23 - 29 Jan 2013
We arrived in Bangkok at the horribly early time of 5am and neither of us had slept. Sam was feeling like shit and so I promised him we'd get a room for the day so he could sleep. We arrived on the famous Khaosarn Rd by taxi to the aftermath of the night before - which was funnily enough still going. There were drunks in the street who could not walk or talk with a drink still in their hand. By this time it was already 6.30am. The street seemed disgustingly seedy to us and so sleep deprived we walked through trying to find a guesthouse with availability. We found one half way down with air con for 400 baht ($13) for the day. Sam collapsed almost instantly. I soon followed.
I dragged myself out of bed about 10am to go and meet my sister Amanda who was arriving from Australia. She was late at our meeting point by about half an hr but once she made it we had a sweet reunion. We woke Sam up to join us for lunch then spent the day getting drunk on the rd next to Kaosarn.
By the time we left on our night bus we were all so wasted which helped us fall asleep pretty much straight away. However as with all night buses you never sleep too deeply and we arrived in Koh Phangan exhausted about midday. We were very exited to get to our hotel which had been highly recommended by Sam's friends and sister who had all stayed there and experienced the 'crazy party hotel'. We walked into the lobby and instantly felt the negative vibe from the staff. The boss I think was Greek was yelling rudely at other guests and staff. I don't think we ever saw him not yelling. He was an angry bastard. We had to wait about 20mins before we were even greeted and even then it was in a disgusting manner. We were shoved off to our rooms which on our reservations said 'double beds', instead we were taken to two twin rooms side by side. Of course this doesn't matter for Amanda but Sam and I are a couple - we are sick of getting single beds! Especially as this hotel was booked months ago and costs more then anything we've stayed in yet (other then our anniversary hotel). We had splurged for the full moon and we did not want to have to settle in anyway. So back down to reception we go and wait longer for the angry greek to sort out a double room. He kept claiming it was the travel agent we booked through that put down single beds. Whatever. We handed him our confirmations from our travel agents and they both clearly stated double beds! I wasn't in the mood for arguing so I let it be.
They ended up giving us a double bed but it was extremely springy. I think it was the most uncomfortable bed we had slept in since leaving Australia. You couldn't lay on your side as the springs would dig into your hip and it would hurt like hell. The room was ok, except the shower had no hot water. Amanda had hot water so I don't know why we didn't.
We had been looking forward to this hotel for a month, in all the cheap places we'd stayed and the shit we'd put up with to save money. We were desperate for a pool and a pool bar to relax and have fun in. This place was supposed to have exactly that. I mean it was the party hotel, it had two pools and they would have massive foam and pool parties according to Sam's friends. We soon discovered both pools were not swimmable. They were disgusting. Both green and floating bits of rubbish and crap. I wouldn't even stick my toe on it. The hotel was a huge let down. Apparently it had just changed management in the last 2weeks so we figured everything had gone to shit since then. What a massive disappointment.
We decided to not let the hotel get to us and headed down to the beach to mellow mountain for an afternoon of magic shakes. We actually ended up at Kangaroo Bar which is next door to Mellow Mountain and soon started to relax and let the horrible hotel leave our minds. The mountain is by far my favourite place at the full moon party (I'd been two times before). It's up on the cliff and you get the ocean breeze while you watch the waves and the party on the beach from a more chilled out distance. They have gone to a lot of trouble to decorate the place with UV paint and crazy art designs which look awesome when you're on the shrooms. The bar only has cushions and small tables lined up along the balcony which has a real traditional thai style about it and also really cool for when you're mushied out.
We got the shakes straight away and excitedly waited for them to kick in. Another disappointment - they were so weak! We still enjoyed them but all they really did was make us lazy and tired and not up for anything. We soon switched to beer and spent the rest of the evening drinking and sharing joints which led us to meet some cool people.
Amanda with her mushie shake
The cool artistic Kangaroo Bar
Amanda was desperate to go this famous pool party so we sadly dragged our arses out of comfy Kangaroo bar about 8pm. The guys we had met said they'd been before and that it is definitely something you need to check out. I'd been before to obviously and yes I had a wicked time - but Sam and I really wanted to stay at Kangaroo bar. I think we were just too stoned by this point that we couldn't be bothered moving. We eventually did though, for my sister. Sadly the pool party was dead. Not a single person in the pool! There was a fair crowd around the tables but that's not a pool party... Sam, Amanda and her new friends that she had pulled in from somewhere along the way (two guys) all got in the pool and I just sat on the side drinking.
We decided to head back to the beach and the mountain at some point but when we jumped out of the taxi we all got separated. Amanda was with her two guy friends, I was on my own and Sam had gone back to the room to change. I did a walk through the beach and got fixated on the guys fire twirling. They were fucking cool. I soon realized I was the only one watching them and one guy came up to me and got me to hold one side of his chain with fireball on the end whole it was linked to the other one and spinning. Hahaha it was so cool!!
I got up to go find the others and walked through the crowd, towards Kangaroo Bar as I figured that's where they'd go. Luckily I found Sam! We never did find Amanda again until we were heading home and boy did she have a story of her night which included some random guy bleeding out all over the floor near our room.
This is what we came home to
The next day was the day before the full moon. We decided to head up to kangaroo bar to kick off the night with beers and joints. It was more packed then yesterday so drunken Amanda had to use her skills and got us a seat with two guys along the balcony. These guys became our Koh Phangan friends! Sam especially got along great with them. So we spent a few hours drinking and smoking with Max and Alan before Amanda yet again dragged us away to another adventure. This time I was extremely grateful however. She had heard about some special bar on another beach where you can only get to it by 4wd truck or boat. Max and Alan decided to join us and off we went in search of this secret beach. It wasn't hard to find our way as the whole full moon beach was full of longtail boats lined up trying to take people to Had Tien (the secret beach). They wanted 200 baht from us each and we all refused saying how ridiculous that was. We only wanted to pay 150. We finally got them to go down for us and we were soon climbing into a longtail boat filled with many other party goers. They had warned us that the sea was rough but we had NO idea what we were in for! It was INSANE!!! The waves were massive and they didn't slow down so the boat was flying over them and everyone was being lifted from their seats and slammed back down again. Not to mention how wet we all got - completely saturated from head to toe! It was also pitch black so you couldn't see the waves - you could only feel them! Max somehow managed to smoke - god knows how. I was gripping onto my hat and my beer while also trying to take photos as I was being lifted high in the air with every wave. We were all wasted of course so we found it hilarious! They finished the ride off by slamming us full speed into the bank of Had Tien Beach and thankfully had told me to hold on a few seconds before so I was kind of ready for it... as ready as you can be for something like that. Holy shit. I think the boat road was by far one of my highlights of the whole week.
We then climbed up this hill to Eden bar where we found a very chilled out hideaway up on the cliff looking out over the ocean with plenty of places to chill out on cushions or a dance floor in UV with a wicked DJ playing. We all fell in love instantly. Sam went to the bar and discovered you could buy pretty much anything you wanted - LSD, Mushrooms, MDMA, Weed... etc. This place was so different to anywhere I had ever been. We bought some weed and soon were smoking joint after joint, meeting awesome randoms and getting totally messy. Amanda and I decided to have some MDMA which kicked in about 1.30am when we head off to Guy's bar which is the main destination for Had Tien.
Eden bar
Alan, Sam and I - Eden bar
Amanda on the D-floor - Eden Bar
Everyone pretty much died at this bar and Sam and the boys soon left us while Amanda and I stayed on. When we died as well we head down to the beach to wait for a boat back to Haad Rin. Now they were charging 300 baht per person and there was nothing you could do about it as we wanted to go home. They also wouldn't leave until they had a full boat which meant you could be waiting forever. The sun started to come up as we waited... and waited... and waited. An annoying 23yr old lay with me on a banana lounge that I was on and started trying to cuddle up and sweet talk to me. When I said I had a boyfriend he gratefully left me alone. But man he was so annoying he wouldn't shut up! Finally a local said he would take 8 of us home in his truck.So the annoying 23yr old and his friend plus Amanda and I and some other guys piled in the tray of this 4wd ute. We were just sitting on benches with no roof and soon found ourselves holding on for dear life! It was the scariest drive home ever! The roads were dirt with potholes everywhere and massive steep hills which the driver flew up like a crazy man then would fly over the potholes and we'd all fly up out of our seats. I think it was even crazier then our boat ride! I was looking ahead at the track and laughing my arse off at the speed we were going. It was like a wicked fun ride, even though my stomach did drop a few times.
I spent that day in bed, only getting up to vomit. I think the MDMA had something in it because both Amanda and I were incredibly sick all day. We tried to eat but every time we did we'd just throw it up. We were sick well into the night and I was trying to push through it by drinking as it was the full moon night afterall. I think the last time I vomited was about 10.30pm but it wasn't til I bought a red bull & vodka bucket that my night finally turned around and I was ready to party - by this stage it was 2am and Amanda was passing out while Sam wanted to. Our friend Alan was tripping balls on mushrooms and too intense for both Sam and Amanda who wanted him to fuck off. I think he finally got the picture as he did. So I was flying high and ready to party while Amanda and Sam were crashing hardcore. It was definitely not the best full moon party I'd been to.. that's for sure. I mean I did keep them going by hitting up Kangaroo bar and getting us shakes, though I think that made things worse as both Amanda and Sam then felt incredibly sick for a long time. I was briefly sick but surprisingly not too bad.
So we sat up on the mountain til the sun rose and watched the beach as it slowly lit up. I then had to walk both Amanda and Sam through the beach so they could witness what I had my last two times. It's hilarious to see people the morning after in the daylight - so many different types of fucked up. This one chick was dancing topless while this guy was completely naked and they were rubbing up against each other simulating sex.
The next day, our last one on Koh Phangan was spent up North on a beach I had never heard of. Amanda had heard of it from an Austrian guy she met at Eden bar. It was supposed to have good snorkeling. The taxi cost us 200 baht each which was expensive but we soon realized it was a long way away. The beach was beautiful and so relaxed. All instantly fell in love and chilled out in the beach bar which strangely enough had a bar big! LOL. We didn't do much that day and soon I got a bit bored wanting to go home. The three of us had a disagreement as Amanda wanted us to come back and stay in a bungalow for the next 3 nights while Sam and I wanted to keep going to Koh Lanta - an island our friend Alan had raved about. Sure enough he was on mushrooms - but Koh Lanta did sound amazing. Amanda felt at home on this Northern beach however, and being as stubborn as I am, did not want to budge from what she wanted. Sam and I just found it too boring, the bar was dead and there were no other real bars and hardly anywhere to eat. The beer was warm as they didn't have proper refrigeration either. It seemed like the place for old hippies to come and just lay around and do nothing. I mean there was practically no one around.
Chillin at the beach bar
Bar pig!!
The next day we decided to part ways, Amanda would head back to the beach she loved so much while Sam and I would set out for a new adventure -Koh Lanta.
We arrived in Bangkok at the horribly early time of 5am and neither of us had slept. Sam was feeling like shit and so I promised him we'd get a room for the day so he could sleep. We arrived on the famous Khaosarn Rd by taxi to the aftermath of the night before - which was funnily enough still going. There were drunks in the street who could not walk or talk with a drink still in their hand. By this time it was already 6.30am. The street seemed disgustingly seedy to us and so sleep deprived we walked through trying to find a guesthouse with availability. We found one half way down with air con for 400 baht ($13) for the day. Sam collapsed almost instantly. I soon followed.
I dragged myself out of bed about 10am to go and meet my sister Amanda who was arriving from Australia. She was late at our meeting point by about half an hr but once she made it we had a sweet reunion. We woke Sam up to join us for lunch then spent the day getting drunk on the rd next to Kaosarn.
By the time we left on our night bus we were all so wasted which helped us fall asleep pretty much straight away. However as with all night buses you never sleep too deeply and we arrived in Koh Phangan exhausted about midday. We were very exited to get to our hotel which had been highly recommended by Sam's friends and sister who had all stayed there and experienced the 'crazy party hotel'. We walked into the lobby and instantly felt the negative vibe from the staff. The boss I think was Greek was yelling rudely at other guests and staff. I don't think we ever saw him not yelling. He was an angry bastard. We had to wait about 20mins before we were even greeted and even then it was in a disgusting manner. We were shoved off to our rooms which on our reservations said 'double beds', instead we were taken to two twin rooms side by side. Of course this doesn't matter for Amanda but Sam and I are a couple - we are sick of getting single beds! Especially as this hotel was booked months ago and costs more then anything we've stayed in yet (other then our anniversary hotel). We had splurged for the full moon and we did not want to have to settle in anyway. So back down to reception we go and wait longer for the angry greek to sort out a double room. He kept claiming it was the travel agent we booked through that put down single beds. Whatever. We handed him our confirmations from our travel agents and they both clearly stated double beds! I wasn't in the mood for arguing so I let it be.
They ended up giving us a double bed but it was extremely springy. I think it was the most uncomfortable bed we had slept in since leaving Australia. You couldn't lay on your side as the springs would dig into your hip and it would hurt like hell. The room was ok, except the shower had no hot water. Amanda had hot water so I don't know why we didn't.
We had been looking forward to this hotel for a month, in all the cheap places we'd stayed and the shit we'd put up with to save money. We were desperate for a pool and a pool bar to relax and have fun in. This place was supposed to have exactly that. I mean it was the party hotel, it had two pools and they would have massive foam and pool parties according to Sam's friends. We soon discovered both pools were not swimmable. They were disgusting. Both green and floating bits of rubbish and crap. I wouldn't even stick my toe on it. The hotel was a huge let down. Apparently it had just changed management in the last 2weeks so we figured everything had gone to shit since then. What a massive disappointment.
We decided to not let the hotel get to us and headed down to the beach to mellow mountain for an afternoon of magic shakes. We actually ended up at Kangaroo Bar which is next door to Mellow Mountain and soon started to relax and let the horrible hotel leave our minds. The mountain is by far my favourite place at the full moon party (I'd been two times before). It's up on the cliff and you get the ocean breeze while you watch the waves and the party on the beach from a more chilled out distance. They have gone to a lot of trouble to decorate the place with UV paint and crazy art designs which look awesome when you're on the shrooms. The bar only has cushions and small tables lined up along the balcony which has a real traditional thai style about it and also really cool for when you're mushied out.
We got the shakes straight away and excitedly waited for them to kick in. Another disappointment - they were so weak! We still enjoyed them but all they really did was make us lazy and tired and not up for anything. We soon switched to beer and spent the rest of the evening drinking and sharing joints which led us to meet some cool people.
Amanda was desperate to go this famous pool party so we sadly dragged our arses out of comfy Kangaroo bar about 8pm. The guys we had met said they'd been before and that it is definitely something you need to check out. I'd been before to obviously and yes I had a wicked time - but Sam and I really wanted to stay at Kangaroo bar. I think we were just too stoned by this point that we couldn't be bothered moving. We eventually did though, for my sister. Sadly the pool party was dead. Not a single person in the pool! There was a fair crowd around the tables but that's not a pool party... Sam, Amanda and her new friends that she had pulled in from somewhere along the way (two guys) all got in the pool and I just sat on the side drinking.
We decided to head back to the beach and the mountain at some point but when we jumped out of the taxi we all got separated. Amanda was with her two guy friends, I was on my own and Sam had gone back to the room to change. I did a walk through the beach and got fixated on the guys fire twirling. They were fucking cool. I soon realized I was the only one watching them and one guy came up to me and got me to hold one side of his chain with fireball on the end whole it was linked to the other one and spinning. Hahaha it was so cool!!
I got up to go find the others and walked through the crowd, towards Kangaroo Bar as I figured that's where they'd go. Luckily I found Sam! We never did find Amanda again until we were heading home and boy did she have a story of her night which included some random guy bleeding out all over the floor near our room.
The next day was the day before the full moon. We decided to head up to kangaroo bar to kick off the night with beers and joints. It was more packed then yesterday so drunken Amanda had to use her skills and got us a seat with two guys along the balcony. These guys became our Koh Phangan friends! Sam especially got along great with them. So we spent a few hours drinking and smoking with Max and Alan before Amanda yet again dragged us away to another adventure. This time I was extremely grateful however. She had heard about some special bar on another beach where you can only get to it by 4wd truck or boat. Max and Alan decided to join us and off we went in search of this secret beach. It wasn't hard to find our way as the whole full moon beach was full of longtail boats lined up trying to take people to Had Tien (the secret beach). They wanted 200 baht from us each and we all refused saying how ridiculous that was. We only wanted to pay 150. We finally got them to go down for us and we were soon climbing into a longtail boat filled with many other party goers. They had warned us that the sea was rough but we had NO idea what we were in for! It was INSANE!!! The waves were massive and they didn't slow down so the boat was flying over them and everyone was being lifted from their seats and slammed back down again. Not to mention how wet we all got - completely saturated from head to toe! It was also pitch black so you couldn't see the waves - you could only feel them! Max somehow managed to smoke - god knows how. I was gripping onto my hat and my beer while also trying to take photos as I was being lifted high in the air with every wave. We were all wasted of course so we found it hilarious! They finished the ride off by slamming us full speed into the bank of Had Tien Beach and thankfully had told me to hold on a few seconds before so I was kind of ready for it... as ready as you can be for something like that. Holy shit. I think the boat road was by far one of my highlights of the whole week.
We then climbed up this hill to Eden bar where we found a very chilled out hideaway up on the cliff looking out over the ocean with plenty of places to chill out on cushions or a dance floor in UV with a wicked DJ playing. We all fell in love instantly. Sam went to the bar and discovered you could buy pretty much anything you wanted - LSD, Mushrooms, MDMA, Weed... etc. This place was so different to anywhere I had ever been. We bought some weed and soon were smoking joint after joint, meeting awesome randoms and getting totally messy. Amanda and I decided to have some MDMA which kicked in about 1.30am when we head off to Guy's bar which is the main destination for Had Tien.
Everyone pretty much died at this bar and Sam and the boys soon left us while Amanda and I stayed on. When we died as well we head down to the beach to wait for a boat back to Haad Rin. Now they were charging 300 baht per person and there was nothing you could do about it as we wanted to go home. They also wouldn't leave until they had a full boat which meant you could be waiting forever. The sun started to come up as we waited... and waited... and waited. An annoying 23yr old lay with me on a banana lounge that I was on and started trying to cuddle up and sweet talk to me. When I said I had a boyfriend he gratefully left me alone. But man he was so annoying he wouldn't shut up! Finally a local said he would take 8 of us home in his truck.So the annoying 23yr old and his friend plus Amanda and I and some other guys piled in the tray of this 4wd ute. We were just sitting on benches with no roof and soon found ourselves holding on for dear life! It was the scariest drive home ever! The roads were dirt with potholes everywhere and massive steep hills which the driver flew up like a crazy man then would fly over the potholes and we'd all fly up out of our seats. I think it was even crazier then our boat ride! I was looking ahead at the track and laughing my arse off at the speed we were going. It was like a wicked fun ride, even though my stomach did drop a few times.
I spent that day in bed, only getting up to vomit. I think the MDMA had something in it because both Amanda and I were incredibly sick all day. We tried to eat but every time we did we'd just throw it up. We were sick well into the night and I was trying to push through it by drinking as it was the full moon night afterall. I think the last time I vomited was about 10.30pm but it wasn't til I bought a red bull & vodka bucket that my night finally turned around and I was ready to party - by this stage it was 2am and Amanda was passing out while Sam wanted to. Our friend Alan was tripping balls on mushrooms and too intense for both Sam and Amanda who wanted him to fuck off. I think he finally got the picture as he did. So I was flying high and ready to party while Amanda and Sam were crashing hardcore. It was definitely not the best full moon party I'd been to.. that's for sure. I mean I did keep them going by hitting up Kangaroo bar and getting us shakes, though I think that made things worse as both Amanda and Sam then felt incredibly sick for a long time. I was briefly sick but surprisingly not too bad.
So we sat up on the mountain til the sun rose and watched the beach as it slowly lit up. I then had to walk both Amanda and Sam through the beach so they could witness what I had my last two times. It's hilarious to see people the morning after in the daylight - so many different types of fucked up. This one chick was dancing topless while this guy was completely naked and they were rubbing up against each other simulating sex.
The next day, our last one on Koh Phangan was spent up North on a beach I had never heard of. Amanda had heard of it from an Austrian guy she met at Eden bar. It was supposed to have good snorkeling. The taxi cost us 200 baht each which was expensive but we soon realized it was a long way away. The beach was beautiful and so relaxed. All instantly fell in love and chilled out in the beach bar which strangely enough had a bar big! LOL. We didn't do much that day and soon I got a bit bored wanting to go home. The three of us had a disagreement as Amanda wanted us to come back and stay in a bungalow for the next 3 nights while Sam and I wanted to keep going to Koh Lanta - an island our friend Alan had raved about. Sure enough he was on mushrooms - but Koh Lanta did sound amazing. Amanda felt at home on this Northern beach however, and being as stubborn as I am, did not want to budge from what she wanted. Sam and I just found it too boring, the bar was dead and there were no other real bars and hardly anywhere to eat. The beer was warm as they didn't have proper refrigeration either. It seemed like the place for old hippies to come and just lay around and do nothing. I mean there was practically no one around.
The next day we decided to part ways, Amanda would head back to the beach she loved so much while Sam and I would set out for a new adventure -Koh Lanta.
for the record I wasn't bummed at Alan was in my own world and just didnt feel like partying :P
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience in Koh Phangan :) I'm planning a trip to go there next week & I would really appreciate it if you could offer some tips & advice. Would you mind answering me some of questions if I leave you my email?
ReplyDeleteThank you,