Tuesday 14th was the infamous full moon party, where thousands of people gather on a kilometre stretch of sand on Haad Rin beach, Ko Phagnan, to celebrate the full moon (or just get steaming really.) I estimate there was about 15,000 people there, and I was glad it lived up to the hype.
We went out around 9pm and had something to eat, along with a couple of mandatory Chang’s, and headed to the beach an hour or so later. There were already people passed out, but the majority were pacing themselves to keep going until sunrise. My only valuable posession was my camera, which I was determined not to get stolen as well, so I had the cunning idea of taking it out with me until about midnight (before I get hammered), getting a few pics and videos etc, then taking it back to my guesthouse and putting it in the safe.
We met up with all the people we’d met in the last few days: Pierre, Dan, Becks, Laura etc and also Dave Wait from good ol Brackley. A few of us then ventured to the other end of the beach to sample the ‘magical‘ shakes on offer, and other than that just mosied between the different bars and what-have-you. Before we knew it the sun had risen and we were stumbling back to our place at 8am. We had to catch a taxi to the pier to leave the island at…. 9am. Reason we had to leave so sharpish is that Chris was flying back to England on the 16th early in the morning, so we had one day to get back to Phuket so he could catch his flight. By 10am we were on the ferry to Surat Thani, still drunk. My flip flops snapped at the party so I was making the journey back barefoot, so imagine my horror when I got to Surat Thani to find the entire pier was tin surfaced. Sand is hot under 30 degree sun, tin is bloody unbearable.
The bus from Surat Thani to Phuket was an uncomfortable three-and-a-half hours, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it’s a damn cheap way of doing it.
Yesterday I went to Khao Lak with Joe, Kirsten and her dad Roy for a day out. You may recognise the name as it was the place in Thailand worst affected by the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. The place was practically anihilated. A lot of building work was going on and not a lot else, but it was interesting to visit the area knowing what had happened there. We went on to the beach and we were the only one’s on there, for miles! There was a boat carried by the waves over a kilometre inshore which still stands as a reminder. We also visited the cliffside restaurant where the chilling video was taken of a man standing on the beach down below waiting for the wave to hit. I took a movie here which I’ll upload soon.
Just chilling today, basing myself back here in Phuket until my replacement debit cards arrive.