken party holiday..
We ran into many people who were still there from our previous stay, one of whom was Aaron, from Seattle. He was great in organising a boat for us and the 20 odd other folk staying at Ping Chan that wanted to go. Haad Rin is about an hour away by longtail (Thai water taxi), but about 1/2 an hour by Dreamland's speed boat, which he had wonderfully arranged, and at a discounted price. That was a grand way to arrive - pulling up a bit after midnight to an absolutely chaotic beach of at least 10 - 15,000 shitfaced people, and simply jumping off the boat. As you can imagine, most people went their own ways on arrival, Didi and i just managing to stay together amoungst the crowds. Determining a meeting point was obviously the first thing we did.. Lucky.
To my astonishment (pessimistic bastard i can be, eh?), the music on 2 of the sound systems was simply awesome. And the sound systems themselves, were not to be sneezed at in any way. Great music through a big, clear system is not what i expected! So, with big smiles on our faces, we headed to the bucket stands - for 150-200 baht, they will fill a bucket with ice, pour in 375ml of whatever spirit you are wanting, a can of coke, and a bottle of Thai red bull... Incredibly strong, yet cold and tasty. Danger. I should have realised just how dangerous this could end up!! Simply put, Didi and I had an awesome time, danced for hours, drank 3 buckets, ended up swimming by the dancefloor, losing eachother, finding eachother again (thank god for the meeting spot!), then finding a longtail to take us home..
Which is a story in itself! Large waves + Thai longtail = very wet clothes (no spares by this stage - we'd been swimming in the others). Then, we were the only people on the boat going to Thong Nai Pan Yai. All the others were going to Thong Nai Pan Nai (only 5 min difference by boat, but the beaches are seperated by a bluff of granite rocks). On arrival to Nai, everyone got out, including the driver, who after 10 minutes, still wasn't back. I asked the other Thai who was near the boat, and he said the driver had gone to eat. It was 6am by this stage, and starting to get light. He said 10 more minutes. After another 15, when asked again, he said another 15 minutes. Didi and i were both shivering by this stage - the first time i'd been cold in Thailand! So we made a decision that only alcohol could be responsible for...
Fuck the driver, let's walk. Well after another 20 minutes, some grazed toes, shins and knees, we were on the granite rocks. Halfway around the bluff, I realised there was no sensible way around. With a drunken Didi, and a 3 metre drop into the rock infested water, i figured it was a really bad idea to continue. By this stage we had a well fed but rather angry boat driver climbing over the rocks after us! (of course we hadn't paid the cheeky bastard). After some heated and alcohol fueled words, and some renegotiations on the previously arranged price (to cover our 45 minute ordeal) we clambered back down the rocks, jumped into the water, and back in the boat..
And arrived on our beach, nearly 2 hours after setting out from Haad Rin, drenched to the core (onward boat and train tickets, money and all), bleeding from small wounds over our feet and legs, still very drunk, and laughing at our stupidity, and the drivers unorthodox breakfast break..
So all in all, that was an awesome experience, regardless of the dramatic end to the evening! I would love to do another, so there is yet another reason to return.......
