Archive for category Thailand

Full Moon Party

For the last 6 nights, I’ve been in Koh Phangan. It’s been a really crazy week. I’ll try to break it all down.

The island itself is wonderful. Tom and I drove motorbikes around the island and explored the area. On some off the beaches, the water was very shallow where the water would come up to my knees for a mile long. The crystal clear water made the view from the top of the mountain and on the water both fascinating. You could walk for quite some time into the water. Haadrin beach was packed with backpackers but when you go to the other beaches on the island, you feel like you’re in a totally different island.

The hostel I stayed in was called Dancing Elephant. There aren’t many hostels here but I usually always prefer hostels for the social environment and other benefits. The owner David made my stay comfortable, easy, and relaxing. He explained how the whole Full Moon Party works and what to watch out for. The advice actually helped and was true. The hostel had 5 Wii’s to play from so you can imagine how much Mario Kart I played. 4 player Mario Kart while intoxicated was tons of fun and made you remember why drinking and driving is not a good idea.

The friends I’ve met was the most memorable part of my stay in Koh Phangan. First two people I met was Tom (London) and Craig (Australia). Hung out with Tom quite often just exploring the island with motorbikes and having great drunken nights. We discovered a beautiful beach on Koh Phangan just driving around. Water was shallow enough to walk for at least a mile down and only come up to your knees. Beautiful water and sand. We had some pretty crazy party nights on the beach together. Always somehow lost each other in the mayhem but met up again at the hostel completely beat. Then there’s Tom, Heather, and Anna from Perth and Alex from London. We had the perfect group going and really great people. Fun crowd and real chill. I’m seriously going to miss them. I’ve been invited to go to Perth to visit and I might take them up on that. Really wonderful people and even paid for dinner before I left. There are days when traveling with certain people that I wish I could stick around with them a little longer. Good friends :)

The Full Moon Party was out of control. Another level of partying that I cannot explain. 20,000 people on the beach with several stadiums blasting music. Buckets of alcohol pouring out in every direction, fire shows lighting up every corner, naked drunks running around, singing, fights by the cool kids, face painting that made you feel two years old again, glow sticks make a come back, sex in the ocean, then right next to them someone pissing in the ocean, and of course dancing. Ah I’m not really describing it to its full potential but believe me when I tell you that it’s a party like no other and you absolutely have to go there once in your lifetime or even more then once. If you want some real house music, the mountain bars is a must. I went there to start my night out pretty much every night. Real chill and awesome music. Then I’ve had at least a bucket enough to enjoy the cheesy music on the beach and sing along to music I’ve heard everyday since I got there or any other party throughout Asia I’ve been to. I suppose Kings of Leon – Sex is on fire.. can’t be played enough? Good times though lol

The whole 6 nights 7 days in Koh Phangan was a blast. Everyday was a good day. A week I’ll never forget. Friends that I’ll never forget. Just perfect memories and happiness.

Malaysia is next. More beach, scenery, and diving. Plan to get my PADI Open Water license there.

Beautiful Railay.. then to Phangan

I need to leave Railay today and head to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party happening on the 6th. Again I don’t really want to leave Railay as I’ve really fell in love with this beach. It’s the best beach I have EVER been to.

I have a few hours before my boat ride to Koh Pangan so we walked over to the south side of Railay Beach. Our new friend from the reggae bar brought us there. This beach was the best part of Railay and exactly what I expected. Really unreal. I’ve never seen such smooth white sand before. There was a small island a few meters up so I swam there since the water was shallow for the most part although the current was strong. Once I got there I got a view like no other. Seeing all of the beach from far ahead. All you heard was the calming sounds of pebbles coming in from the small waves and the peaceful wind blowing at you. I saw there for quite some time just taking everything in.

Time to leave for Phangan. I’ll keep this short. This is what I went through to get to Phangan. Walk in the water into a small boat > shuttle bus > big bus > switch buses into another big bus > a big boat that I slept in > then a tuktuk to my hostel. What a journey. But hell at least I got there.

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First time diving and Railay Beach

8/1

Woke up quite early to go diving. Matter of fact, I haven’t woke up this early (6:30) probably since the start of my trip. I was really excited and a little nervous for some reason. Luckily there was no group at all and I had my own personal trainer. The guys name was Henry and a real cool guy. Explained all the rules and what to do while I was gearing up and we took off for Koh Phi Phi Leh island. It seemed simple enough until I got into the water. Diving itself is really simple but staying calm is really the key to diving. For the first 10 minutes underwater, there was just too much information going to my head. A whole new world opened up that I’ve never seen before. I was breathing a bit hard and you could tell from the amount of bubbles I was releasing. After awhile I got use to breathing a bit more normal but it’s something I need to keep working on. I dove twice both for about 45 minutes and went 10 meters down. I saw sharks, turtles, and tons of other things. It’s a world you HAVE to see in your lifetime. I loved it so much that I’ve decided I’ll be taking the full Open Water PADI course. It’s a few days worth of diving and I’ll be learning many new things about diving. PADI is internationally known so the certificate is good anywhere I go. I’ve already taken one course and I think I’ll be taking the rest of them once I get to Malaysia.

So Laura and I took a boat over to Railay beach. All these boat rides lately and I love it, though we did have to jump from a big boat to the small boats. Their like fisherman small boats. Theirs no peer so the big boat can’t go into shore and requires us to take a small boat over. Since the water is shallow, not even the small boat can make it all the way so were forced to get off the boat with our backpacks and into the water. Imagine a small fisherman boat full of immigrants coming into a first world country for the first time. It was like that lol. Checked into a beautiful resort that was cheap.

Railay beach is small and super chilled out. Way more chilled out then any other beach I’ve been to. It’s a beach that comes straight from your dreams. Even after being there, it’s hard to imagine such a beach existed. Slept a bit on the perfect white sand. At night we went out to eat and hung out at a reggae bar. At the reggae bar, they had a local Thai DJ and somehow we ended up talking. Great guy and has a big sense of humor. Dancing, fire shows, drinks, beach side, and just relaxing. Can’t ask for more. It was a good night.

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Random!

I’ve randomly decided to go Scuba Diving! I’ll be going tomorrow and I’m really excited about it. It did cost quite a bit but its real cheap for Diving. The lesson I’m taking is called Discover from a place called Viking. We’ll see where this goes and if I like it, I’ll keep on going! I really don’t want to leave but tomorrow I’m leaving Phi Phi to go to Railay Beach which I hear is the best beach in Thailand.

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A typical day

Eat, Beach, Chill, Party, Sleep…

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