Ko Pha Ngan

Feb. 19-25

Home to the infamous Full Moon Party, Ko Pha Ngan is an island situated off the coast of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. Getting there by flight and ferry caused less headaches as other people traveled by train or bus and then ferry which took a considerably longer time to get there. I planned my trip so I'd be there for six days, the first three for getting my scuba license and the last three for partying. The process of getting my Open Water Diver's Certificate was fairly easy. Although expensive ($420), it was and will be worth it. It's an awesome experience that I'll do again, in Thailand and its neighboring countries.

The full moon party was very crazy and fun. It's similar to Ko Samet in that there are a lot of bars along the beach, but different because it was wild. I can remember one event that is still so vivid in my mind. In front of one bar on the beach, a couple workers stood atop tables separated about 10 meters each holding the end of a giant rope. Another worker carrying a bucket of lighter fluid then began to drench the rope with it. Then they swung the rope in circles to form a game of giant jump rope. You'd think who in their right mind would start jumping. Well, it turned out that there were many people who didn't hesitate a bit before going out and start jumping. At times, groups of four or even eight would run out and not even complete one single jump before getting smacked with the flaming rope. It was interesting because when you watch, you don't know if you should laugh or worry as the (drunk) people scramble in the sand to escape the flames. And for those who jumped well (getting in like five successful jumps), the workers would speed the rope up more and more until their destiny of getting close-lined by a blazing rope was fulfilled.

Overall, Ko Pha Ngan was fun. I would go back for the full moon party, just not anytime soon. If I want a quiet beach vacation, I would stay on the other side of the island where you access it only by boat. Although better in other regions of Thailand, the diving was still awesome.