Today's the reason why thousands of visitors flock to Koh Phangan, it's the 2014 April Full Moon Party. Celebrated once a month on the Full Moon, Haad Rin beach can expect up to 30,000 people partying the night away in the wee hours of the morning. The beach bars line up and blast different sets on their sophisticated music system and the vendors hope to make bank selling food and buckets of booze.
There are many pre-parties the days leading up to the big Full Moon Party. Many bars offer themed events with special guest DJ's or different theme like the "Jungle Experience." The Mo and I dropped in the "Drop In Foam Party" at the Drop In Club Resort.
We visited Haad Rin in the morning to scope out the scene and watch the beach get prepped for the big event. The beach itself is nice, the sand is soft and the water is clear. It's calm and great for swimming. During the day, hundreds of sun worshipers lay out on the beach in hopes getting that nice tan to take back home.
Some parts of the beach are more thickly settled than others.
The day had to be strategically planned so we would last until midnight. The last time, we were exhausted and went home on the earlier side. This time around, we napped before the party. Once the sun set, the vendors prepped their stands and the people started to trickle in.
The streets are filled with people pregaming or fueling on food before they make their way to the beach. Others are getting last minute body painting at one of the many make shift stands along the way.
The popular drink here is the notorious bucket drink, It almost all booze, a little mixer and ice. It only takes one to start feeling the buzz. Most of the people we met drank 4-5 that night and they didn't look so hot.
We arrived at midnight and the party had been going on for a couple of hours already. People were already sitting on the beach or stumbling off the beach. For most party goers, the night just begun.
Some parts of the beach were crowded more than others. If you have anxiety/crowd issues, this party may not be for you. There were less busy areas by the vendor stations where people sat around. This was not the case for the different bar areas that blasted music. The crowd was dancing to the beat and you'd get stomped on if you tried to sit.
The Mo had a great idea to go to the balcony of one of the bars to get a better view of the scene. It was mind blowing to see the beach from a bird's eye view.
I was really surprised when the crowd went nuts over when YMCA came on. Usually they get really excited to Hardwell and the likes but everyone seemed to know YMCA.
We left the party just shy of 4 AM but it was still going strong. People were urinating in the ocean water and vomiting all over the place. It was time to go.
I'm glad we were able to last that long. We had a great time, it definitely was a great do-over from our last trip in 2011! What's next? Tomorrowland in Belgium? Who knows? Until next time
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