I’m writing from a ferry boat as we drift away from the incredible party island; a tropical island full of dancing beaches, brightly colored bars, tourist shops, and insane amounts of backpackers. The best time to visit Thailand
When Holly, James, and I arrived at the Hat Rin pier I was already in bliss. Tree covered mountains were visible, the sea was blue, and sky even bluer.. it was the perfect day. Holly had plans to check into a nice resort on the island, while James and I were sticking to the backpacker’s route. We had made reservations at a place called the Dancing Elephant, but since we got to Koh Phangnan a couple days early we checked into a place called Coral Bungalows that a recruiter/taxi driver from Koh Samui was telling us about.
Within 5 minutes of arriving James and I were laying by the pool, ordering pad thai and fruit smoothies from the full bar/restaurant on the premises, reading our books, and looking out over the ocean. What a perfect day. A few hours passed and we ran into Ashley and Meryana, they were staying here too! The four of us had dinner together and then got ready for our first night out on the island. We drank our buckets (a child's sand pail that is filled with either vodka or samsuk-(Thailand
The beach was completely packed with people, everyone was dancing on the sand, on the bars, on platform tables… Thai guys were juggling fire, people were jump-roping over a fire-lit rope, and limbo-ing under a fire lit pole. Three bars spread across the beach were pumping out blaring music provided by their DJ’s, a foam party was going on at one end of the beach, and people were swimming in the ocean on the other. It was incredible. The four of us danced for hours until we made it back to our bungalows around 4am.
The next few days were pretty much a complete repeat of the previous. More laying pool side, swimming in the ocean, ordering great food, getting Thai massages at our bungalows, partying on the beach at night, and enjoying every second of this place! On our third night on the island we went to a Muy Thai fight (just for you, TJ) which was really cool to see. The match started out with two little boys who were about 7 years old. It was both of their first ever fights and they both did really well and didn’t get hurt (the referee was assisting them when the fell and helping them out a lot). The next 5 matches just got better and better.. we saw 3 knockouts but the best match was the last. A well experience and cocky Thai fighter came into the ring stretching and prancing around, he would be up against a Spanish Muy Thai fighter. When the match began the two were jumping around and the Spaniard delivered one quick punch to the head and the Thai fighter was out like a light! The crowd cheered and the announcer broadcasted the 20 second knock-out. Great way to end the matches.
Every night our place, Coral Bungalows, had a pool party. So usually the backpackers would come to our location until the pool was completely surrounded by people. Next door was a tree house/lounge- a legit huge tree house with black lights, hammocks, mats and cushions to lay on, chilled out music, as well as a full bar and food menu to order from. Usually I spent my time between the two places or would start at the tree house and then make my way to our pool party when it was close to the time to head to the main beach, Had Rin East, just south east of where we were staying.
Halloween pretty much passed without acknowledgement. A few Americans were dressed up on the beach and a Thai guy was selling scary masks, but aside from that.. not too much differentiated that night from any other. I did do a fire limbo on Halloween though. It took me back to when I was a little girl and would limbo at bar/bat mitzvahs and other middle school parties.
The next night was the Full Moon party and we were prepared! We had UV/black light paint of all colors and 8 of us drew on each other for about an hour as we sipped our buckets preparing for our biggest night yet. Our group of four had grown to 8 as we met some more Canadians and once we all got to the beach we met up with our 7 friends from England
The amount of people on the beach during the moon must have been 50 times that of any other night. As we stood on the platforms dancing, we could see people down the entire beach which looked like sand covered with tiny ants. Dancing, drinking, fire shows, people crawling to the ocean, rolling the sand, drunkenly falling all over the place, everyone was making out (or attempting to), and as the night progressed more and more people wound up passed out on the beach. At 6:30am the sun rose and the dancing continued. It was the latest we had stayed out all week.. but it was the full moon party, so we needed to enjoy it.
The next day was a bit rainy so a big group of us hung out in tree house and took it easy. Another day later we headed to the beach for a calm night out and wound up dancing and jumping into the foam party until we headed back around 2am. And our last day before leaving we walked around town, I bought some new flip flops (mine were stolen the night before) and in the late evening we walked up to mellow mountain, had some shakes and chilled out in the tree house.
And that was that. After 7 days of partying, drinking, and dancing through the night, I’m ready to mix it up. I was planning on heading to an island just North of Koh Phangnan called Koh Tao, but the weather on this side of the island has been a bit unpredictable and rainy; I hear the west side of the Thailand is full of sunshine, so that’s where I’m headed!
James is joining me for the next island we’re traveling to, Railay Beach , and then I’ll stay in Thailand a bit longer while he will head to Laos
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