KOH PHA-NGAN

Hello all, sorry my blog is so far behind...We're getting down to our last couple of weeks and its difficult trying to fit internet time into our schedules. Sorry there are once again no photos but Laura set up a webshots album for me (thanks elle!) so I'll have a ton of photos soon enough.

Koh Pha-Ngan holds world famous "Full Moon Parties" on the night of every full moon. Full Moon party got rated #3 best party after Mardi Gras and Carnivale so its kind of a big deal. If you aren't staying on Koh Pha-Ngan, there are boats, buses, trains, all kinds of full moon transportation packages to get you there. You can't go to southeast asia and not attend.

We arrived by boat 3 days before the FMP (full moon party for you slow people out there) thinking we'd have no problem finding accomodation...Wrong! We had to walk all over the place with our heavy backpacks--unfortunately Koh Pha-Ngan is a very hilly island as well. We managed to find a place on Leela beach, which is close enough to the party beach. The only rooms they had left that first night were two bungalows on really high stilts that were a 5minute walk up a dirt cliff. Laura and I shared a bungalow that had a broken step to get into the bungalow and I'm pretty sure if it had broken just a little bit more we would've tumbled to our demise. Our room had electricity but it was just a very dull lightbulb in the corner of the room. It did however have enough power to illuminate the mildew coating the walls! Our bathroom was a squat toilet and pitch black (bad combo). A mosquito net was surprisingly provided but those things don't do much with gaping holes in them. We did have a bamboo porch but I'm pretty sure if two people stood on it at once, it would've crumbled and once again, it would've been fatal. I'm not complaining, we all laughed about it and had a great time, I'm just trying to convey how hilarious our accomodations are in this part of the world sometimes.

Our first night there we met up with a bunch of Laura's teacher friends in town. Most of the restaurants here play either a movie or episodes of Friends during dinner. It was a nice change--I haven't watched tv since I left! Lining all of the streets are vendors selling buckets (dollar store style) filled with a combo of your choice from red bull, sprite, coke, whiskey, vodka, rum, juice, etc and a straw. I always went for the cheapest--redbull, coke, and cheap thai whiskey. It tasted a little bit like dirt but it was only about $3.15 and they didn't hold back with the whiskey.

The next morning we got moved to the most picturesque accomodations we've had yet. Our bungalow doorsteps were about 10metres from the water. The bungalows were much nicer inside as well. We did have to live with a billionopede (a centipede with a billion legs) for a while but it was worth it.

Full moon night I had the beginning stages of the flu but I did NOT want to miss out on one of the biggest parties in existence. We got to the beach around 11pm (thats when it starts to get busy) and Megan and I fulfilled our mission to get glow painted out of the way first. The beach is lined with different bars and clubs and each cluster of clubs has a theme--drum&bass, reggae, hip hop, techno, etc so you can drift between genres when the mood strikes you. There were tens of thousands of people packed onto the beach, the energy was incredible. We had buckets, we danced, it was crazy. I got a solid hour of sleep before we had to meet in downtown Pha-Ngan to catch our 6am minibus to the ferry. We didn't do full moon the way you're supposed to because we had to move on but it goes from 4pm-8am then they turn off the music for 2hrs and the full moon afterparty begins at 10am. Hardcore full mooners are nuts. As we waited for our bus we saw people walking around missing various items of clothing/shoes, lying on the sidewalks or on the street, girls passed out in the dirt in their party dresses, it was quite the night.

Koh Phi Phi (pronounced "pee pee"...ha) was our next stop...Some of you might recognize the name because it was hit really hard by the Tsunami. A lot of it isn't rebuilt and one of the main beaches is still closed but it still looks beautiful.

PS thanks to everyone who has been posting--I love logging on and reading your messages, it makes my day!