Motor Bikes, Injuries, Sunsets and Full Moon

(Here is a map of my travels, to give some context)

We arrived on the train in Surat Thani at 8am and were immediately greeted/harassed by people showing us the direction to the Full Moon Party – somehow they can tell us apart from the locals.  We paid 400 Baht ($11US) for a ticket that would take us on a bus and ferry to get to Koh Phangan, our resting place for the next few days, and site of the notorious Full Moon Party.

We were told the bus would be a half hour.  That must’ve been in Thai time, because it was just under two hours to the pier.  Ordinarily this wouldn’t be too bad if I weren’t sitting on the floor with baggage in the back of the bus on top of the engine, burning my ass.  But hey, I’m in Thailand, no complaining allowed.  After we got off the bus, we were herded onto a ferry to Koh Phangan – the last leg of the trip, finally.

All the people our age congregated on the top floor of the ferry that was outside.  Absolutely beautiful sun and wind created dangerous conditions for sunburns without sunscreen.  Nobody saw it coming, but we all got lobstered, Alex and Kent the worst – Kent because he’s Irish and Alex because he thought he was Spanish enough to sleep for an hour in the sun with no protection.  Otherwise, the water is as blue as in the pictures – just stunning.  Add to that the islands with large, lush mountains and I’m in paradise.  This is why I came to Thailand.

(You can start being jealous right about now)

(Oh, the colors!)

(Arriving at Koh Phangan.  We had a similar "beach bridge" across our lagoon)

Three hours later, we arrived at the port on Koh Phangan and haggled our taxi down 100 Baht, we felt good about saving that $1 per person, and took the 30 minute ride to our resort, the Royal Orchid, on the northwest part of the island.  Note, that we were pretty much as far as we could be from the party, which is on the SE part of the island, but that’s what you get when you book a week in advance of one of the craziest parties in the world.  But for $12 per night, you can’t argue.

The resort was actually pretty nice considering the price and location. My bungalow was Charlton, Kaitlyn and myself sharing a queen and double bed.  Not too shabby.  Our bungalows were literally right on the beach. They also came equipped with a hammock, which I may need to buy for my apartment next year, just saying, it’s the perfect nap.  The beach was absolutely perfect.  Exactly like I had dreamed it would be.  Bright blue, 80-degree water, soft sand, topless sunbathers – what more could you ask for?

(Bungalows, mine was up in the second tier)

(First moments on the beach....bliss)

(Click to enlarge)

(First sunset from the bungalows)

We spent most of the day on the beach, enhancing our sunburns, showered up and got some dinner at an authentic Thai restaurant down the road.  We sat on cushions on the floor and ate some of the best Thai food ever.  All of course for about $2 per person.

(There was a cat who kept bothering us on the floor, not as cute as Hitchcock)

Afterwards, we headed back to the Royal Orchid, played some drinking games, walked around the beach, enjoyed the moon and the island across the way, and called it an early night.  After many hours of walking and traveling, we deserved it.

(The better Thai beer)

(Royal Orchid at night)

(Funny faces)

(We played with a dog on our walk over the side of the lagoon)

Woke up at like 10 after a restful sleep and got some toast and breakfast with everyone at the restaurant. Everyone is really burned at this point, so we hung in the shade after exploring the other side of our lagoon.  Just enjoying the breeze, reading a book, listening to some Bob, it was ideal.

In the afternoon we decided to rent some motor bikes.  The motivations here are two-fold: we wanted to explore the island and have some fun, and we wanted to save some money on the 400 Baht we would have to pay a taxi roundtrip to the Full Moon Party that night.  The bikes cost 150 baht each, and fit two people on them.  Note that these are not meant for two large guys to be sitting on (~375lb), and we learned that the hard way.

(Morning on the lagoon)

 
           (Attempts at opening the coconut)                           (Success but failure, it was empty)

One cool thing about the motor bikes is that they sell the gas in liter bottles (like alcohol).  Great thing about that is that if you get stranded, someone can buy gas and bring it to you pretty easily.  Since I’d never ridden one of these, I decided to let Charlton drive our bike while Alex took his own, and Kent and Kaitlyn teamed up.  One thing to understand is that the roads have a ton of potholes.  Charlton was not an expert at avoiding these, to say the least.

(Boss hog)

First stop was an elephant riding area just outside our little inlet. We played and fed the elephants some bananas that we bought from the place. I didn’t realize how hairy elephants are, and it was definitely a little surprising, aside from their size.  They are such cool and smart animals.  We would put the banana on the end of its trunk (which is like their nose) and they would bring it to their mouth, peel it and eat it. Amazing.

(My new friend)

(Feeding the bananas, it was so weird to feel it take the banana from me)

(Too cute)

(Oh my god there's a monkey on my head!)

Then we got back on road and headed out. Driving around the island was beautiful. The scenery is fantastic and it is great to have the wind in your face on such a hot day

About 10 minutes later Charlton took a turn a little too quickly and his toe got scraped along with losing a flip flop. He thought it would be best to catch up with the group and then go back to fetch it. On his way back to retrieve the sandal he went over a big pothole too fast and popped the front tire.  This would be the start of a not-so-great 24 hours for Charlton.

We pulled over ahead at this little area with some bungalows to survey the situation. We met a random guy who lived there (from Montreal originally) who lent us his phone to call the hotel. It would take a half hour for the hotel to pick up the bike. This guy, Charles, had been here for five months working at a SCUBA diving operation with one other guy. This is his fifth year away from home diving in various locations and was probably about 27 or so. Boy was I jealous of that lifestyle.  Anyway, if I decide to go back, or you want to go, I know a great dive company to go with, just ask me.

He showed us to the nearest street with 7-11 and restaurants. We shuttled everyone over while Alex went with Charlton back to the bike to wait for the tow.  Another great eating experience.  Aside from the food, there was this creepy, disgusting-looking fat guy who was telling us about the island, and trying to sell us his dog who was “the best fighter in the whole island”.  Even after we told him we were leaving in a day, he insisted that we could buy it from him, and sell it immediately for profit.  I was still in shock that we were talking about dog fighting – so messed up.  Also, he pointed us in the direction of his weed dealer, and a place where you pay 100 baht ($3 US) for a Thai woman to shower (with) you, both of which we did not pursue.

We realized our day was done with the bikes, so Kent shuttled me back to shower before the rest of my roommates to shower. It was so weighted down with the nearly 400lb on the bike, but we went slowly in light of the recent events.

We  showered and enjoyed some time on the beach before we left for the party. We planned to leave at like 6 but if started pouring. We were told it would be a short “island rain”. It wasn't. Eventually went out on one of the craziest journeys ever to get to the FMP and then went nuts at the party.

(Second night sunset, just breathtaking)

(In front of the bungalows, click to enlarge)

It was pouting. Super difficult to drive because Charlton and I were so much weight. Everyone was completely soaked.  It's a good thug I had brought my Knicks drawstring bag with my camera, which kept it completely dry. Finally, the Knicks have done something useful!  Pulled over and took shelter under some guy’s porch. He came out with a flashlight and made it seem like he would kill us, yelling “die” at us. I later realized that since the electricity was out on the island at the time (power shortages are rather common) he probably thought we were trying to loot him. Oh well. Back on the road. It was still pouring so we stopped a couple minutes later at an overhang which turned out to be an all-you-can-eat buffet.  We ate by candlelight with our hotpot-machine-fryer and then the lights came on. What a wonderful thing lights are. Finished our delicious meal and then went to get our buckets.

(Dinner)

(I've never had so much crab meat and squid in my life)

(The crew, with the lights on!)

Buckets are these small beach pals that you buy with a small bottle of alcohol, a red bull and your choice of soda for 200-300 Baht.  After some bargaining, I got ours down to like 150 per. They pour it in front of you so it's pretty safe and you mix it with ice ad carry it around. There is a stand selling these every 30 feet.  This party, which happens every full moon (monthly) is a huge business for this island, which otherwise doesn’t really have much different from the other islands. There was also tattooing, massages and body painting because of the blacklights. I got my body painted, and Kaitlyn got her face and arms.

(My first bucket)

(Iconic)

We walked around killing time because it was still only like 9 pm. We tried to find some friends from CUHK but it wasn't possible – there were just too many people there, and we had no idea where we were. At around 10 we entered the beach and it was absolutely crazy. There are thousands of people as far as you can see. The population of the island is about 10,000 and supposedly 8,000 come to party. These were not exaggerations.  It is an international pilgrimage for traveling young people. The music was blasting and everyone was dancing like crazy. Not too techno-ey but awesome to dance too.  Surprisingly, I actually felt pretty safe there. Although there were tons of people, it wasn't really "crowded" , lots of room to move around.

(Probably about 1/2 of the beach)

(Baller)

Some crazy things at the party – there was lots of fire.  Fire twirlers, fire spitters, fire rings to jump through (did that), fire limbo (almost singed my hair doing that) and a fire jump rope. One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen was this: one of the fire twirlers with the string (see video) ran out of the circle with his stuff lit, ran for about 100 feet.  Then he turns around and chucks the fireball-on-string back into the main crowd area.  One of the other fire-people catches it mid-stride and continues with it like it was no big deal.  It was like the kind of stuff the Jeremy’s do passing juggling clubs except cooler, and on fire in the middle of the night.

(Fire stuff)

(Limbo)

(The glorious full moon)

(Click the video if you want to watch it in HD)

The moon was out in full force, and it was really bright on the beach.  Everyone was running into the ocean, getting crunk and enjoying themselves.  Overall, one of the sickest parties I’ll ever go to.

We kept pretty close as a group except for Charlton. Didn't see him from about 11pm-10am. Around 6 Alex and I left after realizing that Kaitlyn and Kent had gone home already. Probably not the best idea in the world but Alex has been driving these types of bikes since he was young, so I felt pretty comfortable, even after a long night.  Also, he was a much better driver than Charlton so I was happy.

(Mid way through.  Nice shirt Kent)

(They seem to like their elephants)

Started riding and passing a lot of taxis taking people home. Except this time we were passing them. We ended up getting lost a bit and the 7-11 folk weren't giving any help with directions. Eventually we made it on the right path. At one point, Alex insisted that we stop and take pictures of the moon.  Just standing there, in the middle of this island, overlooking the ocean and a beautiful nightscape, I knew I didn’t want to leave.  The rest of the time we were going about 120 and made it home in under an hour.  At around 7 we arrived at the Royal Orchid in time to see the sun rise, while the moon was still up – pretty sweet.  I got to my bungalow and Charlton still wasn’t back.

(Moon on the drive home ~6am)

Around 10 he stumbles into our place and I'm too tired to ask what's up. We all get up at like 12 and hear his story. Just a whole lot of stupidity and bad luck.  First off, he got separated from because he was mackin’ on some Canadian girl who he ended up hanging out with the whole night (sadly he didn’t get any). Then at like 8 after watching the sunrise smoking, he went off home. Of course, drunk, high and driving too fast he wiped out. He busted up his foot pretty nasty and got a lot of what are called Thailand tattoos, aka road rash on your arms and legs, that leave scars quickly because they heal fast in the warm weather. His bike was scratched up and the mirror was broken along with the basket in front.

We found out that the charges were over 11,000 or about $350 US. He got his foot wrapped up again and paid the charges. Two bikes in one day, oh well. Also he somehow lost the key to the bike, which we later found on the side of the path up to our bungalow. What a mess.

The rest of the day we just chilled at the beach, and ate some food, recounting the night’s events.  Around 4, I showered and left on a taxi for the ferry. I got to the ferry which left about 30 min late, or on time according to Thai Time. Three hour ferry. Watching the magnificent sunset on the ocean I realized that I'm gonna miss this place a lot.  What a way to start my travels.

(Area surrounding the pier)

(I'd like to live righhhhttt there)

(No color enhancement, that's for real)

(I think I like sunsets)

The bus was the same 2 hours and got to the train at about 10. Sat down with two gentlemen for some street dinner. Oh so good. I still can’t get over how good and cheap the food was. One was a 29 year-old German traveling for two months. The other an older guy here for a bit but then meeting his wife, his "sugar mama" (a response to my question of what does he do for work) in Bangkok to go to Laos and Cambodia. We chatted about life and travels. The older guy told me how he set up the stage and was on stage for Woodstock. You could still see his eyes light up like fireworks just talking about it. Lucky generation, those baby boomers.

(My last meal, halfway through I remembered to take a picture)

Our train was 30 then 50 then 60 min late. I didn't realize how close I would be cutting it for my flight. The original train would get in at 10am and my flight was at 1:20 with an hour ride to the airport. Now the train will get in around 11:30, so it will be close. Pray for no traffic.

Luckily, I was able to book a sleeper-car ticket for the return trip.  The bed was so much better than the 2^nd class.  It was well worth the extra $8 US to upgrade.  I actually laugh saying that.

(My luxurious $25 sleeper)

The taxi to the airport really summed up the greatness of my trip to Thailand.  Jumped in a pink taxi at the train station and was greeted by a wonderful young guy driving the taxi.  He told me that he was “the best driver with the best service” in his broken English.  He wanted to practice his English, so we continued talking.  He grew up on a farm and then at age 20, moved to Bangkok to become a driver.  He loves his job so much, I felt good just hearing about it.  He wants to get good enough at English to become a tour guide one day.  He loves Thailand so much that it showed through the rearview mirror.  He wants to show people how great his country is, and get them to come back.  I can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t want to come back to this place.  He got me to the airport in a mere 35 minutes, coming through on his promise for great driving and great service.  I tipped him nicely and wished him good luck as I hustled to my gate.  Another lovely flight on Emirates, and I was back home in Hong Kong in no time.  As I mentioned before, I certainly regret not staying the extra two days with the rest of my group, but its the least painful regret I think I’ll ever have.