This is a horribly wonderful place. We checked into Baan Tai backpacker hostel. It is owned by a guy from Calgary who is also 32. We stayed in a dorm style hostel and met a girl named Kim. Actually her last name is Kim and her first name is very difficult to say so she just goes by Kim. We would end up spending a good 2 weeks travelling together. There were a total of 6 beds in our dorm and everyone is Canadian except for Kim who is from south Korea. The other Canadian guys were very young and looking to party hard. Two of the guys happened to turn slightly douchey when drunk. Both guys got in seperate fights at two different times during the night of the full moon party. Our first night there we ended up going to this party for 500 baht each which in retrospect was a waste as we later learned we could get in for free. Kyle was very generous this night, he ended up buying about 9 buckets between the 3 of us. We also ran into a guy from Bangkok, we couldn't remember his name but he could remember ours. Garith is his name. We danced in the sand for about 5 hours listening to techno music. There was some interesting characters in the coward. One guy looked almost exactly Chris Farley, another guy was shirtless with long dreads baggy Thai pants and no sandels. We saw this same guy walking on the beach hours earlier with only one sandel. I'm pretty sure he was on some kind of heavy drug. I double piggy backed Kyle and Kim and piggy backed the weird dude with dreadlocks. There was a very very low douchebag factor at this party which is always a great thing. The next morning Kim and I go to a place called Karma house. It is run by a older Thai guy who looks like a surfer or serious pothead. PaPa is his name. In this place there is no menus, PaPa just makes food. He somehow understands everything we say but I could never understand anything he says. Papa makes random food (mostly when he is high) and it always tastes amazing. In his broken Thai/English he happens to mention he has a room for rent which is about $120 a month. It has no A/C but is cozy with a rotating fan. We ended up going to Papa's several times over the next three days on the island. Papa is in line with Thailand. "Thailand, you never know what you are going to get". There are plenty of pleasant and unpleasant surprises. During my time on this island I happened to get the travellers flu. I literally couldn't go without an hour without having to go #2. I tried to sleep during the day but it just wouldn't work. I had two options I could lay in bed sick or I could suck it up and deal with it. I chose to suck it up and deal with it. A (her name is A) she works at Baan Tai backpackers and she helped take care of me while I was sick. I decided to go with some people from our hostel and it was a rough night where I ended up being up for 30ish hours and somehow at the end of it Kyle remembered he has some pills for travellers flu. Two days later I was completed over it and on top of it I lost 17 pounds which was mostly water weight. Full moon party was same same but different as last time. We saw some young 20ish year old guy jump off some makeshift dance platform and land right on his neck. His exact words were "I think I broke my neck" followed by him celebrating over his drunkocity (drunk+idiot+city). His friend then jumped on his neck as well the time was around 8pm... I wouldn't be surprised it he woke up paralized. Needless to say Kyle Kim and I had a plan to make it through the night. I brought a roofie proof camel drink bag and we mixed drinks and drank from the same bag. We left just at the peak of the party. We ended up bumping into a guy from Winnipeg who got roofied 4 days prior to the full moon party. He said he and his buddy were offered a free shot and then they were tagged with a captain jack temporary tattoo. They said they felt horrible, so they drank about 8 red bulls and powered through it. They later learned they would have gotten completely robbed (they robbers would've taken their room key and rob their room and everything). First rule of Thailand NOTHING IS FREE. Second rule is never take a free anything from a local or anyone for that matter. Third rule is always have a safety plan. Fourth rule is don't be 18 years old.
