Full Moon Party Koh Phangan – The worst party in Asia!
Thailand’s Full Moon Party is debauched, depraved, and increasingly deadly. If only it were fun.
“HELLOOO, FULL MOON PARTY!” the touts holler.
Welcome to Koh Phangan… I guess. The host of tuk-tuk drivers and solicitors who await the tourist ferry-load arriving every hour make no mention of the actual island. It’s all about the party. Or rather, parties. Every night.
The next greeting is a giant billboard that warns, “MARIJUANA AND MAGIC MUSHROOMS ARE ILLEGAL IN THAILAND.” Bottom-right is a photograph intended to terrify anyone fresh off the boat: a white-haired foreigner, eyes blacked out, seated before a bunch of cops. Oddly, one policeman flashes a sinister grin.
Minutes later, our minivan filled with backpackers bounces down the 10-kilometer road toward Haad Rin, where the party happens. Most passengers are carrying coffin-sized luggage and look weary. Where’s a copy of the Daily Mail with the latest about some dead Brit? These kids surely need to be warned.
Koh Phangan’s Full Moon Party long ago lost its original innocence, devolving into a mess of drunken foreigners cramming onto a once-beautiful beach to celebrate nothing more than the party itself. But in recent years, things have gotten much worse. There have been rapes, fatal accidents, suicides, and gang-related murders. “In the nine months I lived there, one guy I admired hung himself, while another died drunk-driving his motorbike,” a former expat told me. Meanwhile, the local environment has been decimated. In fact, one’s first taste of the island pleasures that await can be found in the water itself, which glistens with oil and plastic…
This is only a short excerpt of the original article. The full article can be found at RoadsAndKingdoms.com and Slate.com
Thanks a lot to Robert Foyle Hunwick and his ecellent write up, which was brought to us by Google Alerts.
The numbers attending full moon parties is a complete contradiction to it being the worst party in Asia! Tell me of any other party like it around the world, excluding annual festivals.
In time the party scene will likely be scraped due to the damage it’s creating to Thailand’s image, due to articles like these. The infrastructure it has brought to the island will sustain and healthy crop of sustainable tourists long into the future, which is a good thing for the island people.
With that said, the awful truth needs to be told from time to time! But reporters need to look at both side of the story. There are many people that have improved their lives from the living they have earned from these parties. I know negativity grabs the headlines, but just maybe that’s a story that could be covered in the future? Better yet, be a bit more balanced in the reporting!
Good for the Island people, for what? Durability is way more important, i think a normal tourist that respects the beauty of the Island, and spends more money on accommodation and normal activities / trips / tours is worth much more on the long term than some Backpacker Hippies that ruin the Island and not spend that much at all.
Don’t get me wrong.. to start off…I LOVE KP. I love the country and the region, everything it has to offer…
BUT THIS ALONE MAKES THIS THE WORST PARTY EVER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D41rO7mL6zM
if you really are so inclined to stick to this “i love everything and everyone” image that the fmp supposedly induces on its participators then you really need the reconsider what these types of mass parties do to the world, actually.
this island frowns upon thais visiting. tickets for thais are more expensive and hotels often shut out thais. i know. the whole island is full of immigrant mob hell bent on screwing people over for cash. .