The beach as the sun rises after the Full Moon Party
We first heard about the full moon party in Central America and were very intrigued. Billed as the biggest and best party in the world, or at least Southeast Asia, it was something that we couldn’t miss. So, after missing it when we were in Thailand back in April, we changed around plans and made sure that we left Malaysia in time to hit up the June 7, 2009 party.
This entry is all about the full moon party and includes stories of our wild 26 hour journey there, the preparty, the pool party, the actual full moon beach party, scams and theft on the beach, lady boys galore and finishes with a 34 hour trip north to Chang Mai.
Carrie walks into the Thailand section of the border
With our new friends Claire and Karen in tow, Carrie and I left the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia at 7:30am to head to Koh Phangan, Thailand, for the Full Moon Party. Referred to as the best and biggest party in the world, we had based our entire schedule for Malaysia and Singapore around getting to the party. It was something that we just had to experience. Little did we know that getting there would be an experience all in itself.
Our day began with a quick boat “taxi” to the speedboat ferry that would take us from the Perhentians back to the mainland. From there we hired a proper taxi to take the four of us to the Thailand border at Sungai Kolok. Getting our passport stamped to leave Malaysia was quick and painless. Getting into Thailand was not.
Checking to make sure no on has swine flu before entering Thailand
First we had to undergo a health check, which involved filing out a form swearing that we had no swine flu symptoms and getting our temperature checked. After mine came out at 36.7 degrees Celsius the nurse showed it to me and said, “very close.” I freaked out a bit until I saw the sign that said 38 was the minimum for concern. What was she scaring me for?!
Next we had to wait on a long and hot line to get our passports stamped with our Thai visas. While waiting, a money changer approached me and tried to give me a terrible exchange rate. As everything does, it turned into a little scene that ended with me refusing to give him my money.
The encounter did have a positive effect though, as Reuben, a Spaniard traveling alone and standing behind me in the line, asked me why I didn’t want to change money with that guy. We continued to talk about traveling and soon established that he too was going to the party without pre-booked accommodation. And just like that we had a fifth member of our crew.
The full moon gang (from the left: Claire, Karen, Reuben, Carrie and Me)
After successfully getting through the border check and entering Thailand we found that the train station we needed for the next leg of our journey was about 4 kilometers away. There were no car taxis anywhere so we had no choice but to all hop on the back of motorcycle taxis with our big bags. For ten minutes we caravanned through the streets of Sungai Kolok: waving, hooting and hollering at each other. Depending on whom you ask it was either a fun or terrifying experience; Claire said she had never been more scared in her life!
Safely arriving at the train station and buying our tickets to Surat Thani, we joined a train full of other Western travelers heading to the same place. The ride was long, dusty, hot and highly entertaining. Reuben was sitting next to a Thai who was drinking beer for 10 hours straight. Karen and Claire drank whisky with a Thai police officer in the food car. Carrie and I met an army officer who loves scuba diving as much as we do. Good times were had by all.
The sleeping quarters on board the overnight ferry to Koh Phangan
We finally arrived at Surat Thani at around 9pm and quickly started looking for cabs to take us to the boat dock. However, we had somehow picked up a straggler (we’ll call him San Diego because that’s where he’s from and I don’t know his name) who invited himself into our group to try and save money on the cab. He alternated between making sure to latch onto us and trying to find his own cheap deal. In the end he tagged along with us, which made us need two cabs instead of one and we all had to pay an extra 10 bhat for helping him. No problem, I would hope the same would happen to me in that situation.
The boat, which doubled as a cargo ship filled with food, beer and other dry goods, wound up costing double the normal price due to the party. The inside was lined with mattresses both on the floor and elevated in the aisles. Everyone had an assigned spot, though we did have to kick a few sleeping locals out of our beds after playing cards until nearly 1am. It took a while, but we all finally fell asleep to the rocking of the sea.
We made it!
Arriving at 5:30am, we were awoken by the sounds of the ship’s horns and countless taxi drivers on the jetty shouting “good morning! You want taxi? Where you go?” through the boat’s windows. Still groggy, we had no choice but to enter the taxi gauntlet waiting for us and try and figure out where we were headed. Not surprisingly, it was at this point that San Diego reappeared after being MIA all night and tagged along with us. Our destination: a hotel with a room big enough for six.
The epilogue to the story is that Claire’s place didn’t work out but we did find a wonderful AC room that we could cram the original five into. San Diego had been both trying to find his own place and make sure to stick with us all morning just in case, so we were a-ok with him doing his own thing. We even helped find him a cheap single room, but were completely done with him. Finally, at around 8:30am we all plopped into our beds and passed out.
Final tally
1 train ride
1 motorcycle taxi
3 car taxis
3 boats
26 hours of travel
Views from the back of our motorcycle taxi to the train station
The scene on the dock when our boat arrived at the full moon party at 530am
Imagine a beach with a few hundred feet between the water and a row of bars roughly a quarter mile long. Each bar is blasting music at concert volumes and selling buckets full of alcohol to anyone regardless of age or level of intoxication. Add some blacklights, body painting, glow in the dark items, food stalls and stages for people to dance on. Now put 10,000 people on the beach and see what happens.
While many revelers arrive on the day of the party, we got to Koh Phangan a day early so we would have time to check it all out before the madness began. After waking up in the late afternoon on our first day we wandered around and saw everyone setting up. That evening we attended a pool party next door to our hotel that was filled with a combination of people having a great time horsing around in the pool and others dancing on the dance floor. A wild scene unlike anything I’ve seen before, but as we were not in bathing suits or dancing, it was time to check out the beach.
Even though it was a warm-up night, there were still a few thousand people dancing away on the beach. The music was great, though it was a bit hard to hear at times as the bars are all right next to each other and the different songs mix together. As for the selection it was mostly trance, techno and an occasional hip hop song.
Over the course of the night our group was both together and separated, but every time we saw each other it was like finding a long lost friend in the crowd. At around 5am a flaming jump rope came out and we had a blast watching the drunks try and play. Carrie and I spent the night and early morning dancing our hearts out until the sun came up over the ocean behind us and they shut the music off. By the time we finally made it home it was past 7am.. Quite a warm-up.
While we all slept until 5pm the island underwent a transformation. People arrived in packs, every local was out selling something and the island felt positively electric. Tonight there was no pool party, no other activities…just the beach. The sky was clear, the moon full, the music blasting and we were ready to go!
Upon arriving at the beach the first thing we noticed was a huge police presence that was lacking the night before. There was also a “sleep area” where people who had a little too much fun could go and be kept safe by the on-site medical staff. It was good to see that precautions were being taken, as we had heard horror stories about full moon parties in the past.
Carrie shows off her glow in the dark tattoo in front of a wall filled with all of the options one could get painted on them
For those not needing police or medical attention, there were rows of stalls with blacklight body paint. Each one had pretty much the same designs, which they would paint on you for a price. The beach was also filled with people selling glow in the dark bracelets, hats, glasses and necklaces. Pretty much everyone on the beach had some sort of neon aspect to them. Mine was a bright green neon stick around my wrist.
Food stalls were set up all over the beach and taxi speedboats were waiting to take people to private parties on yachts anchored just off shore. Countless people were out in the water swimming, sitting, standing or laying down in one of the boats foolish enough to park there for the night. Pretty much everyone had a bucket of booze.
The actual party was the same as the night before: just about five times bigger. Pretty much the entire beach was filled with people dancing, talking, walking around, flirting and having a great time. There were fire dancers, people blowing fire, guys and girls spinning fire and, of course, more fire jump rope.
When sunrise finally came, there were tons more people on the beach than the day before. The music also never stopped. While we went back to the room around 7:30am, we met people who were dancing until nearly 3pm. Crazy!
Carrie and I in front of a full moon sunrise
So is it the greatest, biggest and best party in the world? That’s what they say and I do see some merit in the statement. The beach layout is great and gives people a large area to do things without having everything too spread out. Even with 10,000 people there is still room to move around.
At the same time, the closeness of the bars gets a bit old when the music mixes together. Also, if dancing the night away isn’t your thing then this is not the place to be. I feel like the best party in the world would have more options. For now I’ll label it a pretty awesome party and revisit the statement when I go to more of the “best parties in the world.”
The beach at 530am is filled with passed out partiers and people not paying attention to their personal belongings
While the sunrise every morning was absolutely beautiful, the scene in front of it was not. As soon as it got light enough to see without a flashlight the locals came out in packs to scavenge. Lots of partiers had passed out on the beach and if anything had fallen out of their pocket it was quickly picked up and taken. Bags and fanny packs that were left unwatched or lost on the beach were fair game and Carrie even saw a guy thwart a Thai pickpocket.
Flip flops were another popular target of the scavengers, as the beach was full of lost and forgotten sandals. Unfortunately, not all the sandals being scavenged were lost. While watching the sunrise next to our group’s shoes a local man came by and quickly slipped off his cheap black flip flops, put on Karen’s expensive black ones and started to walk away. I saw him and said “hey, what are you doing?” He quickly said, “oh, sorry, I thought these were mine,” before quickly switching back and scurrying off to try somewhere else.
I can only imagine how much other shady things go on under the cover of darkness and alcohol. I saw a Thai woman walking around with a stack of empty alcohol buckets going around to a bunch of locals. Each of them would put a wad of bills in the bucket, she would look through it and give them their keep. Sometimes I don’t think it was all bills. Whatever they did to get that money, I doubt it was legal.
A lady boy caberet show in the Pinklao area of Bangkok
Thailand is filled with lady boys: men who either dress like women or who are in some stage of actually becoming a woman through surgery. Most times they are easy to pick out of a crowd, though some have had so much work done or had such a feminine physique to begin with that it’s tough to identify them.
Lady boys are extremely popular in Thailand, working in every legitimate part of society. They are especially prevalent in beauty salons, shops, cabarets, restaurants, tourist centers, entertainment districts and beauty pageants. Surprisingly, considering how many nearby countries forbid homosexuality, they are an accepted part of every day life.
While many live legitimate lives, another aspect of the lady boy culture is that of prostitution and deception. Especially in Phuket, Bangkok and other tourist destinations, many lady boys will do whatever is necessary to part someone with their money. To this day we have till not gotten a real answer as to who is hiring them. Are they straight men who can’t tell it’s a lady boy? Gay men? Gay women? We have mostly been told it’s straight men, but only by a few people and we are still not sure.
Lady boys become far more obvious after sunrise
All we know for sure is that the lady boys were out in force at the full moon party. I have no idea what went on under the cover of darkness, but as the sun came up I saw dozens of drunken male partiers hand in hand with lady boys. My personal favorite were the jocks, frat boys and meatheads who you know are the most homophobic and anti-gay people around while sober. Karma at its finest.
However, there were also a ton of young guys - maybe in their late teens or early 20’s - walking around with lady boys. These kids clearly had too much to drink and had no idea that the beautiful woman they were locking lips with was clearly a man. The biggest commonality they all had was the presence of a big bucket of booze in their hands that they continued to drink well after sunrise. I saw a lady boy take a sip while flirting with a guy then turn her head and spit it out on the sand. It seems that they pretend to be partying with their new lover but in reality are staying pretty much sober.
So if they are not doing it for free booze and they know that when the guy sobers up he will probably no longer be interested, why do they do it? Sadly, the best theory I have is that they rob the guys then leave them. At one point I saw a guy flop down on the sand followed immediately by his lady boy friend. She laid on top of him, caressed him all over, put the back of her head on his chest, pretended to get a text message, got up and walked away quickly. The guy was drunk and didn’t really know what happened, but I saw him checking his pockets and his hand came out empty handed as he stumbled away.
I think this lady boy may have picked this guy's pocket before pretending to get a text and leaving him drunk on the sand
I continued to watch as a group of lady boys hung out together and occasionally split off as one of them spotted the drunkest Westerner they could and began to flirt. Often, within minutes, the pair was kissing. In the background the rest of the lady boys would laugh and cheer her on silently.
All this said, I don’t want to say that the lady boys were the only ones playing the “let’s take advantage of the drunken Westerners” game. I saw tons of real Thai women pretending to be interested in men far too drunk to sweet talk them in any way shape or form. It’s sad to say, but it’s just another part of the business of the full moon party.
Carrie and I with our big bags in front of our hotel getting ready to leave the full moon party
We spent the night dancing and having a blast before going to bed at around 8am. Reuben returned. Karen came back. But where was Claire? This was the question we were still asking at 7pm when I hopped onto the back of a motorcycle driven by a Thai friend I had made. Our destinations? Health clinics and the police station to see if anyone had seen the girl whose passport I held in my hand. None of us knew what to do but we were very worried.
My friend told me that people go missing all the time and if she didn’t show up and we filed a police report that we would have to stay on the island until she surfaced. I had no luck on our motorcycle ride, but upon returning what did I see? Claire chatting with the girls telling a story about meeting new friends and winding up on the other side of the island with no cell phone. Thank goodness she was ok but what an experience for us.
The next day we all said our goodbyes and Carrie and started our 700 kilometer journey north to Chang Mai for some trekking. We had gone against our usual method of travel and booked a direct trip to Bangkok through a tour agent to make our life easier. Our taxi left the hotel at 11am and we next joined thousands of Westerners boarding a boat to what we thought was Surat Thani.
A huge pile of backpacker bags loaded onto the boat from the full moon party
In reality the boat dropped us off a few hours later at some dock somewhere in Thailand where busses waited to take us the rest of the way. We were among the last people off the boat by the time we finally got our bags all of the busses were full and we had to wait on this random dock for nearly two hours before the next bus came.
When we finally arrived in Surat Thani we were left at a bus terminal in the middle of nowhere so we had no choice but to buy their overpriced food. Our bus left 30 minutes late and got into Bangkok 30 minutes early: at 4:30am. We hopped in a cab to the train station, booked an 8:30am train to Chang Mai and waited in the terminal for it to leave.
A twelve hour train ride later we got to Chang Mai. got in a cab, found a hotel and passed out.
Tons of tourists waiting to board the boat to leave the full moon party
Final tally:
3 taxis
2 bus rides
1 boat ride
1 train ride
34 hours of travel
Add the 26 hours to get from Malaysia to the full moon party and you get 60 hours of travel in 6 days. Had we skipped the full moon party and flown from Malaysia to Chang Mai it would have taken 3 hours. Was it worth it? 100%!
Our train ride from the Thai border to Surat Thani may have been the buggiest ever. At one point or another we must have had every single type of insect known to man fly, fall or land on us.
A guy walking down the aisle of the train selling newspapers said “no” instead of excuse me when he needed people to get out of his way. That, and “good morning” seemed to be the only words he knew.
In our group, two people lost three pairs of flip flops.
It was great to have AC and just relax during the day.
This was the first time in my life I saw the sunrise three days in a row.
Our full moon crew was the biggest group we’ve traveled with in all of our travels.
It’s funny cuz it’s true…and because Karen did
All the stores in town sell used flip flops found on the beach. We joked that if we looked hard enough we might find one of Claire or Karen’s missing pairs.
You could even buy single flip flops if you wanted to create your own mismatched pair.
At one point there was a very short man dressed like a leprechaun dancing on a stage.
Our bus from Surat Thani to Bangkok stopped about 15 minutes into the ride for a rest stop and announced that it would be the final one of the 8 hour ride. This came after leaving 30 minutes late.
The trains in Thailand are amazingly clean. On our ride to Chang Mai the floors must have been swept a dozen times.
Second class trains also serve food and beverages for free.
Our hotel for the first night in Kuala Lumpur was the airport next to the baggage claim_2
First Malaysia and Singapore were on our our itinerary, then due to time constraints we cut them out. However, as the cheapest way to get from Bali back to mainland Southeast Asia was through Kuala Lumpur, we decided to give it a go.
Our experience began at 1am when our plane landed in KL and we decided to save money on a hotel by sleeping on the baggage claim floor at the airport. We had a thin sheet over us, it was beyond freezing and uncomfortable and more than a few times I woke up, peered out from under the sheet and saw the feet of security and cleaning people standing over us trying to figure out what to do.
After a few hours we couldn’t take the cold and hard floor anymore, so we moved to the seats nearby: all of which had armrests in between them. We spent the rest of the night sitting and leaning over the armrests on our bags and couldn’t have been happier when 8am came around and we headed into the city.
After leaving the airport and finding a hostel in the Chinatown area of Kuala Lumpur, we spent our first day wandering the city and seeing our first movie in the theaters since leaving the USA: Star Trek, which was awesome! Later that night we spent literally hours taking the subway around trying to find a nice place to take a panoramic photo of the KL skyline at night. We found nothing, but did meet fellow travelers looking to do the same thing. Eventually we just got off at the Petronas Towers and settled for an amazing view and some awesome shots of the twin towers (from the movie Entrapment) at night. They were lit up and more stunning than by day.
The next day was another one for wandering, as we walked through Little India (a sad representation of our favorite country on this trip to date) and around a bunch of residential neighborhoods. Kuala Lumpur is a pretty small city and by the end of the day we felt like we had seen most of it. The skyscrapers are average both in size and architectural style and pale in comparison to the beauty of Bangkok. The subway system takes you everywhere you need to go and traffic did not seem to be much of a problem.
A view of Kuala Lumpur from the Petronas Towers
Sadly, at one point during the day Carrie lost her sunglasses, so we had to head to the Times Square mall to find her a new pair. This place was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Literally, it was 15 stories tall, had an amusement park with roller coaster inside, three movie theaters, multiple food courts and more. After finding new sunglasses and having spent the day walking, we decided to treat ourselves to a cheap foot massage for $6.
Actually, we treated ourselves to foot reflexology, which is apparently very different from a massage as the guy spent 30 minutes putting my foot in more pain than it has ever been before. It was interesting when he identified the areas of my body that hurt (neck, lower back, shoulders) just by finding the knots in certain areas of my foot, but the process of getting said knots out made me grit my teeth and clench my fists at times.
Carrie and I at the Harlem Globetrotters game in Kuala Lumpur
On the way back from the mall we happened to walk by a sign for the Harlem Globetrotters, who were playing in Malaysia the next day. Though we had originally planned to leave, we decided to stick around as we had both always wanted to see them and how random that we would do so in Kuala Lumpur.
We woke up at the crack of dawn the next day and headed back to the Petronas Towers to queue up for two of the 1,400 free tickets issued daily to go to the skybridge on the 41st floor. Our book advised us to arrive early or be disappointed so we got there an hour before go time and found ourselves pretty much at the front of the line and people still coming in and going up hours later. Oh well, we still got to go up on the second elevator ride of the day. The view from the top was spectacular and the light perfect.
Hours later it was time to head out to the Globetrotters. Of course, the arena was in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur and the 15 minute journey we were promised took nearly an hour and required a cab from the train station to actually get there. We finally arrived 20 minutes late and were thrilled to find a promoter outside who gave us comp tickets.
A reflection of the Petronas Towers
The game, and I use that term loosely, was a farce…more of a comedy show than an actual basketball game. A lot of time was spent with the players teasing each other on the court, pulling fans out to take shots, going through rehearsed taunts against the other team (clearly more actors) and interacting with the fake referees and coaches.
When they did shoot some hoops it was as advertised and totally awesome! The dribbled around, made the other team look like fools, dunked, passed back and forth and did amazing tricks. It was clearly a show for kids, but we had a great time and are very glad we spent one more day in KL to check it out.
The Harlem Globetrotters do all sorts of tricks in the final moments of the game
A view of Kuala Lumpur from the window of a moving above ground subway train
The sights and sounds of a Chinatown street restaurant both in the kitchen and the table area. Look for the guy selling lotto tickets.
An assortment of local foods at a buffet in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia seems to be more of a mix of other cultures than a country with its own. The locals are a collection of Indians, Malaysians, Indonesians and Chinese. This leads to many different religions and a very segmented population: especially in Kuala Lumpur. True, we didn’t spend too much time interacting with locals, but everyone we have talked to and the guide books all agree that the country lacks an identity all its own.
The food is reflects this mix as well, as local dishes of the server’s country are available everywhere but there is no traditional Malaysian food. Most meals consisted of some sort of noodle and meat, which made life tough for Carrie the vegetarian. The majority of the popular dishes also had some sort of weird brownish sauce on them that absolutely made me gag. I could get it down, but it wasn’t enjoyable.
Pastries like this were all over Malaysia. Bread, katsup, hot dog, peas, corn, mayo, and some sort of super sweet something
What was enjoyable was all of the pastries everywhere, as Malaysia was filled with things I have never seen before. Most of them were filled with sausage and cheese, though some interesting ones also threw in peas, corn and other varied veggies. That one was gross. Oh, and the cheese had sugar and other sweeteners in it to form a very unique taste. Seafood is also everywhere, though not being a big fan I mostly avoided it. I hate to say it, but the meal we probably had the most was cup of noodles from 7-11.I haven’t had that much Ramen since college!
Poor Carrie! First she gets sick in Bali and goes a little stir crazy trying to recover. Then, no sooner than she starts to feel better I get a case of the belly and have to hole myself up for a few days. This is how we came to Melaka: a small coastal city that our guide described as a backpacker’s haven. In reality, it was a small town with little to do and nary another backpacker in sight.
On occasion I did drag myself out of bed for a little sightseeing. Highlights included a nice fort, the seaside and the mall. We also visited the local museum with exhibits on kites, spinning tops, Melaka’s history and abnormal beauty practices around the world. This one was the most fascinating, as it had sections on African lip discs, foot binding, neck stretching and all the other things societies do in the pursuit of beauty. However, we never made it through the whole thing as the AC was broken and the entire beauty exhibit was around 100 degrees.
Jonker's Walk is a great Chinatown weekend night market in Melaka
Still not feeling better despite having almost finished the pharmacy-prescribed meds, we finally took me to the ER of the local hospital to see a doctor. First let me say this was terrifying, as I was sure that they were going to diagnose me with Swine Flu and quarantine me. What really happened was the doctor tapped my stomach a few times, asked about my symptoms, told me I had food poisoning and sent me on my way. Food poisoning that lasts 5 days? Dummy! We demanded a poo test for all parasites and other possibilities which he begrudgingly agreed to. The next day when I got it back I saw that he only tested for food poisoning: which was negative. Thanks guy, I just wasted $30 to find out nothing!
Anyway, I was feeling a bit better on our last night so we headed over to Jonker’s Walk in Chinatown. Consisting of four streets, the place was filled with street stalls, local restaurants, red Chinese lanterns and delicious food.. It is amazing all the crap that was for sale too. Tables were covered in little plastic toys, hair bands, bootleg tee shirts, watches and more. We spent a few hours walking up and down, soaking it all in and eating before calling it an early night…we were off to Singapore the next day!
Creating spring rolls from scratch on the street at Jonker’s Walk
Singapore is a country unlike any other I’ve ever visited, as it is literally just a city. It’s like if Brooklyn were its own country. You can drive from one side to the other in less than an hour and public transportation will take you anywhere you need to go. It is also a country of rules and fines, with signs for all the things you can’t do peppering the walls of the subways, streets, buses and buildings. Most are dealt with through fines, though some more severe offenses require larger punishments. Who can forget the caning of Michael Fay in 1994 after he graffitied up a wall.
Everything from littering to spitting, playing music loudly, jaywalking and more is illegal and a fineable offense. As such, we came into Singapore having heard that it is the cleanest city in the world and had come up with a game to find the first piece of litter. However, our hopes of playing this game were quickly dashed as we saw rubbish strewn all over the side of the road moments after leaving the border. True, it is a cleaner city that most, but considering how much of an importance is placed on hygiene it seemed quite dirty.
What about the culture, you ask? There really isn’t much that is true Singapore. Much like Malaysia, the country is a mixing bowl of people who all seem to hold onto their own identity. This is also reflected in the foods, though we did have a killer plate of Indian food in Little India.
