Sober Full Moon on Phangan

A party you won’t forget. And probably don’t remember.

But I remember someone stealing my friend’s shoes.

People crying, laughing, kissing, sleeping and even fighting.

And lots of unexpected meetings.

I decided to make an experiment and to go to the Full Moon Party of right mind and solid memory – that means completely sober. Guess how long I survived?
Usually everything starts with pre-party – everybody getting prepared, having their body painted on, playing games, dressing up and getting happier.

So by the time I made my way to the Haad Rin beach, it was already pretty chaotic. Lots of people, lots of taxis, busy traffic. And to my surprise lots of places where you can get painted – and pretty professionally. And also lots of restaurants, street food and supermarkets (where you could get food and booze)
At midnight I saw three types of people there: party animals already losing control, couples and even families with kids walking back and forth gazing around, and those who came to party but yet pretty fresh.
The beach turned out to be not that long as I imagined. But quite wide to fit thousands of people. So it wasn’t overcrowded.

I thought that if you lost somebody there it would be impossible to meet each other again. But as I already had stayed on the island for two weeks, I made quite a few acquaintances – and here I’ve met all of them.

Also there were only around ten bars, with the biggest crowd near the Drop in bar – so that was the main point to meet my friends.
The funniest thing was how less people cared about their shoes. You could see a lot of single flip-flops or even pairs of sandals all over the beach. So it came as no surprise when I saw somebody taking my friend’s shoes and going away. We had to chase him to explain the mistake and get them back.
But anyway the atmosphere was pretty good. Everybody was having fun and wanted others to be happy as well.
I was quite energetic till the early morning, determined to see the sunrise. But as I saw more and more of my friends leaving the field, I felt that I was quite tired as well. Also the health app on my phone said that during the night I danced 13 kilometers.

So I haven’t met the sunrise. Saved it for another party.