Full Moon

Koh Pha Ngan's Haad Rin beach is the site of Thailand's legendary full moon parties. This is the place to let loose in southeast Asia. Haad Rin has capitalized on this success by celebrating the half moon, black moon, crescent moon...

Our visit to Koh Pha Ngan did not coincide with any special lunar events, but Hadd Rin was still party central. Big crowds gather on this small beach every night of the week. Thai kids roam the shores selling leis and glow sticks, an essential item in any raver's toolkit. Oceanfront bars compete to see who can play the loudest music and produce the biggest flames. This includes fire twirlers, fire limbo, fire jump rope, etc. We met a British kid who walked through a burning ring of fire. This is no Johnny Cash metaphor -- the beach as an actual burning ring of fire. He suffered 2nd degree burns on his legs attempting to dive through the flaming hoola hoop. Someone saw my motorbike burn and I asked if I also jumped through the hoop.

Without a doubt, the most entertaining part of Haad Rin's nightlife are the rows of stalls crammed between the full-service bars. You can't walk within 20 feet of these stalls without being accosted to buy a bucket of booze. They sell plastic pails (like a kid would use to build a sandcastle) filled with a can of soda, a bottle of Red Bull, and a flask-sized bottle of liquor. Be careful to check the seal on the bottle because some stalls are known to replace the brand name stuff with the cheap stuff. Upon purchase, the "bartender" dumps the contents into the bucket, adds a handful of ice, and pops in a few straws. I was initially wary of the ice (don't drink the water in Thailand), but then I decided the ice was probably the least likely thing in the bucket to make me sick.

These stalls all sell the exact same thing for similar prices. To differentiate themselves, they decorate their tables with painted signs of nonsense. As you'll see from the pictures, they're very fond of the F-word and the promise of every late night male party animal: "I love you long time."