The notorious Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, that’s one event we could not skip on our trip around the world. We attended the Full Moon Party in September 2015, an edition in low season, with nevertheless lots of fluo, buckets and party people on Haad Rin.
We took a taxi from Seaview Rainbow, at the very northern and quiet part of the island, to Haad Rin, the beach where the Full Moon Party was going to happen. We went early, left at about 17h, to explore the neighbourhood. It was a bumpy 40 minute drive, a return trip to look forward to if you’re going to have some alcohol in your blood.
There is a whole area near the Haad Rin beach that’s part of the Full Moon Party. Everywhere you go you see shops and booths selling fluo accessories, from flower headbands to t-shirts to sweatbands. At every corner there’s someone offering to tattoo you with fluorescent body paint and on every street there are more stalls selling cocktail buckets then I can count on two hands. Yep, cocktail buckets, a children’s sand bucket filled with ice and alcohol. We tried a Mojito, Whisky Coke and Vodka Red Bull bucket, I’m sure you don’t have to look far to find a stand that sells your favourite. Only buy from vendors that present their buckets with closed bottles/cans in them and then make sure they’re actually pouring those bottles in your bucket.
Some internet research told us to start our night at Same Same, they’re supposed to be the number one warm up venue. We bought the Same Same Pre Full Moon Package for ฿600 each, including an international buffet (all you can eat), a Same Same fluo Full Moon Party T-shirt, fluo body paint and “lots of other stuff”. Beer pong and a beer bong were available as well.
Looking back it probably wasn’t such a good deal as it seemed in the beginning of the evening, as the body paint is also available for the people who just buy a drink or eat à la carte, and I’m sure we could have found food and a fluo T-shirt for less than ฿600. You still had to pay for your beer bong beer and we didn’t see any of the “lots of other stuff” either. We recommend just going there for the pre-party and body paint, but we wouldn’t buy the Same Same Pre Full Moon Package again. The Chang pitchers are worth it when you’re with a group of friends though: 3 liters of Chang beer for ฿500.
When we were warmed up, we headed over to the actual Full Moon Party on the beach. Different music is being played all along Haad Rin, there are even fire shows, really impressive! Fire Rope Skipping is always present as well, but you probably shouldn’t partake yourself if you don’t want to end up with second degree burns. It’s best not to wear flip flops either because you might loose them or step in some glass or other stuff being thrown in the sand as the night progresses. Swimming is not recommended either: people have drowned before and lots of guys are peeing in the sea to avoid the ฿20 toilet cost at most places.
The party keeps going strong until sunrise, but we got tired of dancing at about 3h30 so it was time for some food and finding a taxi to take us to our bed (฿400). The taxis in Koh Phangan are really fun: some kind of pick-up trucks with seats for about ten people at the back. We forgot to take a picture, but try googling “taxi Koh Phangan” and you’ll get the idea. After a loooooong drive home (the driver stopped every 5 minutes to ask where we all had to be dropped off and eventually we had to change to another taxi) we had to scrub off all the body paint (water but not sweat resistant) before we could close our eyes and drift off into sweet dreams. A night to (try to) remember!
P.S: The photos in this blog post aren’t that great as we decided to only bring our smartphone instead of our (fantastic!) Sony RX100. Only bring the things you really need and enjoy the party without worrying about your possessions.