Nursing a Full Moon Party hangove
Trip Start
Oct 11, 2002
1
10
20
Trip End
Nov 04, 2002
Koh Pha-Ngan,
Thailand
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
So, Monday dawned the day of the Full Moon Party and Nicole and I decided to head to Hat Rin for the morning. We shopped for our full moon outfits. I chose a blue embroidered tie around top, yellow skirt and blue leather thongs for the party. I also bought some jewellery an other presents. We also decided to get a massage - relaxing into party mode.
We went into the masseuse and asked for a one our foot massage for cost 250B ($12). We s,down in the chairs while our feet were washed, dried, rubbed, oiled, pulled, kneaded, proddec and rolled. They didn't stop at just our feet and our legs and our faces, heads, necks and shoulders were massaged making it great value for money. We came out feeling very relaxed
I had enquired at Jungle Gym earlier in the day and was going to go to a Muay Thai class at 5pm for an hour and forty minutes. I went back with Nicole to the bungalow and got ready to go to the Jungle Gym for my class. I was the only person in my class and my instructor was ar English guy, Matt, who has been in Koh Pha-Ngan for 6 months learning to be an instructor fo when he goes back to the UK. I received some personal training which was great. I noticed some points of difference between Muay Thai and kickboxing. The Muay Thai stance is more face on with the hips straight forward. The fight is conducted on the balls of your feet and my feet are killing me today from being in such a different position. Also, the kick comes more from the hip and is less of a flick. Matt was a bit surprised to find out that I could wrap my own wraps and called a female instructor over to share his incredulity.
I
The lesson was conducted in the ring and I was given a pair of proper Muay Thai boxing shorts - of which I bought a pair at the conclusion of the class for 500B. Matt worked me hard and in the heat I quickly became exhausted. Matt showed me how to kick and holding my stance Muay Thai style. At one point in the class we were doing rib kicks and I kicked a bit high and clipped Matt in the head. I was very exhausted but we did some combinations at the end of the class and then did a Ram Muay - a boxing dance performed at the start of the fight. It is a story about a boxer who shoots three arrows ar7u L.1e first two miss and the third hits the target. Everything in the dance is performed in threes. Matt said it was a shame I could only gc to one class as he thought I had a lot of talent and power.
Totally exhausted I consumed a bottle of water and two electrolyte drinks and went back to the resort to get ready for the Full Moon Party. At the resort everyone was sitting around drinking, preparing for a big night on the beach. The whole resort was hanging out in the restaurant and our proprietor Eddie was dealing a few drugs, selling some mushroom shakes and mushroom omelettes. We needed to taxi loads to take us all there and I was in the second taxi which didn't leave until 11:15pm. It was another scary ride and after many trips to and from Hat Rin I am sure that the driver from Sunsea is the craziest of them all.
Noel, Nicole and I went to a spot on the beach near Cactus Club and I went and bought the yellow bag I had eyed off earlier which would fit my camera in it. All the shops were open and the street was filling as people made their way to the beach. The beach wasn't as crowded as I had expected. Lots of people were sitting around drinking - the full on dancing hadn't quite kicked in - most people were set on getting really hammered first.
I went back to Nicole and Noel who were sitting in the sand. I didn't want to get all sandy at the start of the evening and my earlier exhaustion was wearing off rapidly so I remained standing, surveying the crowd and dancing on the spot.
A group of people beside us were setting off firecrackers and one was positioned to go over the top of us. I moved back and lucky I did as one of the guys then pushed it over so it flew low and I'm sure it would have hit me had I not moved.
I was quite restless and wanted to find the Poms so I took off on a bit of a search which was also a bit of a prowl. I came across some other people from the resort and said hello but then went and found the Poms in between Mahoney Mart and the Cactus Club. They had seats and were looking extremely hammered. Chris, a Welsh guy, had some glo paint and he painted a picture of the full moon smoking a joint on my back. I then painted his head and neck and then went to get Nicole and Noel so they could join in the fun too.
All up and down the beach little Thai kids who would have only been in primary school were selling leis and glo bands/sticks. They were up the whole night and were still there at sunrise, some sleeping in chairs with their wares tucked in their arms.
The night seemed to disappear so quickly. I talked to so many people - mostly guys - who just happened to walk past. Trevor the circulating Canadian was very hot and very hammered. He kept walking past and I said hello to him every single time he walked past. He is off to Australia and so I got his email address and will email him when I get home.
Other people I met were Patrick - another Canadian from near Vancouver, Jamie a Porn wearing a lei who is off to Australia for a couple of years. Mike a Porn on his way to Australia. I got his email address too and will drop him a line when I get home. I also met Niron, an Israeli also headed for Australia. He was in our group as he was staying at our resort although I didn't realise this until the next day.
At one point in the evening a guy came up to me and said "I saw you in the gym today, you looked very tough." He had been doing weights while I was in the ring. I didn't recognise him though - there were a few guys in there while I was punching my heart out.
I spent my evening with the group chatting and dancing. Just before dawn I was really really tired and collapsed in a chair. Mike arrived on the scene, dragged over to our group by Susie and he sat in the chair next to me and we started talking. He kept apologising for being so hammered but I couldn't really tell. He was staying on Koh Samui and had to catch the ferry back at 6am. I pointed him in the direction of the pier and wished him luck in finding it in his inebriated state. I was determined to stay up until sunrise though.
The sky started to lighten but the beach was still crowded with many party hard people and lots of tired and snoozing people. Nicole left before the sun came up (later I found out that she left just after she'd paid 10B to spew in a toilet) but I hung around waiting for the sun. Sunrise and sunset happens so quickly. One minute the beach was quite dark with lighter coloured streaks in the sky and the next minute everything was bright and visible. People ran around taking photos of the sunrise and the party scene that remained.
I went home around 6:30am with Helen and Chris who had lost his thongs, found another pair and had his foot stomped on in the crowd whilst dancing. The taxi driver made us wait for ages for other people before taking us back to Sunsea.
I had to get one of Nicole's hospital grade bandages for Chris and we sat in the restaurant talking and watching more people come home. Everytime someone came home they would come and join us, have a bit of a debrief, something to eat and drink before drifting off to bed. Matt the Porn, friend of Alan-the-foot-sniffer, came over to Chris, Parky and I and started kissing us and then wrestled Parky to the ground. I eventually drifted off to our bungalow at about 10am for a couple of hours kip.
I woke up at about 12:30pm feeling very seedy and very hungry. We got dressed and went into Hat Rin to get money, book our ferry ticket, get a book for Nicole and check our emails. I was seriously considering getting another massage as all the muscles in my body were aching from my Muay Thai class. I was finding it difficult going down steps with my quadraceps screaming at me. We had lunch at Bongo Bungalows which was fantastic. I got a huge serving of schnitzel, chips and salad for only 100B.
Back at the resort people were just hanging around. The Canadians had left without saying goodbye. Others were packing up and getting ready to leave or set off to some other beach on Koh Pha-Ngan.
I helped Niron with a postcard he'd written in Hebrew. He wasn't sure whether to write the address in Hebrew or English and I said that he should just add Israel in English, just in case. I played a couple of games of pool with Niron, in between shots he sewed up a hole in his pants, and then went to bed after saying goodbye to the Poms who were still about.
The closest I came to anything illicit at the Full Moon Party was a picture of a full moon smoking a joint painted in glo paint on my back by Chris, who was most certainly under the influence of the weed or a fungus relative.
