Full Moon Party - 19 Feb, 1999
Koh Pha Ngan - Thailand

We have come to Ko Pha Ngan to relax, sun ourselves and to meet our friend Nirav.

So far, we have taken a boat trip around the island, visited Haad Rin, watched America's Funniest Home Videos on Nirav's PC, stayed up late, worked in short periods and relaxed the rest of the time.

We used to sit at the Mad Bar at the top of a hill on the rocks.

It is built in tree-house style above a jutting set of rocks overlooking the west side of the island - directly into the sunset.

There is a weather front out over the sea, and Lisa and Nirav are watching the spectacular lightening show. Music is playing.

In a moment we are off to the Full Moon Party at Haad Rin on the southern tip of the island. It is famous for a party each month when the island gets packed full of travellers and there is a fantastic party on the beach until the sun rises.

Apparently it doesn't kick off until 1 AM, so we are going to go early, get dinner and wait for the fun to start.

I will fill you in when I get back from the party.

See ya'.

We took a taxi down to Haad Rin (the far southern tip of the Island) and ate a leisurely pizza dinner. I took a photograph of the bungalows by the light of the full moon. The clouds in the background are all lit up with moonlight.

We then took a stroll down the main strip of the town and passed a bar with interesting chairs and, stopping to see them, Lisa met up with Ruben (a friend we met earlier) and a bunch of his friends.

We eventually made it to Haad Rin beach in the wee small hour of the morning.

What a surreal sight.

Thousands of people dancing on a clean white beach under the light of the full moon.

Today is also a Buddhist celebration, so it was also a big party day for the local Thais.

The party was great.

Loads of dancing, music, and wonderful friends to meet.

Fireworks, fire-dancing and a good mix of peaceful people - light provided personally by the big shining moon - and of course flame jugglers...

We met and hung out with a great couple called Amanda & Joe, two cool croupiers from England.

We went back onto the beach to dance and watched the sun rise over the ocean. There were people on small stages dancing away here and there, Also people were welcoming the sun by dancing in the surf.

A pretty amazing scene.

After relaxing a bit at Amanda & Joes we finally made it back to our bungalow home for dinner.

I hope you have enjoyed the photographs. All in all, it deserves a high recommendation.