Departing Koh Tao at 3pm after a day of lounging on the beach with some of the girls I met from the states was only the beginning...the ferry took about an hour to Koh Phangan and as soon as we got off the boat it was immediate chaos.
Catching a cab to Haad Rin Nok (the area where the party was) proved to be slightly more difficult than we thought. 100 baht per person is a bit high (in retrospect...it really is only like 3 bucks but shouldn't be that high) but we all conceded to the demanding taxi drivers and loaded up the back of the pick up.
Once we arrived at Palita Lodge, all of us were in pretty sour moods. We were tired from the sun, hungry, and quite overwhelmed. After getting settled, we ventured into town. Past full moon goers had told us that there was no way you weren't going to lose your shoes, so purchase a cheap pair that you don't care about. First of all, this is a weird thing to think about...losing your shoes that easily?
The girls that had been to a party previously had said they lost virtually everything. We were instructed not to bring ANYTHING...no phone, camera, valuables, etc. because there was no way you were making it back with them. So they were basically saying just take money...
I bought some flip flops, paint, dinner, and a "bucket" in town and we headed back to the hotel. These "buckets" are tiny pails, similar to what I used to play with at the beach and in sandboxes, filled with pineapple juice, your desired liquor, and usually some red bull to help keep you up. Once back in the room, the painting began. I didn't really want to lose any of my clothes, so I opted to wear just a bathing suit top and a skirt...thank goodness I made it home with these later in the night.
As you can see, we got a little wild with the paint, but it made it more fun...there's nothing like prepping for a rave/party. Around 10 pm we were off...we ran into Kevin and Billy and some Danish boys on the way out and ended up having quite a posse-good thing none of us really stuck together.
Mayhem is the only way to describe the beach. Stages lined the coastline parallel to a line of little "bucket" stands. Within all of this there were platforms to dance on, huge speakers everywhere, apparatuses with "Full Moon Party" etched in fire, a slide that goes through flames, people jump roping with a rope that was on fire, fire performances, painting stands...and the list goes on. You can basically hop up and down the beach catching different types of techno/house/pop/r&b music. It was quite a site.
We started off right by our hotel and made our way south on the beach. Intense is an understatement. With thousands of people on the beach, it is virtually impossible to stick together, so obviously I got separated from most of our group-which I actually was totally fine with. Prior to leaving, I had responsibly decided that I was not going to really drink too much just to make sure that I was aware of my surroundings cause I have heard it gets a bit sketchy...
Once I saw all of the different set-ups, I hovered in the area near the flaming jump rope...watching this was absurd...it was these 2 Thai men standing on two lifts about 10 feet apart and swinging this flaming rope, and stupid drunk people were trying to jump into the jump rope...but it really looked like the guys were trying to screw people over...they would speed up their swinging then slow it down intentionally trying to have it hit the people. They soak the rope in gasoline so the flames are quite hot, and even the slightest graze of the rope could lead to severe burns...which it did. I saw people get side swiped with the rope and actually one of the girls I was with ended up in the hospital because the rope broke and whipped back and hit her arm and the burns were pretty bad.
The night flew by in a crazy blur. I was dancing here, there, walking up to the mellow mountain to kind of just watch the party, back to the hotel to meet up with people again, and so on...it was such a blast! Around 4 am I had lost everyone, and I wandered back to the hotel...at this point there were mass amounts of people passed out on the beach (which I was warned to avoid at all costs because you get robbed if you sleep on the beach) and the crowd was finally starting to thin out. From here I hopped in the shower quick, washed off all of the paint and sweat from the party and crashed for a while.
A total of 1.5 hours sleep and I was up again in the morning. I scheduled an 8:30 am ferry/bus back to bangkok to ensure that I arrived at a decent hour, so my day started quite early. Close to 3 hours on a boat, and then 8 hours on the bus. Yes. Fact: 11 hours of traveling to get back to Bangkok...I slept, chatted with the people sitting around me, and watched a bit of the movies they were playing...
I am now in Bangkok...
I arrived around 9pm and its a little after midnight. After sleeping all day I'm finding it hard to head to bed because I'm not tired yet. I'm staying in the backpacking district for $8 tonight...definitely can't beat that price....BUT i don't have AC which is slightly unfortunate considering I'm sweating just sitting right now.
One more day in Thailand then off to Israel and NEEEEEK!!!! I'm really looking forward to this-first stop in Israel is Jerusalem!!! :)
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