I arrived at Koh Phangan fairly unsure what to expect. It's always hard when you leave somewhere you've had a really great experience, to not be kind of biased toward the next place, thinking it can't possibly be as good. It was as good and even better!
For those who don't know, most people make their way to Koh Phangan based on the moon cycle, since the Full Moon party is the biggest and craziest one they have. It's at Haad Rin beach every month although if it happens to fall on a holiday it will be postponed to the next night, which I found out after I'd booked my ferry and train away from the island. Ah well.
There's also a minimum stay at most hostels around Full Moon so instead of my originally planned 2 or 3 nights, I was there 4. And so glad for it! Sometimes in a trip things just fall together perfectly and this was one of those cases. I met some great people from the first night onward, saw some people I'd met in Koh Tao, the hostel had a great vibe and super helpful and friendly owner and the atmosphere of the island in general was just lovely, laid-back during the day and all fun-loving beach party at night. No shoes required (you'll lose them anyway).
We went to Haad Rin (the famous party beach) a couple times and a drum and base party at a neighbouring hostel one night. Our first visit to Haad Rin, we set out at around 11 after a few beers at the hostel. We split a cab, a sorry little car that had a lot of hilarious and slightly frightening trouble getting up the hills on the way. Apparently the driver wasn't quite competent, trying to change gears in an automatic or something? Anyway, after 20 minutes or so he left us safe and sound at the beach. We followed the music.
We spent the rest of the night on the beach, alternating between buying buckets, jumping around in the sand, dancing on tables, talking to strangers and getting disgustingly sandy in the foam party area. It was so much fun!! We even managed to stay together as a group and caught a group tuktuk back together, some time after 4 or 5.
After a day of lounging, the drum and base party the next night was just as fun, although thankfully closer to home. The night after that a few people went to a jungle party but since I had to be up at 630 the next morning to go diving, I opted for a night off. Had to save my energy for full moon anyway.
Diving was fun, we went to the most famous spot off the island, called Sail Rock. Sadly, the wind was strong that day, making for a VERY rocky boat ride and also pretty bad visibility. And yet...I SAW MY FIRST WHALE SHARK!!! WOW it appeared basically right in front of us, I saw my guide start and then point frantically but it took me a couple seconds to hone in on it. It was HUGE!!! And terrifying and absolutely amazing! Because of the poor visibility, it must have been about one or two meters in front of us...just wow. Made the trip completely worth it.
So it was a good start to Full Moon day. I arrived back at the hostel with plenty of time to take a nice, long, nap and restore my strenth ;) Then the party started.It was similar to our first trip to Haad Rin but on a bigger scale. We started with casual drinks then attacked the delicious buffet bbq the hostel has prepared. After a trip to the local supermarket for some slightly more reasonably-priced beverages, we settled in for a while. Here and there, the neon paints appeared and were applied to various people. I never actually saw what was on my back but I'm told it was some kind of flower...
11 rolled around and suddenly, we were on the move. Things happened so quickly a couple of us almost missed the group tuktuk everyone was crammed in but in the ened, with several people on the floor and hanging off the back, off we went. Once there, it was similar to our last visit but just everything was bigger, louder, crazier. Epic. We piled out of the tuktuk singing "follow the leader", our "leaders being the few who'd bought giant pink dusters to hold above the crowd so we could find each other. It worked at first and might've workeed better if there hadn't been alcohol involved buuut eventually most of us lost each other, but I don't think anyone ended up actually alone so it was ok. It was an even crazier night of dancing, beach bar hopping etc etc etc! If you want exact details you can talk to me directly ;)
The next day I sadly had a ferry to catch at 1230 so I snatched a couple hours of sleep and set off with a couple of British boys who were also leaving. I left Koh Phangan exhausted, happy and slightly injured (don't worry, I'm mostly healed). What an amazing time!
If you ever go to Full Moon let me know and I'll give you some tips ;) and recommend my amazing hostel.
