Koh Pha Ngan, more than phases of the moon

The islands of Thailand are world renowned for their beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and great nightlife. So of course it attracts tourists from around the world like moths to a flame. It was because of this fact that we were a little scared of what we would find there. Our experience in Pai was still fresh in our minds, and we were afraid of feeling like impostors being back in the tourist scene after so getting to know Thailand from a local perspective. Thankfully, our concerns were completely unfounded.

From Bangkok, we went straight to Koh Pha Ngan, home to the notorious full moon party, to meet our friends Joshua and Za from Pun Pun. On a trip that took a total of eleven different modes of transportation (train, taxi, bus, tuktuk, songthaew, van, bus, ferry, songthaew, songthaew, jeep) and nearly 24 hours, we arrived on Bottle Beach in a remote corner of the island. The fact that you can only reach it by boat – or in the case where the waves are too high, an hour on a terrifying dirt track – sets Bottle Beach apart from the crazy party atmosphere on the rest of the island. After about 20 minutes, it all made sense why people the world over flock to these small islands off the coast of Thailand. To put it mildly, this place was perfect. We had a beautiful bungalow overlooking the ocean, a handful of restaurants serving delicious food, and a beautiful uncrowded beach complete with white sands and coconut trees. All that and we still came in under $30/day for both of us…why the hell did it take us so long to get here?

It was great to be reunited with Joshua and Za. Together, we chilled on the beach, snorkeled, went on a few hikes but generally just hung out and relaxed. We checked out a few parties on the island, including the full moon party, and they were pretty much what we expected. Hordes of drunken Europeans in their early 20’s, dressed up in neon swim shorts and body paint, stumbling around drunk and pissing where ever they happen to be standing. As a friend described it, the full moon party is “Burning man for amateurs”. We can’t hate on them too much – we’d probably be doing exactly the same thing at their age, but today it was kind of a case of been there and done that. For us, the best part of Koh Phangan was the tranquility, natural beauty and company of good friends.