Location: Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand

Another day, another Moss tour! Now that the day of The Big Party had arrived the hostel was full to the brim which meant there were 11 people piling into Moss’s small truck. Literally the words ‘fun first, safety second’ came out of someone’s mouth and I was like alright it’s fine just be 21 years old. You can do this.

Well 11 people ended up laughing and yelling like we were on a rollercoaster as Moss drove full tilt down a single track road towards a lookout point at 2C Bar. We all ordered up smoothies and enjoyed the view of the lush green island spread out around us. By this point we’d amassed quite a crew for the full moon party and were making plans excitedly about what to wear and paint on ourselves with the body paint.

Our second stop was originally billed as a ‘short walk’ but was in fact a 2km goat path hike through the jungle. Crawling under boulders, swinging around trees and scrambling up paths had all of us sweating and scraping our knees. 2km doesn’t seem like much unless it’s an obstacle course and you’re in flip flops like I was. Annie and I reached the top, sat down on a ridge we maybe should have avoided walking on (don’t tell our mothers) and looked out over the white sands of Bottle Beach. Moss and a few people were literally hopping around the rocks taking pictures and all I could think was ‘where is your self-preservation instinct?!?’

A quick dip in the ocean and an ice cream had us all a bit more energized but by this point we were getting antsy to start prepping for the party! Not gonna lie I could have used a nap after staying up so late last night but it just wasn’t in the cards. Power through this you’re gonna survive. Young you would be fine! Annie and I ended up braiding quite a few people’s hair while everyone in the hostel painted, did makeup and started drinking. It was a party in itself just getting ready! Finally around 11PM we piled into a taxi to the famous Haad Rin Sunrise Beach.

The taxi dropped us off at the top of a long lane of people selling things for the party. Glow body paint, flower crowns, costume jewelry and fairy wings were all over the place, in between crowded drink stands. Almost every single drink stand sold only buckets, much to my abject horror. One of those would absolutely end my night because they each contain about a mickey of liquor in a small little sand bucket with a dash of soda. A. WHOLE. MICKEY. IN. ONE. DRINK.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is that the goal of the evening is to stay up until sunrise. Also a horror, but as I am pretending to be 21 I will give it an honest try! We made it down the lane, me with a pair of wings and some face paint, Annie with a necklace and a bucket. The rest of the group was painted up as well and we all entered the beach, glowing under black light and seeing more people than I thought humanly possible to fit here. 20,000 bodies crammed onto a beach so huge I don’t think we managed to even walk the length of it all evening! Different DJ’s played mostly techno-pop music, often crossing over each other. Fire performers dotted the length of the beach and a huge sign lit up in flames near the entrance. At one point we even saw a thick rope doused in gasoline lit up and used as a skipping rope.

Drunk fire skipping is a recipe for disaster (clearly) as this was set up like pretty much right next to the medic tent. That didn’t stop a constant stream of drunk dudes from trying it out though! Good luck to those who we watched get burned! I am glad my self preservation instinct kicked in here because I’m always tempted to try out the dumb tourist street challenges. Maybe I should just make a rule now that I have to stay away from the ones that involve fire…

Raised stages set up along the the beach had people jumping and dancing so hard some of the structures were half collapsed… which did absolutely nothing to deter people from climbing up and continuing to dance anyway.

As a group we were mostly able to stick together, sometimes running off in different directions to grab drinks or food or what-have-you. The theme of the night was basically just keep dancing and you won’t get tired, which worked for quite a few hours until finally, around 4 am, drunk and exhausted we all ordered chicken nuggets on the beach and sat down directly in the sand.

We rallied for one more beer, in an attempt to make it to sunrise but at 5AM we all threw in the towel as the crowd started to thin and those left were mostly incoherently drunk. On our way home we stopped at a 7/11 for breakfast toasties and water, thinking it might help all of us be a little less deathly when we woke up. Laughing and walking home all eating toasties was a great way to end the night (morning?).

By the time we actually returned to the hostel, tucked in the people who needed tucking in, and showered off the body paint, it was 6 AM and the sun was starting to rise. I watched it from my hostel bed and fell asleep happily thinking:

That counts, right? I made it to sunrise.

Sav