Every month thousands of travellers from around the world descend upon the small island of Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand for the Full Moon Party on the beach at Haad Rin. It is like a ritual of Babylon. The pimply youth cover their faces in luminous grease paint wear their coolest beach shorts or bikinis and get drunk on the beach. They drink the famous Koh Phangan drink called the ‘bucket’ in excess, do a bit of dancing and smooch around looking for amorous daliance
It has just become such a cliche and like all cliche things to do, the experience has lost much of its original meaning.
The first Full Moon Party took place at Paradise Bungalows in the 1980s. It was a spontaneous scheme to celebrate the moon at its peak, a return to nature worship, a bond with the insanity of countless generations who have been fascinated by the pale glow of moon beams. It is a time for carnival, a time for change, a time for female cycles.
Undoubtably at that first party they danced all night, got stoned on marijuana and Thai whisky, made new friends, splashed in the lapping waves and went to bed after watching the sunrise over the sea. It must have been a great party because it created many imitators.
The gatherings got larger and grew in noteriety. What began as one get-together soon became many parties all competing for tourists, all trying to drown out each other’s music, all offering pretty much the same thing. As the customers started descending on Had Rin in growing numbers so those hoping to make a fast baht also began flocking to the beach in ever growing numbers.
First new bungalows were built taking up every vacant square foot of space along the fringe of the beach. Then the bars all with the same prices and menus squeezed themselves amid the bungalows and along the main thoroughfares. Then the drug dealers came peddling poorly made equivalents of the party drugs available in Europe and the States. Weak pills and powders that by-passed the elation and just made you grind your teeth like a fanatic. And with the opportunistic dealers came the equally opportunistic ladies of the night.
And there it started. The Full Moon Party became an official thing. An event and a ‘must do’ for all those travellers taking a sabatical before college. It was fashionable to do the Full Moon Party just as you had to lease a van in Australia and drive around the coastal roads and just as you must plod the Inca trail and see Machu Picchu. And when something becomes a must do it loses its original intent. The Full Moon Party stopped being a get-together of cool people hanging out and having fun with the locals and turned into an event of 1000s of wannabee cool youth posing around and getting cheated by non-local Thais.
Thais from all over Thailand are now involved in the lucrative scam called the Full Moon Party. And the worst of the bunch are the coppers. Uniformed and undercover they patrol all night not to stop the robbery or the fights, not to insure the safety of farangs on the beach, not to stop the solicitation, but to bust those stupid enough to try and smoke weed on the beach. That is their rasion d’etre. Once they have a victim they then relish scaring the shit out of him or her until any demand for currency will be met with a prompt compliance. It is huge business this crusade against narcotics; so much so that in the 1990s English coppers used to take working holidays to paradise to join in the fun of busting ganja lovers. There is nothing good in that.
And that still is not enough. The Thais still want to squeeze more cash out of the party. I suspect the folk story about the goose laying golden eggs never entered the annals of their folk wisdom. Now they want to charge attendees an entrance fee to come into the world famous ‘Full Moon Party’. Who will get to keep this entrance fee? Will some of it go towards tidying up the beach after the event? Or perhaps some of the Baht might be used to buy much needed supplies for the local school or the overloaded hospital? I think not.
The saddest aspect of all this for me is the fact that Haad Rin was once a really beautiful beach blessed with both sunrise and sunset beaches. It used to be a place of funky little bamboo bungalows and friendly laid back locals – a bona fide island paradise.
That paradise has disappeared forever. The original colurful folk that used to rejoice under the stars have long since moved on or got jobs. Just like with Goa, the hippies who believe in love and sharing have long since realized what a mockery and commercial fiasco their monthly bash has become and have sought out fresher pastures for their revelries.
If you want a cool beach without prostitutes and law enforcement, without peddlars and swaggering gangsters you ought to go to more far-flung regions of Koh Phangan. Spots like Bottle Beach and Thong Nai Pan still have untouched white sand beaches, low-priced bungalows and mellow vibes. These are the places where you can be left alone to stare at the stars, have a chuckle with the locals, see butterflies playing in the shallows, catch fish and recline in a hammock and not be disturbed by over-loud P.A. systems and chucking up youth.
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On a dreary Saturday in February I was feeling fairly depressed due to the cold, wet weather. Cold weather is absolutely not my niche! We had chose not to take a winter vacation due to our concentrate on figuring out how to get rid of debt, and waiting for our June vacation seemed like a long life. I idea probably it would assist my mood to do some planning for the summer trip. We had not made any good plans of where we wanted to go so I started searching into beach vacation rentals.
My spouse had been working very hard so his only criteria for a destination was that it be away from his office. I have a personal trainer certification and am always moving around, but he’s rather sedentary. As I started looking at beach vacation rentals I found which there were a lot of possibilities to choose from. We had done a beach home rental in the historical with a group of friends and found which it was an reasonable street to spend time on the beach. By going with beach vacation rentals you in the main rent an entire home, apartment or condo so you can cook your meals; that decreases the cost of eating out for each meal. You can also share the rental fees with others if you rent accommodations which have multiple bedrooms.
In searching at the possibilities with the beach vacation rentals I discovered that there were a wide range of prices depending on the geographical location as well as the size of the accommodations. The beach vacation rentals that were the most high-priced were the 1s that were located instantaneously on the beach. If you are willing to be located within walking distance the price drops considerably. The focal thing to think about when locating beach vacation rentals that are off the water is where the public access is to the beach subject. For numerous resort parts this is not an issue, however if you are renting in an area of private homes it might be tricky to access the beach.
Several beach vacation rentals I was considering were private homes. One was available for two weeks for a fairly reasonably priced rate. I contacted the owner and found out which they were going to be out of town for the 2 weeks that they were renting their home. The home was located straight away on the beach and included full access to two bedrooms, two bathrooms an outdoor hot tub and the kitchen and living room areas of the home. The catch was they were leaving their dog so the renters might be responsible for feeding and exercising the dog daily. We like dogs so this seemed like a terrific road to have a longer vacation for a reasonable rate.
It is central to be clear when doing beach vacation rentals with private owners on what areas of the home are accessible and what the expectations are for cleaning. This couple had a written contract that was quite detailed and issued contact information in case of emergencies. We are looking forward to our 2 weeks on the beach.
Fort Myers Beach is a attractive beach town, and it is located on Estero Island in Lee County, Florida, United States. This town is visited annually by more than 1.8 million tourists, and there is a good reason for that. There are many families, couples and singles who come back here every year, as they love Fort Myers Beach so much. The hot and tropical wheather attracts many travelers, no matter what season it is. Florida is renown for the beautiful beaches, and Fort Myers Beach is exactly the place where you can just get away from everything. The green sea and the white sand promise a great stay at the first sight! If you decide to visit Fort Myers Beach and stay for a couple of days, you won’t regret it.
Children love to play on the shore, build sandcastles and go swimming in the sea. The lovely beaches of Fort Myers are considered to be the world’s safest beaches, because the water is crystal clear and quite shallow and almost no accidents happened here. Due to this it is popular among families with children.If you do not like to go in water there are possibilities for many outdoor activities and picnics with you family or friends. The Bay Oaks Recreation Center is one of the most popular ones, where you can play many kinds of sports like weightlifting, tennis, basketball, ping pong, etc. Matanzas Pass Wildlife Preserve is a place for those who really love nature. This reservation was made to protect the wildlife in the area, so you can fully enjoy this pristine, barrier island forest with its abundant nature.
Since Fort Myers Beach is visited by millions of tourists every year, there are enough hotels and vacation rentals available for anyone who decided to stay here for a while. There are thousands of Fort Myers beach vacation condo rentals including all kinds of services as well as hotels with a beachfront view. There are many events hosted in this town every year, and some of the most popular ones are the Annual International Sand Sculpting Contest in November and the Shrimp Festival in March. But of course there is much more than that. There are remarkable events prepared for the Independence Day, which will prompt you of the old days of America. On December the town is beautifully decorated, and if you are lucky, you can see Santa riding his boat along the beach. You can always go to the nearest towns – Marco Island and Naples as they have a big popularity in that area. People often rent vacation properties there as well. You can look at this huge selection of Marco Island vacation condo rentals and Naples vacation rentals.
You will definitely be loving your stay if you visit Fort Myers Beach! You can try fishing, kayaking, boating and even parasailing! There are also other activities and entertainment like theaters, cinemas, fancy restaurants, and bowling alleys, to suit your every need. If you are a nightlife enthusiast, there are enough parties and bars you can go to in Fort Myers Beach.