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Ko Pha-Ngan, Gulf of Thailand
Another destination, another journey. Two boats & two busses to be precise and it still didn't take that much longer than getting from South Manchester to Oldham during rush hour! This was probably my favourite journey so far on this trip - had one of those near-nirvana moments whilst watching the sunset perched on the edge of the ferry listening to Southern Sun. I'm sure everyone saw me dancing away to myself, but I didn't really care to be honest - it's not like it's ever stopped me before!
Our first night on the island was probably my favourite night of the whole time in Thailand. The evning started off innocently enough: sitting and watching the (frankly bizarre) world mucic festival by the harbour enjoying some quiet drinks. Well, ok this isn't entirely true - what I actually mean is singing, clapping, wolf whistling inappropriately & breakdancing whilst some dodgy Thai band with Aerosmith frontman Steve Tyler's hair butchered a genre-busting clash of heavy metal vs folk. Anyway, upstairs wasn't really having any of this and downstairs was most definitely in the mood for dancing so we embraced near death experience number 9 & climbed into the pick-up truck come bus to be hurtled at full whack along the road the guide books tell you NOT to drive down to Hat Rin, home of the legendary full moon party. We expected it to be a bit lively down here as it was the night before the FMP, but we certainly weren't expecting to stumble acros a full on beach rave, and I wasted no time in sourcing a variety of colours of rave paint & a paintbrush & ensuring everyone in the vicinity glowed in UV!
The unplanned nights out are always the best and this one was just brilliant. Most of the night was spent dancing on a massive podium outside one of the bars lining the beach that was pumping out good old uplifting trance. It was so traumatic trying to get a drink because I wanted to dance to every song! Having said that though, drink we did. Bucket after bucket of Sang Som, Thai Red Bull & Coke, which for those of you that are unaccustomed, is lethal. Sang Som is EVIL EVIL EVIL (yet strangely moreish) Thai whisky, and Thai Red Bull caontains the banned-in-the-EU-therefore-it-mustn't-be-good-for-you-but-there-must-be-a-reason-for-having-it substance Theoplex-L. Not sure what Theoplex-L is exactly but it sure goes down a treat. Indeed any drink available from the fridge that requires pharmaceutical labelling is just asking to be abused so it's probably best they don't sell it in the UK. The kids would go crazy.
The only downside to the evening (which I still think is funny and did then) was near death experience #10: The "Other" "Incident". One was quite merrilly showing off one's acrobatic skills by jumping through the fire hoop when some (drunk & British obvioulsy) half wit decided to try and jump throught he other way, causing me to swerve & attempt some obscure flip thus resulting in me catching the hoop. Unfortunately over here they soak their kevlar in gasoline which burns much hotter than paraffin so I ended up with some pretty nasty burns. I deliberated for a while and decided it was probably best to get them seen to profesionally to reduce the chance of any permanet scarring. Whilst the proliferation of medical facilities along the beach clearly signifies a high casualty rate at the full moon parties (they actually take on extra mental health specialists for the peak season), you would have thought that Bupa would have spotted the hole in the market for efficient & good quality healthcare provided by English speaking doctors at reasonable prices. Unfortunately not. You'd also think that if you were paying such extortionate prices for healthcare the doctor move a bit quicker. At one point I was genuienly concerned that he was dead and that rigamortis had set in. Fortunately the boredom was broken up when a really nice group of English lads who had also fallen victim to the fire hoop walked in. I'm so glad they did because otherwise I would have just fallen asleep.
Near death experience #11 took the shape of a motorcycle taxi ride (i.e. clinging for dear life to some dude on a bikewho appeared to regularly get the accelerator and brakes mixed up, especially whilst going around bends) on the way home. So many people get injured on motorbikes on this road, they've named the scar the 'Ko Pha-Ngan Tattoo'. Well, I'd already got my own version so I was delighted to get home vaguely in one piece and without further additions to the pharmaceutical bill.
Oh well, never a dull moment!
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THE FULL MOON PARTY 14/09/08
Despite grumbles about over-commercialisation and that the true full moon raavers have moved elsewhere away from the watchful eyes of the authorities, the FMP certainly lives up to its hype. It's such a mission to get here that anyone who makes it is here only for a good time and the atmosphere is amazing. We'd only been in Thailand for about two weeks but already we were bumping into people we'd seen on boats & buses (& in hospitals strangely enough!) I only have a vague recollection of chatting to a few of them because I was either off stomping somewhere, or demonstrating the latest in rave coutre - the rave antiseptic wipe - "But look, it glows in UV!" were words that were uttered on definitely more than one occasion (see accompanying picture for full appreciation).
The music was much more underground this evening & ranged from tech-trance to tribal & psy-trance (& probably more but I don't think I ever moved to find it). Definitely one of the highlights of the FMP was the lighting of the giant fire sign. It was one of those moments when EVERYBODY is united & it felt brillliant!
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The day after the FMP I made the mistake of getting in the hired Jeep. I have spent a good portion of this trip wanting to throw up on various modes of transport, so hurtling down windy roads sans suspension whilst warm & v. hungover wasn't exactly best. We did, however stumble accross a Tesco Lotus (Emily: "There is a God - I can eat! / Mikey: "Ooh good I can stock up on germolene") and headed off to find a beach in the possession of a picnic. It was dark by this point so we quickly got started on what was to be a pretty cracking fire. Thankfully, Mr Prepared (who consistently felt smug for always being able to provide useful objects that the others had neglected to consider) had remembered to bring the phone with torch which proved most useful for finding firewood and indeed getting to the beach in the first place. It's always a good idea to descend a steep, forested, & snake infested cliff face by night in flip flops with no free hands. Erm, not.
I've always thought there's something very moving about watching the sea at night whilst perched on a rock being lapped by gentle waves. It's so vast & you're so small, and yet it sometimes seems friendlier at night when it's calm. I just remember cursing the fact that I'd forgotten to bring my iPod because there were so many songs that I would have loved to listen to at that moment.
Anyway, it was to be an early night for us all as tomorrow there would be - surprise! - another REALLY long journey.
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