~there'll be laughing, singing, and music swinging~

There are exactly two words to describe Koh Pha Ngan's full moon party: oy vey. While the island actually offers plenty of gorgeous scenery and clean beaches,

there lies a one km stretch of sand/broken glass/urine/vomit called Haad Rin beach that will send any Catholic nun running for her rosary. The full moon parties are the worst but the shore also hosts half moon, quarter moon, and no moon parties with the nights in between being parties unrelated to lunar stages. I got the full experience so that I'd never have to do it again.

Haad Rin beach is basically lined with around 10 bars.

People begin to congregate around 9 PM. The party peaks from midnight to two after which the croud starts waning. Each bar blasts dance music from dnb to psytrance to top 40 to dubstep so loud that at any given time you hear 2-4 seperate beats.

There is at least one flaming jump rope goint from 9-3 and various poi and staff displays throughout.

The locals stupidly try to charge anywhere from a quarter to a dollar for bathrooms so at any given time a look toward the ocean will reward the observer with at least 6 men peeing. Boats run every half hour to shuttle paetygoers back to Ko Samui, where people stay if they cant find a room or want to avoid some of the havoc. Of course drugs abound although buckets filled with thai red bull syrup and various hard alcohols are most peoples' poison of choice. At about 11 PM the first 'zombies' begin to appear. Overpartying 19 year old brits and israelis can be seen swaying to and fro or being carried by thai security guards or even falling face first into the sand. By 2 AM entire episodes of walking dead unfold before you. Heres where they end up.

So why would I want to to stay up till 5 AM through all this, and how did I manage? Very early into the night I met what could have been the only two other chill people on the island. Catie left her high paying real estate gig to wait tables and climbed her way to managing a 100+k a night grossing complex of bars, cafes, restaurants, and nightclubs. In one year! There she met James who runs one of the bars along with being involved in the music industry. He works as often as he needs to travel for a few months out of the year and this was her first time overseas. I couldn't help but bond with people as cool as these, often over perspectives one acquires working in food service but also over general life issues. Furthermore, my debit card got canned that day and I only found out when I was out of cash. Without even letting me think about it, these two paid for my beer, water and other goodies throughout the night. When I have the time/money to make it to Brisbane Australia, I have two very very kind people that I can't wait to visit.

THE PARABLE OF JAY
A little after 1 a frantic, discombobulated Canadian (who insisted on sporting an Irish accept for no reason) stumbled across our seaside picknick when we were just hanging out on the sand. Jay had asked if we heard some idiot down there jump on the microphone at one of the bars and scream "Has anyone seen Emily?" He admitted that it was him! He said he had lost the love of his life through the night and was desperately trying to find her. He broke down crying to us, explaining how much she meant to him and on and on and on. We calmed him down, entertained him with stories, and nursed him back to mental stability. I told him I dont know how he can find Emily again but there are so many wonderful things to enjoy here that he might as well relax and enjoy them. He did, staying with us for a while, until it was time for him to go and continue his quest, this time, a bit more levelheaded. After we'd forgotten all about him, Jay and Emily come walking over and, delighted, he screams" look guys, I found her!" He actually came back to show us! We were flattered.  All Emily could say was "doofus! I was right where you told me to wait for you" and the three of us erupted in laughter. But there's a moral to be learned there. Even though Jay was piss drunk throughout this fiasco (and Emily was all too sober by now) I think we're all guilty of this at times, at least I am for sure. Sometimes, when we get so anxious, so nervous and frantic and panicky, we forget some very obvious and helpful facts. If we can remind ourselves to, its usually worth it to settle down, take a deep breath, maybe even take our minds off the issue and come back to solve it. Jay illustrated that very well and gave us a great laugh in the process.

Five days later, I've fully recovered from the madness. You're reading the words of a certified open water diver. Scuba diving is INCREDIBLE. I might stick around here, Koh Tao (Turtle Island), to get my advanced certification before heading to the left coast for hopefully a liveaboard diving excursion. I say hopefully cause we're getting into monsoon season but I'm optimistic. I bought a go pro ripoff, still for a good chunk of change, and here are some of my favorite photos after my two dives yesterday. It's a shame I didn't have it the day before when the visibility was much better

And, oh yeah, one more thing. You ever walk by a shop and see something and think: "I've got to have it!". That happened to me the other day. It was a barber shop!

Little cute gekko sold sold seperately! But a kid from the meditation retreat who I ran into today was still able to recognize me so I'm hoping the folks in passport control will. Also, James and Catie are on this island so I'll try to bump into them again before I head out. Later.