Full Moon Fever
It’s been a while since I sent one of the messages, so I thought I should let you all know that we survived the Full Moon party. We'd arrived well in advance and settled into life on the island. As the day of the party approached, everything continued to build. Boats crammed full of people arrived continually, the sight of people with backpacks wandering the street looking for a home became ever more common, the restaurants and bars got busier, and the buckets got more and more expensive. We killed the days mainly by sleeping late and lying on the beach. No more trips to the hospital and my good friend the taxi driver didn't seem to recognize me. Somehow, we'd had the date wrong so we were surprised to find out that the party was upon us one day early.
Full Moon on Hat Rin. This is something that is quite beyond my ability to describe. We'd spent most of the preceeding nights out on the beach and the bars had been pretty busy by any other standard. But when we walked out onto the beach that night, it was a completely different story. The entire beach, from end to end, was one mass of people. Every bar along the strip, most of which had been empty the night before, was packed with partiers. Music of every variety, from top 40 to Jungle was pounding out at you as you worked your way through the crowd of people, all in various states of intoxication, that poured out of each establishment. A massive strobe light shone like the sun from the south end of the beach. Vendours of every sort, most selling drinks, crowded the top of the beach. The water just off shore was full of boats floating and swaying in the waves, bringing more partiers or waiting to take them away. With all the people and the 10 baht charge for using the toilet, the ocean had unfortunately become a very large urnal in which, strangely, a large number of people still found room to dance in the waves. And over all of this, the full moon shone so brightly that it seemed to be focusing directly on this place.
The party went on all night, and as it did, some of the people and the scenes you witness got stranger and stranger. People in all states of dress and undress. Overweight farang (foreigner) guys, in their underwear, grinding to the music with Thai "lady boys". The whole atmosphere was like something out of a movie and has to be experienced to be understood. As the sun came up and shed daylight on the festivites, it did little to dim the enthuisam. Walking home, the crowd was thinner than it had been, but it was still impossible to walk a straight line down the beach. For some, the beach had become a bed, but for others the sun was just a change of scenery. I'm told that things kept going well into the day and I don't doubt it. When I crashed, watching the moon turn red with the imminent lunar eclipse, the party showed no signs of letting up.
After the party, and the after party, and the after after party were finished, Hat Rin began to empty. We left as well, heading to a beautiful beach on the north west side of the island to recover in the sun and the brilliant blue waters. Doing little more than eating great food, lying on the beach, swimming, swaying in a hammock, and sleeping, it was a welcome change. However, we've now left that island paradise and I'm now sitting, once again, in Bangkok. Arrived on a night train this morning and we'll be leaving on another one this evening to head farther north. Back in motion.
OK, take care and keep your sticks on the ice,
Justin
Full Moon on Hat Rin. This is something that is quite beyond my ability to describe. We'd spent most of the preceeding nights out on the beach and the bars had been pretty busy by any other standard. But when we walked out onto the beach that night, it was a completely different story. The entire beach, from end to end, was one mass of people. Every bar along the strip, most of which had been empty the night before, was packed with partiers. Music of every variety, from top 40 to Jungle was pounding out at you as you worked your way through the crowd of people, all in various states of intoxication, that poured out of each establishment. A massive strobe light shone like the sun from the south end of the beach. Vendours of every sort, most selling drinks, crowded the top of the beach. The water just off shore was full of boats floating and swaying in the waves, bringing more partiers or waiting to take them away. With all the people and the 10 baht charge for using the toilet, the ocean had unfortunately become a very large urnal in which, strangely, a large number of people still found room to dance in the waves. And over all of this, the full moon shone so brightly that it seemed to be focusing directly on this place.
The party went on all night, and as it did, some of the people and the scenes you witness got stranger and stranger. People in all states of dress and undress. Overweight farang (foreigner) guys, in their underwear, grinding to the music with Thai "lady boys". The whole atmosphere was like something out of a movie and has to be experienced to be understood. As the sun came up and shed daylight on the festivites, it did little to dim the enthuisam. Walking home, the crowd was thinner than it had been, but it was still impossible to walk a straight line down the beach. For some, the beach had become a bed, but for others the sun was just a change of scenery. I'm told that things kept going well into the day and I don't doubt it. When I crashed, watching the moon turn red with the imminent lunar eclipse, the party showed no signs of letting up.
After the party, and the after party, and the after after party were finished, Hat Rin began to empty. We left as well, heading to a beautiful beach on the north west side of the island to recover in the sun and the brilliant blue waters. Doing little more than eating great food, lying on the beach, swimming, swaying in a hammock, and sleeping, it was a welcome change. However, we've now left that island paradise and I'm now sitting, once again, in Bangkok. Arrived on a night train this morning and we'll be leaving on another one this evening to head farther north. Back in motion.
OK, take care and keep your sticks on the ice,
Justin
posted by Justin Callison at 8:16 PM
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