'Hammer time' at Fullmoon

Sandra and I felt that there was no better way to see in the New Year than to go to one of the infamous full moon parties on Haad Rin beach in Koh Phagnan! Full moon parties are legendary among the backpacking crowd in Thailand, and have almost become a 'right of passage'. The parties happen every month usually coinciding with the full moon, and see tens of thousands of neon-clad revellers pour onto the beach to drink buckets and dance. We arrived in Koh Phagnan a few days before the party to give us an opportunity to see a bit of the island and also to enjoy the 'warm up' parties that were reportedly as good as full moon itself. We mainly spent our days sunbathing close to our hotel, but also took a couple of trips to see the surrounding sights. One particularly nice day was spent on the gorgeous beach of Mae Haad in the north of the island, where we lounged on the beach and got Thai massages on the beach-front platforms. There's nothing quite like a coconut oil massage looking out to sea and listening to the waves lapping the shore. Another nice day trip found up trekking to see a pretty (yet modest) waterfall and a lovely viewpoint hidden in the jungle, followed by a chance meeting with some lively elephants!

Our evenings running up to full moon were spent 'warming up' at various parties and often left us worse for wear the next day (luckily our room had a TV with movie channels!) We had a lot of fun between Christmas and New Year, and almost forgot that 'the big one' was yet to come..!

New Years Eve itself was a very exciting night on Koh Phagnan, with hundreds of people flooding onto the island by ferry. The streets were full of high spirited party-goers and the atmosphere was electric with anticipation for the evenings full moon party!! It is traditional at full moon to dress in neon clothing and paint yourself in glow in the dark paints, so Sandra and I began the evening shopping for the appropriate outfit and set about painting ourselves from head to toe!

Once fully made-up we met up with friends and joined the throngs of people headed towards the beach. When we reached the beach (it took a while) we were overwhelmed by the number of people there (estimated at around 40,000) it was truly a sight to behold!! We grabbed the obligatory buckets and some more neon accessories and joined the party. At midnight fireworks were set off and they were absolutely amazing! I haven't seen fireworks like it before, they were so huge that they completely FILLED the sky and had me mesmerised. I'm not sure when we partied until, but it was late, and the party was still very much in full swing. We had set aside New Years Day as a 'recovery'/ packing day and as the weather was crap we spent most of it watching movies. Early the next day I said my goodbyes to Sandra as I was headed back to Koh Tao, and she was returning to China. The goodbye was sad, but not too bad, as we will be meeting up again in January for more 'hammer time' in Laos.