Day 51 - Painfully Pissed on Picnic Tables

I have the hangover from hell.  If anyone is keeping count, I think I've written far too many blogs in this state. My poor liver.  On the brightside, Mallary and I have decided that we are "the most pleasant hungover people ever".  Even though we had to wake up incredibly early to pack all our stuff and move to our new bungalow, the entire day has still been full of laughter and smiles (that is, between rushed trips to the bathroom, which
has an over-sized lizard as a resident).

So how did I arrive in this familiar state this time around? Well, yesterday we were super keen to explore the island of Ko Phangan.  It is much bigger than we all imagined.  We had a bit of a problem though.  Only Mallary is competent enough to drive a scooter, and three of us can't fit on one (yes we tried).  Plan B? Hire a jeep! Hang on, another problem, only one of us know how to drive a manual.  And its not me.  It's Leah, who has only ever driven left hand drive. Everything is backwards!  But not to worry, Leah took the challenge in her stride, and with me in the front seat to remind Leah to "stay on the LEFT!", we set off for Haad Rin beach.  That is, the beach where the infamous full moon party will be held! After filling up with copious amount of fuel, and getting mostly hazy directions, we arrived at Haad Rin pier. The beach must be near.  Walking around this area, we knew we were in the right place given the amount of Full Moon memorabilia, outfits and everything you can imagine in neon colours.  

We had been forewarned not to swim at Haad Rin beach following the party (due to the shenanigans that go on at the party), so we had to take a dip now, otherwise we would miss our chance.  We also had to make 100% sure we were in the right place.  The beach was amazing. The water a translucent turquoise, the sand an enticing shade of white, a backdrop of lush green mountains, and the sun was shining.  What an amazing place to have a party!

After stocking up on supplies (read: every colour of neon paint imaginable), we wanted to eat dinner whilst watching the sunset. And what an amazing sunset it was.  The sky was a delectable shade of pink, splashed with some blue and yellow, whilst the water reflected these colours in a perfect way.  We just couldn't resist a sunset swim.  If you've never swam at sunset, on a very calm beach, you're missing out on an amazing experience.  What happens is that thermoclines develop.  That is, the top layer of the ocean is a warm day time temperature, whilst the lower depths are changing to a lower, night time temperature.  To swim through these thermoclines is a strange but wonderful feeling.  Not like being hot and cold at the same time, but rather like experiencing warm patches of hot tub and sudden refreshing pools at the same time.

After having such an enjoyable day, we didn't really have any big plans for the night.  Our initial intention was to simply take the jeep out and cruise around for a while.  We had also seen a number of signs about a jungle party that we thought we'd check out. 7-11's played a big part in our demise last night.  It started with large Leos, and when downhill, or uphill, from there; depending on your perspective.  

After following extremely dodgy and vague signs to the jungle party (at one point it was a candle that marked our turn off).  We parked out the front and were told it was 100B entry each.  We couldn't see anyone of interest inside, and it didn't look altogether impressive. We said we'd pass.  The sour door bitch called us back and told us she would let us in for free, as long as we don't tell anyone. Alright we are in.  But our initial impressions were confirmed, other than a couple of other enthusiastic guys covered in neon paint, there was nothing going on. On top of that, the music was shit.  We all decided that we were having way more fun driving around in the jeep instead.

We piled back into the jeep, wound down the windows, and turned up the music. I'd forgotten how much I missed cruising around in a car. Something I hadn't done in over a year.  With the Leos all dried up, another stop at 7-11 was in order.  Mallary and I decided we would make our own bucket.  In fact, we even had to convince the 7-11 attendant to sell us an empty bucket to mix our ingredients in.  But our efforts were well worth it, we had our very own homemade bucket.  We ate chips as our chaser (twisties to be exact), as we may have made it a little too strong.

Our cruising evidently brought us to Haad Rin beach again. Our current state of inebriation meant we thought it was a perfect time to pick out our full moon outfits.  Even though we definitely made appropriate outfit choices, our bargaining skills were not what they could have been!  By this time, the bucket was approaching shallow levels, so it was time to stock up again.  No 7-11 required. We'd stumbled upon a street stall selling buckets for cheaper than we had purchased all the ingredients separately at 7-11!

This is where the events of the night start to get a little hazy.  I vaguely remember chatting up a Canadian restaurant tout, and then one very attractive boy jumping in the back of our ute. Don't remember where he ended up.  But I do know where we ended up. We were on Haad Rin beach! The party had started early! Bucket in hand, it was time to dance. But dance on the sand? Pfft, that's for beginners. I chose my dancefloor, the top of a picnic table!

Events following this are not within my powers of recollection, however I am told they were fun-fueled and definitely not lacking in debauchery. The bruises we sustained suggest that perhaps our dance floor picnic table was not the best place to show off our moves.  However, if last night was a trailer for the full moon party, bring it on!