#had rin

[world-of-mintie-blog]

Full Moon Party, Koh Phangan Thailand

[world-of-mintie-blog]

Full Moon Party, Koh Phangan

Koh Phangan is a very special place, there are few places in this world where you can live out your desert island dreams of palm trees and white sand beaches, and still have a blinding night out at a rocking party every month. With the global notoriety that the Full Moon Party has gained as being one of the biggest and best beach bashes in the world, we get more than our fair share of hedonists gracing our shores. Each year the scene here grows with the ever-increasing number of party faithful that return, bringing their mates and spreading the vibe.

Haad Rin is home to the Full Moon Party and also houses about 3-5000 rather mad people; it is the island's nightlife capital and has Koh Phangan's biggest concentration of beach clubs that collectively put on the ultimate travellers get together. There are over 12 major sound systems running the length of Had Rin beach, catering for 8000 to 12,000 punters in low season, 15,000 to 20,000 in high season and up to 30,000 at New Year. Within this transient crowd of party animals some highly talented DJ's pass through, banging out their wares to the raging lunar explorers that have landed on planet party.

There are many shops for you to buy drinks such as whisky, beer, bucket (Vodka mixes with Whisky and others), and etc. 

Loads of people will gather around the beach bars to dance and get fun.

Fire dancing man. You can actually feel the heat. And, please be careful sometimes he drops it around the people too. :D

There are 3 famous beach bars in Had Rin. They are different in music styles, depends on which kind of music you like. In my opinion, I prefer Cactus bar because I like Pop music!

I took this picture in the night after full moon party night. People will usually go out of Koh Phangan after full moon party night immediately, but some still are here.

Drop in bar, Drop in is the name of a hotel in Had Rin. 

Moon house bar.

[veronicagoesabroad]

Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan

We arrived in Koh Samui on a Sunday afternoon, to the quaint tiki style open air airport. The flight in gave us a good birds’ eye view of the area, and the neighbouring island of Koh Pha Ngan, where we would be heading next.  Once we picked up our luggage, we looked into transportation methods and realized how expensive it was to take cabs on the island. My Lonely Planet guide stated that a 35 Baht taxi ride in Bangkok would cost 350 Baht in Koh Samui. They were right! A 10 minute cab ride to our hotel would cost 500 Baht (fixed price) or about $17. Sadat wanted to rent a jeep instead for 600 Baht a day. Once all the technicalities had been worked out, the jeep was dropped off and we were on our way.

Sadat and the rental jeep he so loved

We checked into our accommodations shortly after. Sadat had booked us into a fairly nice place called the Samui Resotel & Spa, at the south end of the Chaweng beach strip. From the view outside, I was already impressed. The architecture was extremely modern, the place was clean, they had beautiful modern water fountains in the main entrance and the lobby smelled like peppermint or something herbal and relaxing. Porters took our luggage to our room. Inside we received a welcome fruit basket. The room itself was a decent size, with one king bed and one queen, and a fairly large balcony. The bathroom had a glass shower and a deep soaker tub. At night they perform turn down service and light scented oil and candles in the bathroom. The room was decorated in all white with a contrasting 3 piece modern painting in deep shades of blue. It was such a refreshing change from my previous tour to be staying in such nice accommodations.  We took a short walk around the place to scope out the pool and beach, which were both quite nice.

After freshening up we went for a quickie dinner at a cheap place with sticky menus and plastic table and chairs. The food was thai and half decent, and your beers came with beer cooler cuffs. It was food. Afterwards we perused the local shops and finally ended up at one of the popular bars. It was a cool, modern looking bar, like something you would find in downtown Toronto, but I couldn’t believe how expensive it was. Same prices as at home! It wasn’t very busy either. After a drink and a game of pool we decided to take off to another bar. We found a street where many bars were located, and picked one that had good music and cheap buckets. We each ordered a bucket but didn’t stay very long. We ended up at Green Mango, the popular dance bar in Chaweng but only stayed an hour or so before heading home.

The next day we took it easy in the morning. We slept in, had breakfast at the resort (which was included and really good) and spent some time at the beach. In the afternoon we went out exploring the island by jeep. We first drove around the North Eastern tip, looking for good beaches and lookouts. We visited the Big Buddha temple and purchased a roof tile for their next temple. The monk there gave us each a neon coloured bracelet that I really like and am still wearing today. Afterwards we drove to Bo Phut, the ancient Chinese Fishing Village and stopped for lunch at Karma Sutra, a restaurant that had been recommended in my Lonely Planet Guide. It looked really funky, and the food was really good.  After a brief but heavy downpour, we continued our exploration along the East cost of the island, past Lamai towards the waterfall called Na Muang. The road leading to the waterfall deposited us in a parking lot for an elephant camp. In the parking lot, a Thai man with a small young elephant came over to us asking if we wanted to touch the elephant and take pictures. The elephant was so sweet and really well behaved/good natured. We took a couple pictures with it (including one were the elephant’s trunk was sucking in my ear). “200 baht” the guy declared after we were all done. Sadat gave him a bit of money and we walked off to start our 20 minute hikeup to the waterfall. What we didn’t realize until we got to the area below the waterfall was that they weren’t letting people climb up it do to the afternoon’s heavy rain showers.  In the end we only took a few photos in an around the lower part of the waterfall, and then proceeded back to the jeep.

Temples we visited on Koh Samui

Waterfall we visited; view of the southeast portion of Koh Samui from our vantage point on our way back from the falls

That night, we both called it at a night after a seafood dinner in town.

The next morning was a bit hectic. After breakfast, we packed up our things, used up the last of our pre-purchased internet cards, and arranged for the return of our rental jeep at the ferry. We had agreed to take the ferry over to Koh Pha Ngan at around 12:30pm so that we would have time to find accommodations before it turned dark that evening. We departed the hotel at 11am, bound for the ferry terminal where we had yet to purchase tickets. Once we arrived, we realized that the pier was little more than a long slender double person wide pier, stretching out into the ocean from a dirt parking lot accented by a small shack type building where the office was located. The waiting area was covered by corrugated metal roofing. As soon as we parked I ran to buy tickets. When I returned, Sadat ran to find a phone to call the rental company so they could come and pick up the jeep. It didn’t help that it was extremely hot and sunny with no shade whatsoever. Finally the rental guy showed up on his bike and took the keys off us. We went to join the couple hundred backpackers that were forming a mob surrounding the long wooden pier. Eventually, the ferry arrived and emptied its passengers and we were finally admitted to board the vessel. I crossed a firm wooden plank leading to the main deck and was instructed to remove my large pack, which was stacked in a huge luggage pile. We were then instructed to squish down the narrow railed walkway on the outside of the boat, where there was only enough room for passengers to stand or sit shoulder to shoulder. I picked a spot for Sadat and I next to some girls. Soon after, the remaining passengers filed on, filling our narrow walkway, and the boat departed.

We found ourselves next to two guys who looked to be about our age. After 10 minutes or so we were chatting and swapping stories about Koh Samui. It turns out these two guys had just finished their MBA’s in the States and were traveling for the summer before starting new jobs in the fall. We found we had a lot in common with them. By the end of the hour long ferry journey we had decided to try and ride along on their hotel transfer to try and book a room at their hotel. Sadat and I had hummed and hawed about whether to book ahead online (in the weeks leading up to the trip) or whether to find something when we arrived.  Once the boat docked, we grabbed our luggage, and met with the other two guys in their group. We found the appropriate transport vehicle (a pick up truck with benches and a covered roof on the back) and rode along to their accommodations: Sunrise Resort. We could tell they were a fun group of guys. As soon as we arrived at Sunrise, Sadat and I spoke with the hotel rep and found that they had rooms available. We decided to book a Superior Room overlooking the pool, which was apparently an amazing deal, considering we were paying the same as what others had paid by booking online for a Standard room (no view and no tv). It came to about $40/each per night before the Full Moon and $32/each for the one night after. I was content.

After settling in, we went to have lunch and explore the town. By late afternoon we made our way to the beach, where we ran into the guys and some topless Dutch girls they had met (or been drawn to). We all hung out and got acquainted, and took turns going into the water which was warm and refreshing. The beach was surprisingly nice: fine white sand, big stretch of beach, and no immediately visible filth. As the day ran late, we eventually headed in to get ready for dinner. Sadat and I found a great restaurant nearby called Moon Café that had a nice ambience, good food and was quite cheap. We picked up some supplies for the evening and headed to the guys place to hang out. We had such a fun time hanging out and getting to know each other. The Dutch girls came by and added to the fun, they were really nice, down to earth, fun girls. Another guy also stopped by, who was from BC and was finishing his degree at the University of Victoria. By 11pm we decided to head down to the beach and check out the pre pre Full Moon party. There was lots of music playing and lots of people dancing. We hit up various beach bars and stopped a few times to watch the ever talented flame twirlers (Thai guys who are experts at twirling flaming chains and batons). We even hit up a foam party (which through all my years of adolescence I had never experienced). Unfortunately for me, I decided to wash off in the water after getting foamed up, and decided to leave my purse in the sand for a few moments, so my camera wouldn’t get wet. I knew the risk of thievery was heightened  near Full Moon, but still I let my judgement lapse. When I went back to get my purse, it was gone (coincidentally, my bucket was still there). Stupidly I had my bank card, credit card and drivers license with me. The funny thing was I had just taken out money that day and had lots in the room, which was only a short walk away, so there was no reason for me to bring my credit card or bank card out for the night. Just plain stupid. Losing my camera sucked too because I had about 5 days of photos on my memory card which I hadn’t off-loaded yet (including my pictures with the elephant in Koh Samui). Despite this event, the night was a hit and ended late in the morning.

Amazing picture of the beach and moon taken from our resort, on our first night in Koh Pha Ngan

Pic of our resort; shot of a flame twirler peforming on the beach

The next day was generally pretty chill. Sadat and I had a late breakfast, explored the town a bit, spent some time at the beach and pool, and went out for dinner in the evening. We didn’t get up to much that night because we knew the following day and night would be taxing.

Finally the morning of Full Moon Party had arrived, and I was excited like a kid on Christmas morning. I had been thinking about this night for many weeks, unsure whether Full Moon was something I would even enjoy, but as it approached I became excited nonetheless. After breakfast we stopped to pick up paint (to paint our bodies with), alcohol, and paddle ball (fun for the pool right?).  In the afternoon we hung out at the pool with the American guys and some girls from Hong Kong. It was a fun afternoon.  Late in the afternoon we headed in for a brief nap and to shower up for the evening. The festivities began soon after dinner. We met up with the American guys, and commenced our body painting. I was fairly conservative with my painting, sticking to hearts on both my shoulders attached to swirly lines and polka dots. I got one of the girls to write Canada across my upper back, and on the fronts of my shoulders I wrote a T. on one side and an O. on the other. The first time I did it, I was standing in front of the mirror and ended up with .O and .T, so I had to wash it off and do it over. Eventually, I was coerced to add some racing stripes to the top of my chest (they looked more like Chevrons or something) and some quarterback style strips to my cheeks. The guys were pretty creative, adding tattoo-like paintings of things that were important to them, to their face and arms. One of the guys did a Mike Tyson like tattoo on the side of his face. I wasn’t ready to go that extreme! Sadat got really into it though and had nearly every exposed inch of himself painted in some hue of neon paint. It was really fun. We headed out onto the beach around 11pm and I was immediately stung by how electric the atmosphere was.

Painting up for full moon

There were probably a few thousand people on the beach, which easily tripled or quadrupled the number of people we had seen on the beach on previous evenings. We started the night at the Rock, a bar high up on a rock face at the far end of the beach. It was a great place to watch the craziness below. After an hour, we went down to the main beach to partake in the festivities. We started at the waterslide where we each took a few slides down. It was so much fun. I was also keen to hit up the flaming jump rope but someone with me had better sense than to let me do it. We danced a lot and watched the amazing flame twirlers. After several hours I was partied out and headed in for the night. It was a really fun night, and one that I was surprised to enjoy after nearly 26 years of living.

Crazy full moon party on the beach; Sadat and I starting the night at The Rock

The water slide; more flame twirling

The next day I awoke early and headed down to the beach to watch the last of the revellers, partying and dancing on the beach. I was impressed by their perseverance. After breakfast we ran into the guys and decided to accompany them on a boat trip up the coast to visit other beaches. It soon became a day known as “V Day” by all who were present. I don’t know what got into me but I was on fire with one-liners and sarcasm. The guys got a real kick out of it. I don’t know where it came from but it happens to me once in a while. We had a hell of a time in our small wooden long boat, drinking beers and telling jokes. We stopped at a private beach and continued the fun on the beach. After 45 minutes we jumped back on the boat and headed to another private beach. Here our boat master caught a squid that I swear looked like a rubber toy.  He squeezed the ink pocket of the squid out into the water and I was amazed how much colour it produced. I decided then and there that I could never eat calamari again.

Vday boat trip with the Americans and Sadat

Throughout my Asia journey, I had come to have a change of heart about sea food. For the last year I had relied on sea food as my one remaining source of animal protein (apart from free range eggs and some dairy). I just didn’t feel ‘sorry enough’ for sea creatures yet, to cut them out of my diet. Slowly though I began to cut out fish, octopus and calamari. Since leaving Canada, I haven’t had any. But now I feel like I couldn’t go back to eating them either. They’re not sustainable sources of food. Until I’m convinced that sea creature populations are on the rebound, I will do my best to eliminate them from my diet. (I confess to having eaten some shrimp on my trip, due to necessity, and eating mussels at a seafood restaurant on our last night as a tour group in Bangkok). Otherwise I have been able to get by on vegetables, tofu and egg.

After the brief stop at the beach where our boat driver caught a calamari, we headed back on the boat, bound for Had Rin beach (the Full Moon party beach on Koh Pha Ngan) before the sun set (Actually there’s two Had Rin’s: one that is the sunrise beach (where we were staying) and on that is the sunset beach (where the pier is located. I can’t remember their names in Thai). By the time we anchored on the beach, we were all feeling pretty hungry and decided to hit up one of the beach restaurants for dinner. Afterwards, we all decided to meet back up again and enjoy one last full night together. We met up at one of the beach bars (Cactus Bar) and sat at tables to watch the fire twirlers perform. They were mesmerizing. I decided that fire twirling was like an art, a sport and a dance, all twirled into one. These guys had a real pride in their craft, which was evident from their hits and misses. We saw them throw their chains or batons way up in the air, and catch them behind their back. We saw them throw the chains 30 metres down the beach where they were caught by one of the other performers, who then threw both chains back again. It was amazing. All the while, hit songs played in the background, against the sound of the crashing waves. It was a wonderful experience.

After a couple hours, the bar set up to host a balloon game. Each participant had a balloon looped on their ankle by an elastic. A large circle was drawn in the sand and when the music started, you had to try and pop other participants’ balloons without having your own popped. I lasted only two rounds and was extremely disappointed. It was still a fun game to play and watch, nonetheless. Afterwards they set up for arm wrestling. I was anxious to participate but didn’t get my chance until the girls’ round finally came around. I competed but was slaughtered by a girl with arms much bigger than mine. After all the games we bar hopped for a bit and then turned in for the night.

The next day Sadat, and our American friends checked out. I was sad to see them leave, but excited to move onto Koh Tao where I had arranged to take my Open Water Diver Certification with Crystal Dive Resort.