02/05/2023 Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, Thailand

Today is the day of the big Full Moon party, a popular dance rave party on the beach that happens in many places across Thailand, but originally and most famously at Koh Phangan’s Haad Rin beach. The party has a reputation of people painting their bodies with glowing neon colored paint, so first thing I did in the morning was buy a cheap purple swimsuit and full moon party tank to wear in the event they get painted on and needed to be disposed of.

After getting my Full Moon Festival ‘fit, Morgan, Joseph, and I cooked a nice breakfast at home. For having endless options of amazing Thai food at an affordable price at our disposal, I’m pleased with our balancing with home cooked meals. Afterwards, they set out to get manicures, and I realized my strength training and weight lifting regiment hadn’t been given any attention since Bangkok. I found a gym on the beach located 5 minutes away via motorbike and decided to get a workout in. Wild Wood gym was a really cool experience for a workout. The gym was right on the beach and the equipment consisted of wooden weights (dumbbells and plates), bamboo bars, and rope and sand sack pulley cables. After a good workout, I did my first ice bath cold plunge in their tub for 5 minutes. As I expected, it didn’t feel great getting in the tub, but my body adjusted and I was able to get comfortable. Being able to warm up in the sun next to their pool while drinking a coconut protein shake afterwards helped with the recovery.

I drove my motorbike to the other side of the island to join Joseph and Morgan at L’Alcove, a fancy restaurant on the beach recommended to us by our host Cyril. The cocktails here were amazing, the food was really tasteful, and there were different singer and dancer performers providing live entertainment.

Back at the Air BnB after dinner, we had our friends Ferdinand, Kathrin, Tim, and Kris, all whom we had met on Phangan in the previous days, meet us for pregaming the Full Moon Festival. After some gin and tonics, we boarded a TukTuk and made the trip to Haad Rin beach, joining an English couple. The happy birthday song was sung at least a couple of times as we learned it was our new English friend’s birthday. I considered and appreciated the fact that we had individuals from England, Germany, France, Russia, and the United States together sharing a single ride, heading towards the big beach festival together. It’s truly amazing, the diversity of people you meet when traveling abroad. I’m no stranger to music festivals, as they are some of my favorite places and experiences I’ve ever had. I love the community that live music can create, bringing people together for the sake of dance and celebration.

The Full Moon Festival was absolutely packed. Normal months have around 20,000 people, with busier months having upwards of 30,000 people. The festival consisted of 7 or 8 beach bars and clubs with a variety of music being performed by live DJs, fire spinning, food and beverage vendors, and the massive amount of people from all over the world. The majority of attendees were painted with glow in the dark paint. Something I’ve come to realize in recent years and especially since my travels is that what’s more important than where you are or what you’re doing, is who you’re with. We had a great time at the Full Moon festival, dancing from 10PM until bed’s call overpowered the loud speakers around 3AM. What made this experience so fun was truly the people we were with. I remain partial and favor the American music festivals I’ve attended… (especially my favorite Electric Forest). However, I’m very excited to attend my first international festival, Primavera, in Madrid, Spain, June 2023.