The madness

Trip Start May 03, 2008

Trip End May 02, 2009

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Where I stayed

Power beach resort

(Bangkok hotels)

Flag of Thailand Koh Phangan, Thailand
Thursday, June 19, 2008

We arrived on the 17th the day before the full moon party and that was our first mistake. The full moon party is a party on Haad Rin beach under the light of a full moon surprisingly enough. Firstly we caught an extortionate tuk tuk to Haad Rin to find accommodation. After three hours of walking around the small village we realised we really should have booked ahead. The only rooms available were ones for around a hundred euro which would be our entire budget for five days. It also meant that these basic rooms were ten times the normal rate. Also with many places you needed to book at least four nights some had a minimum of seven night stay.

I haggled in the heat to get a tuk tuk to the next group of resorts and we went searching again. After taking turns to search, Marie Therese finally found a place that although expensive at just under twenty euro, was doable as there was no other availability.

The next night we set off to the full moon party and to meet Ann Marie who I used to work with in Ulster Bank. Unfortunately my phone could only receive texts and not send them; Vodafone isn't the most reliable out here. We agreed to meet on the beach at the mushroom bar which we thought was the name of a bar obviously, that was probably our second mistake. We asked some locals in the village where it was including one girl in a shop who told us that we didn't want to go there. After finally getting directions at a posh resort we were told that the bar was at the end of the beach. When we got there we saw there was only one bar but it was called something else. Thinking we'd made a mistake and they might be in there anyway, we went in and after a minute a few things fell in place. On the wall there was a sign selling "special shakes". After all that they weren't there so we walked onto the beach and after awhile I got text saying they were sitting under the full moon party sign right where we were standing. After we met up and explained our story, Ann Marie defended herself saying a backpacker had told her it was a good landmark to meet at, not knowing what the place was.

The party itself was okay with lots of fire dancers and partying but there were lots of people passed out on the beach and we ended up not staying too late in the end heading back to our place. Of course that was slightly delayed as when we were driving home sharing a communal tuk tuk with about ten others, who did we see by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, but Ann Marie. Shouted to the tuk tuk driver to stop and we jumped out to see what was up. Not much in any event they were just trying to get a tuk tuk themselves as the first one they took wouldn't take them all the way to their destination which was on the other side of the island. Took us awhile to get another tuk tuk and it was a little like a Dublin taxi rank on a Saturday night but we got home in the end without further issues.

We decided not to stay much longer in Koh Phangan as it was quite crowded and expensive and headed to the next island of Koh Samui.