If you absolutely must snooze through a full-moon party
Young foreign tourists have always been puzzled by the Thai military junta’s determination to “return happiness” to the country.
Almost a year ago Bloomberg was listing the Kingdom as the world’s happiest place to live (and play) on its annual “misery index” and, for young visitors, a significant factor in that had to be the full-moon parties on Pha Ngan Island. How could anyone be unhappy when they’ve got these all-night rave-ups in such a blissful setting?
Well, the generals generally don’t go in for dancing on the sand half-naked all night, but someone on Koh Pha Ngan has boosted the happiness quotient even higher there by offering the cheap drunks a cheap place to sleep.
Yes, some full-moon party people do sleep – typically face down in the sand under a picnic table. Now there’s a proper place where they can crash for a while, long enough to recharge their batteries, anyway. In theory it’s something like the pit stop at a car race. In practice it’s a duck coop.
“The problem is solved now,” the Fullmoon Party fan page on Facebook has announced, providing photographic proof. “Sleep Area – Free” says the sign near the security centre on Haad Rin Beach. It’s basically a wooden deck with a perimeter of poles supporting a screen of mesh far too thin to offer any privacy.
The posted picture reveals that the sleep area is already popular, showing it strewn with unconscious revellers. Even our older readers will recall that excessive alcohol intake renders one carefree about comfort once the body collapses. Those wooden planks beneath their heads could well be the fluffiest pillows in the most luxurious hotel, the mesh as protective as a mother’s womb.
Pha Ngan’s full-moon parties have joined the unholy Holy Ship bashes in Miami Beach, Florida, and the irreverent raves of Benirras Beach in Ibiza, Spain, on the bucket list of party animals everywhere. The Thai event routinely draws 30,000 revellers per full moon and demand is such that there are now half-moon and crescent-moon parties as well. There’s even a “posh edition” of the full-moon party on Koh Samui, where the well-heeled kick off their heels while their Champagne flutes bubble over.
But back at Haad Rin, home of the original lunar bash, DJs, jugglers, fire-eaters, dancers and fireworks punctuate the evening as the moon’s reflection shimmers on the sea. The bars stay open not just late but forever, and mighty amplifiers deliver a constant thrashing of techno and acid house while the mob writhes in costumes comprising swimwear, body paint or much less. The euphoria is absolute and misery doesn’t stand a chance.
Plenty of folks survive the passions of the boozy night and are still awake to watch the sun rise. Plenty of others succumb to the rigours and only regain consciousness hours later, discovering what a picnic table looks like upside down. Now they’ll be making their “pit stops” in the designated lullaby zone – for the duration of the night if necessary, but more likely just for an hour or two, a brief intermission in the happiest play on Earth.
