A short boat trip away was the party island of Koh Phangan. Some serious sleep and preparation had gone into this 4 night stay but we found as of the evening Thong Sala (a seaside town renown for people staying in for the moon parties) was so quiet! However we did find an amazing food market with lots of local tasty food so instead of drinking we pigged out… Sometimes on not quite cooked chicken urghh.
On our second day in Koh Phangan we hired a moped and drove through the mountainous jungle to Mea Head beach. This was a secluded beautiful beach known for it’s brilliant and vibrant under water life. It was amazing! With only 2 restaurants on the beach and a handful of huts it was quiet and luxurious. The snorkelling was the best yet with so much to see.
The following day was the day of the half moon party! In the day we tried to drive to the most southern part of the island where the full moon parties take place, however our bike couldn’t take two of us up the steep hills so we stopped at a restaurant in the mountain side over looking the west coast of the island. With good views and fantastic food it was a well worth while stop.
That evening we painted ourselves up, put on our vibrant tshirts and drank buckets of rum all in the name of the half moon. The party took place deep in the jungle. It was amazing! Everything was vibrant and luminous, the crowd was chilled out and everyone was having an amazing time… Except maybe the wee blonde boy that had collapsed due to too much drink, he did come round and was taken home by some very understanding friends. We made friends with a Canadian couple and spent the night dancing, drinking, talking and the finally eating. Our only issue with the half moon party is you have to enjoy house music as this was all they played… I don’t think we knew any of it.
The following day was a right off with not much communicating and eating very Western food… Heinz beans on toast.