Half Moon Party

Before we left Koh Tao, we were looking in a shop. The doors were open and the lights were on so we thought it was open. The lady at the counter was kind of grumpy, but didn't say much. The next thing we knew, she was running at us with a broom, chasing us out because she was closed. She was crazy.

Koh Tao was quiet while we were there because it was only a couple days after the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan. In high season, upwards of 20 000 people congregate on the beach for an all night party, dancing to trance music pumped out by the djs and drinking literal buckets of vodka or whiskey mixed with Red Bull. It's a pretty crazy time. Haad Rin, the host beach of the Full Moon Party, is known as the party beach with a happening night life every night of the year. After our quiet nights in Koh Tao, we were ready for a little more excitement.

Haad Rin is on a peninsula on the southeast corner of Koh Phangan. It's divided into two sections: sunrise and sunset. Sunrise is where the party is. Sunset is where cheap accomodation is. We checked into a bungalow substantially better than our last one. The lights were bright enough for us to see. In our Koh Tao bungalow, the lights were so dim, we used our headlamps to read at night. The afternoon was spent suntanning and swimming. I don't know if I could get tired of tropical beaches.

That night, God put on a fire show in the sky while restaurant employees stood on the beach putting on their own. The lightning was fantastic - bright streaks stretching across the entire sky. We ate on the beach in a quiet restaurant. In fact, every restaurant we walked by was quiet. Some had no people in them. Some were closed. It is low season here, but we expected a few more people to be out at the party beach. But no. We went to bed early.

The next day was May 30, a week after full moon and time for the twice monthly Half Moon festival. This festival takes place in the jungle with neon decorations and black lights. When we walked in with our new friends from the taxi truck, we only saw about three people there. The place is big enough for 1 999 people so there was definitely room to spare. Luckily we saw there were a lot of people on the upper level and joined them so we didn't feel so alone. As the night progressed, several hundred people showed up and after a few hours people started to dance. I think they needed to drink a few buckets first. It's awkward being with a sibling at such a party. We kept wishing we were with our friends. It was still a cool experience. We met a girl from Thompson MB who tried to drag Gregg out onto the dance floor. She was kind of mad when he didn't go.

Another day on the beach and Gregg got to experience a real Asian downpour. We saw the clouds roll in and the rain start on the hills at the end of the beach. Everyone ran for cover as the rain started to beat down.

Today, we departed from Koh Phangan on the Haad Rin Queen. The water was choppy and huge waves would dowse all of us and our stuff. I sought shelter behind the staff cabin next to a strange man singing along to what may have been Hebrew rock. Gregg stayed on the bench and felt the full force of the waves. He was dripping wet.

Koh Samui is one of the largest islands in Thailand. We are settled into a room on Chaweng beach on the east side. It's about 5 km long and has a thick concentration of shops and services and entertainment. We can see Burger King from our deck. Once again, we went to the beach. I tried to make a sandcastle and a sandturtle and neither were impressive.

The best thing about today was seeing Wolverine, our friend from the slow boat to Luang Prabang. We didn't get to talk to him. We just saw him swimming with his long hair and chops, still wearing his glasses with the idiot string. I've never met anyone else who can wear an idiot string and make it look cool. Hopefully we'll run into him tomorrow.