A white sand beach glows under the light of a magnificent full moon — a brilliant orb whose own shining light reflects like crystal in a placid gulf made black by night. On land, a sea of people numbering in the thousands move to their own beat as the thumping sounds of techno music fill the air with a mixture of hypnotic rhythms.
Koh Phangan is famous for its Full Moon Party, a chance for backpackers, bohemians and lovers of good times to dance wildly on the beach, lose their inhibitions and revel in some good old-fashioned tropical ecstasy.
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| People from all over the world prepare for a wild party. |
Over the years the Full Moon Party has gained prominence as one of the world’s premier beach bashes, and party promoters have on several occasions attempted to hold an international music festival akin to the Love Parade in Berlin, replete with DJs from around the world. But while Koh Phangan was completely unaffected by last December’s tsunami, as it lies in the eastern Gulf of Thailand far from the tsunami-devastated provinces in the country’s southwest, violence between Muslim rebels and Thai security forces in the troubled south has caused prudent planners to postpone any type of large-scale international event — at least for now.
Having been assailed with stories of the Koh Phangan experience, I had been planning my trip to the island since the moment I arrived in Thailand. Unfortunately, my weekly nine-to-five job had kept me from picking up and going on a whim. After all, the full moon comes only once a month, and it’s beyond my control if it happens to rise in the middle of the work week.
Yet after a long and patient wait, the heavens finally shined my way and spun the earth around so the full moon rose on a Saturday. And so, with visions already dancing in my head, I began my journey in the early morning hours.
Continued: Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan
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