The Legendary Full Moon Party!!!

When the mysterious full moon presents itself to Thailand, Koh Phanang explodes in hedonism. Anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 people go to the island to 'let go', a 40 year old tradition. Stunning tropical landscape, all night beach dancing, countless beauties, awesome food, cheap drinks, fireplay... Full Moon Party is out of this world!

After nearly 24 hours of traveling from Veng Vieng (where the tubing from the previous post took place), we arrive battered and dreary-eyed but ready for more punishment. Taxi drops us at our hotel and sitting on the patio, as if signed up to be our welcoming party, is Pamela and Andrew, the fantastic couple met in our very 1st week on the road. We've become really good friends since then and met up in both Sydney and Bangkok, as they too are doing a round the world trip.

As it turns out, they were meeting friends at the same hotel, and those friends were meeting other friends and those friends had friends and blah blah BAM! we stumble into a wonderful road-family. Throughout the day they wander back from the beach... Colin from Ireland, Louise from England, two girls from Holland, a couple from Scotland, Brian, Amanda and Brian from Australia. That night everyone goes to a pool party and the group really solidifies. We realize how truly good people they all are. 3am. We hit the beach for a preview of the big night. It's mayhem. There's no dance floors or bars, just 9ft speakers in sand with explicit dancing and things happening all over the place, and small carnival style booths selling buckets of 'get-you-drunk.' It's hectic and my imagination runs like Forest Gump, kicking up all sorts of nonsense thinking about what's soon to ensue at Full Moon!

The following day, our close friend from high school, Jennifer Clark, whom we stayed with in Tokyo, arrives from the freezing Japanese winter. We head straight to the beach in front of our hotel. Once Jennifer gets her base tan, we head to town to see what we can find in way of Full Moon costumes. After all, we'd heard heaps about this party, and with so much anticipation we intended to go all out! End up buying an assortment of hats, masks and LOADS of body paint.

On the way home, Pamela stops us in our tracks. She suggests making our own buckets at the hotel for a pre-party. It's the best idea I've heard in a long time. I instantly agree 100%. For those of you who've never been to Thailand, buckets are synonymous with cups, pretty much. Imagine those buckets you used in sand boxes as a kid, but replace the sand with an ungodly amount of horrible Thai whiskey, Cola, some sort of Red Bull knock-off, 8 straws and you have yourself a bucket! They are a staple in Thailand and for good reasons: they cost about $3, are a lot of fun to share with friends, and bring back childhood memories in a crazy tropical way. So we buy 10 empty buckets, 100 straws, whiskey, vodka, cola, energy drinks, and retreat to base camp for a good nights sleep.

Awake at noon day-of and I can barely hold back my excitement. I want the party to start now! I feel like a kid again, waiting eternity for Christmas Day presents, good Lord! I kill the day cruising around town, devouring street food, chilling on the beach and all that fun stuff. Return to the hotel around 4pm and Brian is already painting his mask. By 6 everyone's on the patio. iPod speakers come out and we begin painting all sorts of designs on eachother.

Garrett found a cowboy hat in town and paints it florescent green. Pam makes the 1st bucket and Garrett decides to paint his arm green as well. Somehow a green handle-bar mustache appears on his face and all of a sudden he turns in Techno Cowboy! I ask him for something cool on my arm and a fiery sun appears. NICE. More buckets are made as everyone continues with their paints, and before I know it we're snapping group-photos and sprinting to the beach!

Pre-Party at the Hotel...ready to hit the beach!

The road is hard-worn beige, dark like wine dreg in the night, and the omnipresent palms are silhouetted strong against the bright full moon. We turn left onto a narrow sand path, pushing soft branches out of our way. A random gaslamp shines high and soft and I see small bats flittering around it. Nearly 200yds from the beach we hear a tremendous bassline thump. Louise and Brian are walking in front of me, I notice them stepping to the beat, now running to the beat, and HA! out we all roll into the mob scene laughing and staring and yelping like hooligans ready to take the beach over.

Spill out onto the beach in a frenzy, instantly ignited by all the energy in the air. Our eyes and minds are on sensory overload; fire spinners, Full Moon signs on fire, dj’s, fire jump ropes, towers upon towers of speakers and thousands of people feeling the same thing we are! Head to a friend of a friends bar to get the night in motion.


Fire Jump Rope Video...EPIC!!!



Fire Jump Rope



THE GANG!!!





Bradon's rest of the night/morning...

3am- Garrett and I come to a fork in Mayhem Road. After nearly 9 hours of hard drinking our bodies are rebelling and begging for mercy. My head hurts and whats left of my brain hints at throwing in the towel, Im not feeling my best by any means. But I think to myself this may be the only Full Moon Party Ill ever get to see in my ENTIRE life, gotta to make it count! I make a right at the fork, order myself another bucket o' booze and agonizingly drink it dry, while Garrett and a few tired others make a left and reconvene at the hotel beds.

Ive shown my body who is boss, resupplied it with what it wants and feel much better now that Ive gotten over that hump...ready to party well into the morning now! Head back to the beach where the action is and continue to enjoy my celebrity status. I thought there would be all sorts of people dressed up all crazy, man was I wrong! It seemed like everyone just got really drunk in there rooms, splattered some paint on themselves accordingly and that was it! Thats not how I roll though. I came prepared with some costume items I saved from Halloween in Sydney. Anyways I was pretty much a celebrity the entire night on the beach as people kept coming up to me asking if they could take a picture with me!

Completely eat it up and meet heaps of friends because of my alleged “crazy” get up. The cherry on top came in the form of two gorgeous Swedish sisters. As Im sitting on the sand with some of our crew they run up to me, perfect blonde hair dancing in the wind, and say, “We just had to let you know you made our night with your outfit; you are have the best costume here by far...you are like the superhero of the Full Moon Party!”. Completely taken back/ happy as ever, I invite them to join our pow-wow. We chat it up for a while, one of the girls gives me a bracelet as a thank you for being so awesome and then they disappear into the night like two Swedish angels sent down from God's country, AKA Sweden, to give me a warm feeling inside, huge smurk on my face and to boost my ego all at the same time...haha!

Full Moon Party Superhero and the Swedeish Sisters

Suddenly to my right I notice a couple on a red plastic chair getting indecent, and for the the Full Moon Party, that is hard to do. Point it out to Pamela and she is like, “Ewwww, lets mess with ems!” in her indescribably cute Irish accent. As she says this, two guys stumble up to her and mutter some drunken banter. She ends up daring one of the guys to tackle the couple on the chair in exchange for a beer...SHAZAM!!! Drunk people will do ANYTHING for more drunkenness despite the fact they dont need it one bit...I love it! The dude charges them like an NFL linebacker with a clear shot at Brett Farve, leaps in the air and full on lays the couple out! They all tumble to the ground, limbs and sand flying everywhere! The guy stands up, dusts himself off as the couple stare at him from the ground, confused as can be. He runs back to Pamela and claims his prize, while the couple continues their business on the sand as if nothing ever happened.

Energized by the absolute comedy that just took place, the remainder of our crew pop up from the sand with a newfound bounce in our steps! The crew decides they want a change of pace from all the Trance and House music and want to head to the hip hop area. Im a House junky and am in the mood for nothing but. I tell them Ill meet them at the huge emblazed Full Moon Party sign at the first indication of the sun rising. I start dancing up a storm to the amazing house music that fills my ears...ahhhh! End up befriending and partying it up with some Aussie girls, English girls and a crazy Japanese guy that can barely speak any English, with exception to saying “You cooool!”, “Yaaaaaaaaaaa!” and “Lets take pictaa!”.

Notice the first ounce of dawn through my shudder shades, say goodbye to my adoring fans and run to the flaming meeting point. The crew converges from all directions over the next ten minutes and we rejoice. We then turn our attention to the clear sky beyond the water and watch in amazement as the gorgeous sun rises, all the while dancing with our toes dug deep in the sand. I peer down Haad Rin beach and see thousands of warriors who have made it until sunrise all doing the same thing, absolutely loving the new found energy the sunrise is bringing to them as well...it is a feeling like none other! Overcome with excitement and sheer euphoria I decide to run down the shoreline, giving everyone high fives for making it to sunrise, they all love it!

The brave soldiers who made it to sunrise!

Picture of the beach at sunrise

Return to the crew and proceed to dance until it is completely light out. An after-party is starting in about an hour, but before we head there Pamela has the idea to go back to the hotel and grab the fallen soldiers from our group. After more than a few loud knocks, the wounded come to their doors confused and surprised. We notify them that we came all the way back for them and that it is now there duty to attend the after party with us...gotta love peer pressure. Reunited at last, we march on the war path to the The Backyard Bar where the after-party is taking place. Turn onto the barren dirt road that leads to the bar and begin to hear the all too familiar bassline of sweet house music...YES!

Head down the flimsy wooden steps and are stunned by what we see. Its a huge glorified porch overlooking the otherside of the island! The view is honestly straight out of a postcard, amazing music is filling my ears, Im with great people and its 7am and Im dressed like a retarded laser beam....it doesnt get much better than this! Needless to say there are some characters at this after-party, as there are at all after-parties. There is an Asian girl whom I would guess is on the bad side of her 20's, who is completely Jekyl and Hyding it to the max! One minute she is dancing around like everyone else, the next she is crying her eyes out. But when she begins to cry she feels to need to physically attack the nearest male in sight, I kid you not! She slaps them while screaming like a dying bat, as the guys retreat in utter confusion. I watch her go through her Jekyl and Hyde cycle a good four or five times at least, each time its a different male victim, but they all share the same confused look when confronted...haha!

View from the after-party...what a dream!

Jeckyl and Hyde Chick trying to find another victim

Then there is the buff gay guy in the tightest booty jean shorts ever known to mankind...I mean damn these things shouldnt be legal. He is accompanied by what we decide is a Ladyboy, after a group vote. So it appears to the untrained Ladyboy-detecting eye that he isnt gay, but we know better. They end up getting a little too comfortable with eachother, I would be better off today had I never saw that...Ill just stop here. As Im observing all these things, a completely random girl approaches. Stares at me with a half smurk, one eye nearly retired, holding a jar of Tiger Balm. She dips her index finger into the balm and proceeds to spread it over the entirety of my sunglass frame. She doesnt say one word the whole time and just walks away...WTF? Now every time a gust of wind comes through, I get punched in the face with the overwhelming odor of Tiger Balm, sweet!

Garrett and the Buff Gay Dude...haha!

The morning wears on and our crew begins to drop like flies once again. Its about 11 am when I hit the wall and decide to leave that circus of an after-party. Jennifer and I take the Walk of Shame back to the hotel. On the way we see the select few people who are still partying some how, some way and its not pretty! Its the not so glorious side of partying, but entertaining it is. Grab some delicious breakfast at the local cafe, reflect on the legendary night we just experienced and return to the hotel circa noon...WHAT A NIGHT!!!

The 3 Musketeers!


Glow in the dark shot





Fire Jump Rope Video...EPIC!!!

Laos Tubing

an old one but classic, one of my favorite pieces from the man, the myth, the legend!


The pace of which we were traveling through Laos was unhealthy, stupid and goes against all human logic...but it was all for THE CAUSE! Our situation was a tough one; we were in Chaing Mai and had to go to Laos in order to get another 2 week visa so we could continue south to the islands. Thai immigration recently changed the rules regarding tourist Visas; when you fly into Thailand you get a 30 day tourist visa automatically, but when you are coming overland like we were you only get a 2 week visa. This causes a lot of problems with backpackers like us. The solution is doing what they call border bounces in which you go to the nearest neighboring country, get your passport stamped again and return to Thailand.

Anyways we had a deadline to make it to the island of Koh Phangang for the notorious Full Moon Party that was a MUST in our books. The dilemma was do we just do the border bounce or do we suck it up and speed through Loas with the 3 spare days we had. We decided to go for it, although it would be a lot of travel time we had to see Laung Prabong and make it to Vang Vieng for THE CAUSE!

What is this cause you ask? Well its called tubing and whenever we would ask people about Laos, 9 times out of 10 the first thing they would say is, “You HAVE to do the tubing!”. Tubing for young backpackers in SE Asia is what Disney World is to little kids, Home Town Buffet (the greasiest buffet ever for those not from SD) is to anti-anorexics and what a thorn-hat shop is to Jesus!

Tubing is set up like this; you rent an intertube in town, then you catch a Tuk Tuk to the river. Then you spend the entire day floating on your intertube from riverside-bar to riverside-bar. The employees throw ropes to you and pull you into their bars if you signal to them. There are probably 15 bars in total. You are then greeted with a free shot of the local whiskey no matter what bar you go to, sounds cool right? Well it gets much better. Each of these bars has giant trapeze style swings and/or long zip lines! One bar even has a massive water slide the slants up severely at the end and shoots you out and up like a human canonball!



These videos arent of us, but just wanted to post them to give you all a feel of what its like...


From the border of Thailand we took a 2-day slow boat trip to Luang Prabang. On that boat we befriended about 6 Irish guys who were escaping the wretched job market in Ireland and were enroute to try their luck in Australia. We also became friends with another Irish couple, an Australian couple and one of the most insane/coolest guys Ive ever met named Simon, from London.

We all hung out together in Luang Prabang and migrated to Vang Vieng together. We pretty much rented out an entire bungalow between all of us and it was on from there! Since we only had one day to do the tubing we had to make it count. I set my alarm at 9am and proceeded to wake everyone up with some house music via my Ipod speaker. The pre-party kicked off at 10am at our bungalow and by noon we were on our way to the river!

A glimpse of the river from the first bar!

Hoped out of the Tuk Tuk and grabbed the intertube Jen, Simon and I were sharing for the day and sprinted to the first bar like a little kid on Christmas morning to catch a glimpse of this river that caused so much hype on the SE Asia backpacker circuit! As my eyes focused on the swings, perfect sunny weather, bars, ziplines, girls in bikinis and stunning mountanous backdrop; my jaw dropped to the floor while my liver put on its boots for battle as I fought to sputter an “Oh oh ohhhhhhh my GOD!!!”. The excitement was overwhelming; people dancing to house music, drinking out of the type of buckets I used to use in the sandbox back in elementary school and people swinging from an absolutley massive trapeze swing! I bolted to the bar for my first bucket. As I mingled around with everyone discussing how amazing this place was, one of the Irishmen came up to the group with a market he scored off one of the employees from the bar. Aussie flags were drawn on the Australian couples' backs, California was printed across my chest and someone decided to write “Dumpster Baby” on my arms...weird! After everyone had their countries names somewhere on their bodies, some stupid slogan(i.e. The English do it better, I rode a Kangaroo here, Irish really do drink a lot...watch!), or an obscene word or two...we were officially ready to face the river!

The first bar is the jumpoff for the rest of the day. People spend an hour or two here drinking, meeting eachother and watching fellow tubers fall hard off the swing. The swing here is the biggest on the river by far and I must admit I was quite intimidated! Garrett being the crazyman he is, climbs up the ladder and goes for it first. WHOOSH...he takes it like Tarzan and lets go at the highest point rather than waiting until he swung back to a lower point...and oh boy did he pay for it! The arms began to flail and I knew it was going to be ugly then. He landed flat on his back from a good 3-4 meters high, followed by a loud “Ohhhhh!” from the crowd. The employees with scorecards gave him 8 and 9's....well worth it! He comes out of the water and his back literally looks like one big bruise and he is hurting!




value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z3ZLUbxSzLU&hl=en&fs=1">

I gain enough courage to give it a go, despite watching Garrett just wreck himself a few minutes earlier. Once up on the platform I caught some pretty bad jitters and almost bailed out. But soon it was my turn and I just went for it. I held on until I was at the lowest point then released my grip and made a graceful dismount into the water....whewwww! So stoked I did the biggest swing first because it made every swing after it seem like nothing. The river became my playground thereafter! The remainder of the day was spent partying, swinging, zip lining, meeting people, going down the massive waterslide, playing volleyball and of course floating down the river.



Our legendary crew!!!

Night fell and we were forced to head back into town as much as we didnt want to! After a quick dinner we paraded to the island of bars in town and danced the night away. We unwound back at the bungalows after the bars and talked about the crazy day we had just had. One of the Irishmen, who is one of those guys who can remember every line from movies, decided to put on a show for us. He renacted a good 10 minutes of quotes from Pulp Fiction, but in an over-the-top Irish accent. He had us rolling on the floor, crying and holding our stomachs! An absolutely pricelss moment, something I will never forget!

The Irish version of Pulp Fiction was the iceing on the cake, all the trecherous traveling we had gone through to experience the river for just one day was more than well worth it! The next morning, sore as could be, we hoped on a bus for a 20-hour trek enroute to The Full Moon Party....GOOD LORD!!!

Slowboat to Luong Prabong

At 1am we leave Chiang Mai in a small bus, accompanied by a nice Colombian couple, as well as an Englishman named Simon. Simon's a fellow nightlife affeccionado, gentleman, and music nut... we hit it off immediately. It takes 3 hours to reach the Laos border. Morning reveals a river crossing. After cold showers and a brief breakfast we enter Laos. Board a wooden boat and begin the 2 day journey down the Kaan River. Destination Luong Prabong, a UNESCO World Heritage city since 1976, and 1 of the top 10 must-visit destinations according to the NY Times and Town and Country travel magaazine.

The journey is beautiful. I never get bored, whole time surrounded by prehistoric mountains covered in tropical trees, trees covered in thriving vines, then a bamboo forest appears and after that a small village where the people are in the shoreline. Men on rocks casting out nets. Kids in the river splashing each other, and as we pass they smile huge "HA-LOW!" and wave high, and my wave back fills them with earnest excitement, like they've been waiting all day just for that moment. I join the boys on the bow.

After an extent I return to Jen and Bradon. The incessant splash beneath the boat and purring motor calms me. I mellow. I'm lounging on a wooden bench in a quaint, slow-moving boat. I'm floating through terrific primal country. I lean my head out over the water then gaze up toward the sky, it's dimensionless, only the brightest parts of clouds are definite, an eggshell hue, the whole sky is teal-eggshell. Thick haze sheathes everything and horizons wash away, the valley seems endless, an extension of the sky, teal-greyness veiling the next bend (perhaps 1 mile away), mountainous green silouettes on infinity

I'm enjoying breathgiving surroundings. See a blue-white checkered fabric (as if torn from a shirt or ripped from a flag) drifting on the breeze. Watch it float toward me and get caught on post just beyond my face. There it stalls fluttering, waving, and then floats off again.

After 8 hours we arrive in Pakbeng, the half way point in our journey. Book a small room for $3 then go out to dinner with Simon. The waiter brings over a bottle of free Laoatian whiskey a.k.a. Lau Lau, and we eat well and polish off nightcaps. Then find a small hut and see locals watching an English soccergame. Simon's hometeam is playing so now we're shouting and singing to the television. Jen teaches a little girl how to spin fire balls.

Wake the next day and after another long boat ride arrive Luong Prabong.

Chang Mai - Elephant Rides, New Friends, Weird Women and Rafting

Chiang Mai is a 12 hour train ride from Bangkok. Endless lush jungle the whole way. I stick my head out the window only to see Mincks hanging out between cars, yelling with his shirt off “Yaaaaa!” We meet a cool cat from England named Andrew, also traveling the world but focusing more on scuba diving than world experience it's his 2nd big trip.



Finally arrive 3 hours behind schedule, that's Thai time. Andrew joins our search for cheap beds. Settle for the Chiang Mai Inn and Andrew shacks up with us to save money.



Starving we head out in search of food. Trotting down the street we see an insane old lady growling a 3-wheeled Harley, it has black saddle bags covered in silver studs. Her ashy afro blows in the wind over her face stone hard like she was born to ride! But here's the kicker, there are 3 flags on the bike, 2 small ones on either side, 1 Thai and 1 American, and in the middle is pompous Confederate flag HUGE!! Haha! We couldn't get over how awesome she is so we ask around about her, find out what bar she hangs at and plan to go but never make it... still regret it to this day!


Time was not on our side in Chiang Mai. The town is known for lengthy treks into surrounding mountains and villages which are by all reports incredible, but we're in a rush to explore Laos before the Full Moon Party, so an authentic trek just isn't in the cards. Try to make the best of it, book a cliché day trip through a local travel agency. 1st stop is river rafting, if you can call it that. There are maybe 3 small rapids the entire time, the rest of 'rafting' is spent floating on a calm river, enjoying the scenery and commenting on the massive butterflies.


Stop 2 is Elephant riding, something I've been looking forward to since we started planning the trip! And WOW did it meet all my expectations... about 7 elephants all together, each with travelers on top. Jen and I sitting together in a big basket on an enormous, bus-sized elephant and we remove our shoes to rest our feet on her neck feeling her massive muscles expand and contract. In thick jungle we climb hillsides, trot ridges, wade rivers, and every now and then the big girl stops to take a drink. There's a bald guy from Cleveland in the group, he's big so the guides give him his own basket, he almost doesn't get on he's too timid, he ends up being taken on a detour— his elephant decides to just wander aimlessly away from the group, all the while he screams “I knew I shouldn't have gotten on this damn thing! Where is it taking me? AAAH!” and we're laughing hysterically!










Stop 3 is another river. We ride traditional bamboo rafts. A guide stands at the bow and another at the tail. They control it gondola-like stabbing a long bamboo spear into the sediment, pressing hard. They give each of us a chance at it: there's a duo of Japanese guys in the group, and on their turn they serenade Jen with a slow Japanese love song, like true gondoliers.




Stop 4 was at 'long-neck' and 'big ear' village. It's really just a small group Burmese and Chinese people living on the outskirts of town, being exploited for their tradition selling souvenirs... not an authentic cultural experience but still a trip.