Moonies Find Life’s a Gas on Thai Party Island

The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

Koh Phangan Full Moon Party

Koh Phangan

Birds fly south for the Winter. Salmon swim upriver to spawn. At full moon the lesser-spotted backpacker, doe-eyed and bulging with hormones, flocks to the island of Koh Phangan for a night of ritual jiggery, eyes wide and body painted day-glo technicolor rainbow.

The Wiki tells me that the monthly full moon parties on Koh Phangan’s Haad Rin Beach started in 1985 and grew quickly, to the point now where they routinely draw in as many as 30,000 revellers.

The party has got so big that it has spawned dozens of imitators, advertised on sign boards all over southern Thailand… the No Moon Party, the Half Moon Party, and my personal favourite, the “Ample Moon Party” (which presumably comes somewhere between half moon and full moon). But the full moon bash is still the original and best.

I was a bit late for me, not just because the party doesn’t really get going until midnight, but also because I am at the time of life where a full night’s sleep is just so much more appealing than a night of semi-naked gyration and waiting for the sun to rise.

So I skipped the party but bought the video of the party. I took in a pre-party party on Koh Samui, then went to bed, got up the next day and rode the ferry to Phangan to see what it’s like when all the island has a sore head. Continue reading

Salesman Sees Red on Trip to Khao San Road

The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

The Redshirts came out in force on Sunday. I noticed it first at Ratchathewi, where every third vehicle was a wriggling octopus of scarlet revellers from all the generations.

Children, parents, grandparents all crammed into pick-up trucks so full that their legs dangled off the back. Grannies held up their flags as they stood against the truck cabins. Children sat bewildered or played with their toys. Cars were just as full, with Redshirts sitting in the opened boots, with their legs dangling.

I was on my way to Khao San Road, and it was immediately obvious that shouldn’t take a taxi. I walked the full distance from Ratchathewi to Khao San Road, with the traffic beside moving in stops and starts, so that every few minutes I would hear the same blast of music and the same cheers catching me up from behind. Continue reading