Location: Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand

After a wonderfully long week in Koh Tao I finally took the ferry over to my next destination: Koh Pha Ngan (loosely pronounced Go Pang Gaan).

I was herded towards a van along with a group of other people, which seems to be a pattern I’ve been experiencing… I’m never 100% sure how things are organized in Thailand but so far it seems like if I just follow the people saying ‘You! Yes. Yes. This way. You!’ I end up where I need to go eventually.

That is not good life advice kids, do not follow strangers into vans.

Cards on the table I showed up to this island purely for a world renowned party that happens every month: the Full Moon Party. Apparently it’s an all night, neon-paint, fire-dancing beach party that my younger self just couldn’t leave off the bucket list. 30 year old me is a little exhausted at the prospect but I can’t let 21 year old me down.

So. We are going to this party and we are going to stay there for a 21 year old amount of time and we are going to like it, dammit!

I’m mostly kidding.

I arrived at Domingo hostel and within short order had mysteriously signed up for a free island tour with the front desk lady’s friend. I’m sorry. I know. I know! Second strange vehicle of the day! I was a bit confused what I had actually agreed to but an Irish couple, Orlagh and Sean, joined me in the lobby to wait and were equally unsure so at least I wasn’t alone!

And then in walks in this tall, thin as a rake, long-haired, energetic man who introduces himself enthusiastically as ‘Moss’. He didn’t stop talking for even one second and was changing gears so quickly I couldn’t keep up, but in his thick Thai accent he suddenly yells ‘I have a present for you!’ and then he literally runs out of the hostel. He comes back with huge cushions to put in the bed of his truck that we are apparently going to lay on while we takes us around the island.

You know I didn’t expect this out of today but I’m surprisingly pretty happy about it! Orlagh, Sean and I started the tour inside the truck, listening to Moss’s stories about the island and the many jobs he works, one of which seems to be some kind of like informal ‘tour-guide / hype man’ for the hostel. Fire performing being his main job.

First he brings us to a drink stand and orders us Thai lemon tea, which I have been happily drinking the whole trip, but this one came in a tied-off plastic bag, which was inside a paper popcorn style bag, which was inside another plastic bag. You just pierce the first bag with a straw and I guess like have faith in the baggies to hold it all together.

Moss took us very quickly around the island, showing this beach, or that viewpoint, or that party-spot, never actually stopping until we arrived at Mae Haad Bay. The four of us walked along a sand bar that connected Koh Pha Ngan to Ko Ma, a tiny uninhabited island where we stumbled along rocks in the shallow water until we could get a good view of the main island. We stayed for over an hour, chatting and listening to Moss’s theories about life and the human experience and religion and language and honestly probably a dozen other topics. He lightning bolted from one to other except for when talking about how to quiet the mind.

My god does that mind actually get quiet?!

Shortly after having that thought, he took us up a steep, skinny, bumpy, barely there road to a hidden bar called 420 Club Pha Ngan. Three levels of outdoor seating surrounding a bar built into the hillside looked out over the bay we had just been sitting at. We all ordered up a beer to watch the sunset from the very windy rooftop which was lovely because for the first time in weeks I was almost a little chilly. Moss wasn’t drinking because he had to drive, but he somehow ended up pulling out a bag of juggling balls, batons, glass spheres and magic items that he clearly practiced with a lot. At one point I was watching the sunset for like 30 seconds, and I looked back and he was handstand walking with strangers. Moss’s happiness and exuberance was infectious, so Orlagh and Sean and I were having a great time!

If it hasn’t become clear already, Moss has a lot of energy.

He took us to a night market for dinner, where we ordered a bunch of random stuff that Moss recommended. I’ve been seeing full mackerel fish (like head and all) everywhere this whole trip but wasn’t sure how it was meant to be eaten so hadn’t ordered it yet. We ordered two different kinds of the fish, sticky rice in a bag, a stick of yellow dumplings, pork skewers and coconut pancake balls. We all ate family style, reaching over one another and sharing every part of the meal which was eaten with sticks or with your hands. We all ate until we were absolutely full to bursting! It turns out the fish was pretty awesome.

Orlagh and Sean have only been in Thailand about a week, and haven’t experimented much food wise so this was really throwing them in the deep end!

We all crawled into the bed of Moss’s truck and had him drop us off, but not before making plans to do another ‘Moss tour’ tomorrow afternoon.

When we asked what time he would pick us up he said ‘I don’t know either 1, 2 or 3 pm.’

You know what? That sounds great.

Sav