The Party to End All Parties

Today started out innocuously enough: breakfast at our bungalow restaurant on the water, lounging by the water, lunch at another restaurant overlooking the water... you get the idea.
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The first day we got here, we noticed an island waaaaay out across from our place and that, oddly, people were in the middle of the water halfway between our island and that one and yet were standing in water only up to their waist. We decided right then and there that we were going to walk from one to the other. But of course it took us about three days to get around to it (you have to plan and mentally prepare for these things, you know). Realizing today was our last chance to get it done, Danni and I finally set off to get it done (Sarah and Duncan couldn't tear themselves out of their hammocks in the end). Looked easy enough.

We started walking... and walking... and walking. Turns out things look a lot closer from the shore than when you're actually in the middle of it. We walked/swam for nearly an hour (took a little longer after poor Danni stepped on a sea urchin) before even reaching the point where it got too deep to be able to walk anymore. Pretty weird to be out SO far in the middle of the sea and yet be able to stand. And then it suddenly got really, really deep. And we had to start swimming... and swimming... and swimming. Yeah, it was WAAAY farther than it looked. I swear, by the time we made it to the shore, we looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway, bedraggled and heaving and kissing solid ground.

After working so hard to get there, we decided we were NOT moving before sunset. We sat in the sand for a long time, enjoying a great talk and watching the sky turn beautiful shades of pink and orange and red as the sun set over the edge of the island. Suddenly our journey had all been worth it.

Until we had to leave and realized it was now dark and we still had to swim back. Not the best thought-out plan, admittedly. We decided to be much smarter on the way back, not going back the long way we came, but going straight out the other direction toward the port, which was like 1/4 of the distance. We figured then we could just walk back along the beach. Again, it all sounded so easy. We made it to shore, so proud of ourselves for our genius plan. Until we started walking the shoreline and realized it was another island. Back into the water but this time, as a bonus, we were surrounded by bioluminescent jellyfish the whole way. So now we're not only plodding through water in the pitch dark, but now we're trying to avoid both sea urchins AND jellyfish stings. Awesome. We finally made it to shore, and made the long hike back to our bungalow, right about the same time that Duncan and Sarah were about to send out a search party. It was an brilliant plan.

And that wasn't even the most exciting part of our day. The reason we chose the island of Koh Phangan for our second beach destination was because of the infamous Full Moon Party celebration they have every month when there is, you guessed it, a full moon. But the party in November was supposed to be particularly cool because it also coincided with Loy Krathong, the celebration of the end of the rainy season and typically celebrated with lantern festivals. It is estimated that anywhere between 10,000 - 30,000 people attend the party on the beach. Due to its enormous popularity, there are admittedly some dangers involved (rampant theft, lots of drugs around, possible danger to women), but we figured there was safety in numbers and, since it's such a rare opportunity, we were willing to take our chances.

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In the end, there were about 10 or so of us that went together (the four of us along with some others we had met at our bungalow). The minute we stepped onto the beach and into the sea of people, I realized what all the hype was about. Never have I been to such a massive party, all different kinds of music blaring from the different bars along the water and tens of thousands of people dancing all along up and down the beach as far as the eye could see, the crowd literally throbbing. The energy was pretty incredible. It's not necessarily an experience I need to have again, but it was most definitely something worth doing and being a part of at least once. Check.