Ko Samui/Ko Pha Ngnan

After a 12 hour flight from Seattle to Seoul, a quick a plane change then a 6 hour flight to Bangkok, we only had to lay over for 5 hours before we finally took the brief 50 minute flight from Bangkok to Ko Samui!  Ko Samui is an island off the east coast of Thailand, the third largest in the entire country but relatively small at only 88 square miles, an eighth the size of Maui.  Tourism has blossomed in the past decade with many western corporations rolling in giant resort hotels such as W, 4 Seasons, and several others.  The resident population is 55,000 people and a cruise around the island on a moped would take you under 2 hours. 


I walked off the 40-passenger airplane onto the tarmac and was greeted by 80-degree air and moderate humidity.  The airport here is small, nestled amongst lush green hills and expansive views of light blue water servicing just a handful of planes per day.

I made my way through the airport to the taxi area and was eagerly greeted by a few men all-vying to whisk me away to any destination I desired.  I decided to get into a large Toyota van that had been somewhat and creatively transformed into looking like a Mercedes.  It took about 15 minutes before we arrived to an area where my friends had said they’d be at from a message I received the day before and I began walking towards the Ark Bar hotel when I saw a place across the street playing the Super Bowl, 2^nd quarter, I was elated!

Quick side note:  A few of you have heard the relative misfortunes I’ve had relating to Super Bowls.  In 2008, I had unknowingly months previous, purchased a domestic flight from Phoenix to Seattle during the exact hours of the game, thus having to listen to periodic updates from the captain.  Out of the following 4 years of games, I had only been able to see one as year after year, I somehow routinely scheduled flights for the exact 3-hour period of time of the game!

You could imagine my excitement, only missing a little over a quarter as I walked briskly to the bar when I heard my name being called.  Travis, his fiancée Katie, and Jeff Carol were all eating breakfast as it was about 8 o’clock in the morning, couldn’t have been easier to find them.  Jeff had taken the 1 hour and 45 min flight from Singapore the night before and Travis had left the day before I did from Seattle.  After a few travel hick-ups, it ended up taking him almost double the time it took me to get here but his spirits were still high. 

We watched the game and decided after all the air travel, we wanted to just chill out on near the water.  Jeff, Travis and I decided to go on a long run down the beach to check out different places we wanted to stay for the night.  After a lengthy run, we settled on a place where we’d get two private bungalows within 25 feet of the ocean for a modest 30 USD per person.  We set down our bags and headed to the beach to get some sun and relax for remainder of the day.  Most of us had one-hour massages, including manicures and pedicures that cost a total of 300 Baht or roughly 10 USD.

When the evening came, we treated ourselves to a beachfront dinner at a nearby restaurant.  The restaurant had a giant display with an assortment of sea creatures sitting on ice.  We decided on shark, barracuda, snapper and squid.  The guy would simply cut off giant pieces of meat from all the different fish chilling there and soon deliver them to our table.  It was delicious.  After dinner, Caleb retired for the evening and the remaining four of us migrated to a nearby waterfront bar that was bustling with music, fire shows, and people dancing.  We stayed there for a few hours and absorbed a good amount of the local variety of drinks before calling it a night around 3am.  A good first day.

I woke up in the morning, took the few shorts steps to the ocean, and went for a leisurely swim in the 86 degree water before sitting down for breakfast on the beach by myself and watching the hotel staff rake the sand, clean the pool and get ready for the day.  I knew today was going to be exciting as it was the day to celebrate the Full Moon Party in Ko Phangnan.

The Full Moon Party takes place on the island of Ko Pha Ngnan , an island 10 miles from the Northern end of Ko Samui.  The island, and its monthly party, is world-renowned.  Every month on the night of the full moon, up to 70,000 people descend on a 1 mile long stretch of beach to partake in an event that some places rank as the best place on planet Earth to get wild.

We we’re currently staying on the East side of the island in Chewang Beach and the boats departed from the North end in Ko Bhut.  Caleb and I each rented motorbikes at a cost of $5 for an entire day, and made the 25-minute trek through the streets of Ko Samui in shorts, flip flops and no shirts!  Riding here is much different than back home, there is no speed limit, driving occurs on the opposite side of the road, and people just zigzag everywhere.  We found a resort nearby that’d provide us with beautiful rooms and transportation to the boat terminal and made reservations for both.  You have two options as far as boats from Ko Samui to Ko Pha Ngnan, one, a slow boat, that will get you to Ko Phangnan in 2 hours OR you can get on a 65 MPH, 40 foot long cigarette boat with three 250 HP outboards that’ll get you there in 12 minutes for 10 times the price.  We naturally chose Option 2 J

We went back to the old hotel, packed up our bags and Katie, Trav, Caleb and myself loaded up into a small taxi.  We were forced to say goodbye to Jeff, as he had to fly back to Singapore for work.  I assured him I’d see him at his condo there at the beginning of March.

After a nice dinner for 4 at the new hotel, we we’re transported to the awaiting speedboat at 10PM.  We grabbed a few cocktails and jumped on the boat before the engines fired and we were soon hurtling across the ocean at high speeds, warm wind in our hair, under the moonlight anxious for what lye ahead. 

Upon arrived to the dock, we jumped off the boat and began the half mile walk through the streets towards the party beach of Haad Rin.  Hundreds of street vendors selling buckets of half liter bottles of booze mixed with red bull and soda line the streets.  Tattoo shops, T-shirts stores, food carts, and body painting stations fill your peripherals as your brain tries to decipher everything including the myriad of languages being spoken around you. 

We made it to the beach in short order and nothing, nothing could’ve even remotely prepared me for what I was about to witness.  I’ve been to some large gatherings in my life; The Gorge, Merritt Mountain Music Festival in BC, Cannes Film Festival in France, and the Island of Ibiza off the coast of Spain, but this, this was wild.  As far as the eye could see and the ear could hear, bright colored body paint and clothing adorned every shape, size, color, and ethnicity of human on the planet.  Huge stages of people dancing we located every 20 yards, music from American hip hop to electronic remixes of Sweet Home Alabama screamed from every direction and people shooting off massive firework mortars that in the states, you would need a professional license to use would be shooting out of people hands for a mere few bucks. 

There were huge fire shows where people gathered around, locals swinging balls of fire like nun-chucks in a way that made the fire dancers in Hawaiian luau’s look like they were blowing out a birthday candle.  These guys as you can see if the video below, would take a long, thick 20 foot pieces of rope, soak them in Kerosene, then light it on fire and wait for drunk men to prove their manhood, inevitably burning themselves EVERY time.  While I admit, half way through the night I wanted to do this, just to say I’d done it, I decided not to partake as I thought a horrific burn scar on day two of a 90 day trip may prove to be an annoyance.

We partied the night away, dancing, meeting locals and living in the moment.  We hopped back on the speedboat around 3:30 in the morning and headed home, making it safely thanks to Trav and his ability to be sober and deal with the other “less sober” people.

The next morning brought with it relief that we’d survived the fool moon party with no serious injuries, as well as a pounding headache.  I treated myself to breakfast again as I have an inability to sleep in, no matter what the circumstance.  Shortly after finishing, I headed up to Travis and Katie’s room to say goodbye as they were heading back to mainland Thailand to embark on the remainder of their 2-week trip.  I’m sure they will get to see plenty on their adventure and I’m happy for both of them, recently engaged and being amongst the fortunate few who get to have two honeymoons, one after the engagement and one sure to follow their wedding a year from now. 

As for Caleb and myself though, the adventure has just begun…..