Thailand – Ultimate Guide To The Full Moon Party on Ko Phangan
OK so you’re visiting Thailand and you’ve got to go to the Full Moon Party on Ko Phangan. Unless you’re travelling with children of course, in which case you should probably stay as far away from Ko Phangan as possible. Some people might try and convince you that the North side of the island is a nice place to stay, and it is, but if you want seclusion you should go to Ko Tao or Ko Samui. Ko Phangan is all about partying. End of.
There’s little to do in Ko Phangan apart from party so there’s nothing wrong with sleeping all day and partying all night. You’re not missing anything. There’s a temple which is relatively cool if you’ve not already seen a bunch of them and an incredibly disappointing waterfall, hardly worthy of the name and 30 minutes of my life totally wasted.
Firstly you need to decide where you want to stay. There are a few options but the best by far and away is Haat Rin. This is where the party is at. Because it is right on the beach where the Full Moon Party is, the places get booked up pretty quickly. It’s worth either looking for places and booking in advance or arriving 4 or 5 days before the Full Moon Party if you want to do it with eyes on the ground.
If you can’t get a place on Haat Rin, Baan Thai is your next best option. It’s really easy access to Haat Rin in the days leading up to the Full Moon Party, about 10 minutes ride in one of the Jeep Bus Taxi things. Price 100 Baht each way. This is almost the same price as a Bucket of Alcohol. I stayed at Power Beach Resort for a couple of days and Two Rock Bungalows for a couple more days. I arrived quite late and hadn’t booked in advance. Both of these places are right on the main road leading to Haat Rin. I wish I’d been able to find somewhere in Haat Rin it’s self but I was denied. None the less I had an awesome time until I lost my passport.
You can stay on the other sides of the island and I met a fair few people who did but it’s so much better to pay a bit more to get close to the action.
Air conditioned rooms are a must here. Basically you’re going to be partying hard, drinking a lot and staying up late. You’re going to be doing this for more than one day in a row so you’re going to need somewhere nice to sleep. It’s worth taking a few hits either before or after in terms of accomodation to make these few nights totally awesome.
Full Moon Warmup Parties are often better than the Full Moon Party it’s self. I can vouch for that. Nearly everyone I’ve spoken to about it thinks the same. There were more girls at the warmup and everyone seemed to be in a better mood. I think whenever you build something up in the way the Full Moon Party is built up, it inevitably fails to live up to expectations though. There are usually at least 3 warm up nights so get naked and get involved.
You’ve read ad nauseum accounts about getting painted up and all that stuff so I won’t cover any of that stuff here. Just do it. You won’t regret it. Alcohol is cheap and plentiful. Buckets are lethal but quite expensive. Get some Samsong and some M150 and drink until you’re almost dead (just don’t die, or if you do, don’t sue me. If you drink so much you die it’s your own fault).
It is worth noting that the 10th best selling book in Haat Rin is The Game. That ammused me.