Onec we left Koh Samui we spent one night in Koh Tao before we jumped on another boat bound for Koh Phangan. We had spoken with the boys via email to meet them in Koh Phangan on Xmas eve, where we would have lunch and start drinking to celebrate the Xmas in style at the infamous full moon party. We were met by the pier by Dan (well almost, he was in the pub that was the closest to the pier). The plan was to leave our small bags containing tooth brush, towel, clean t-shirt etc. at Dan and Matts Guesthouse and party all night, crash out at theres on Xmas day and then head back to our island on Xmas day evening. But, being 6 of us, we felt we were taking liberties by crashing in their little 2 bed beach bungalow. So we found a small room near the pier where we threw our stuff and had a safety net incase one of us couldn't party all night!

The boys took us to their local drinking hole, a bar they had spoken about for 2 weeks previous. Once we got there we were pretty disappointed, it was smalled then my bedroom, with one pool table in the middle and 5 bar stools near the bar, and that was it. However, we didn't complain we got the drinks in (Singha beer ofcourse) and continued playing pool and drinking until evening. We went for a meal and then did our last minute shopping, Dan, Matt and I bought some Father Xmas hats, whilst Dan also purchased some illuminous paint to which he applied all over my face. We were all a bit drunk, dressed up and ready to hit the beach.

It took quite a while to get to the beach especially as our taxi got pulled over by the police and was questioned for some time until finally he was taken away in the police van. We all had our theories, mine was that he was an escaped prisoner on the run. Anyway on to the party. The streets were filled with thousands of revellers, and it was difficult to keep our party of 8-10 people together with out someone getting lost. After about 10 minutes of managing the crowds we finally hit the beach. Oh my god, there were at least 15,000 - 20,000 drunk people dancing the night away! The first thing we did was get more drinks and then headed to the coolest beach bars. Our large group would constantly get broken up and people would wander around but somehow we all managed to meet up with each other again, strange when you have all these thousands of strangers around you.

By 1 in the morning we had our first mishap, Rik pocket had been picked and they stole about 17 pounds, lucky he didn't have his wallet with all his cards. Despite this we soldiered on. My aim was for me at least to party on the beach until the Sun comes up and i was doing pretty well. While others around me where faltering i was still going strong. The night was crazy, people would be dancing and drinking while others around them where sleeping drunk in the sand, others were fighting, while others still decide to relieve themselves in the sea water. It was a crazy night.

As the morning came closer, one by one people would drop out or get lost, Dan and Matt got lost from us and then so did Rik. Shruti and Nim went to look for him to no avail and by 5.50am i was the only one in the group still dancing, while everyone was sitting waiting for me, so i reluctantly left the beach. So close to partying until the sunset. Although everyone was eager to go home no one was doing anything. I had hoped Rik had gone back to the guesthouse so we would see him there. I ordered a cab to get us back and managed to reduce the price, result!

As we were in the taxi (back of a pick up truck), everyone in my group was sleeping so i started talking to this Canadian couple who were cool. As i spoke to them i coudl see in the background the sun begin to rise. I guess that still counts, a small smile appeared on my face, my job here was done. Now the mission was to get my way back to Koh Tao. While everyone went back to the guesthouse to sleep me and Beanz went to the pier and organised the ferry home, there was one destined to Koh Tao at 8am, in 1.5 hours time or one in the afternoon, and to be honest i just wanted to get back to my Koh Tao bed, so i soldiered on and ignored the tiredness. I managed to get back to the koh phangan guesthouse (which was a small box room with a mattress on the floor, with Shruti, Meenal and Nims all crashed out on that! Which left one corner of the room for me to curl up in for one hour and the other corner for beanz. I got 30 mins kip and then organised everyone to get to the pier (which was really hard), on that big boat home! Respect to Beanz despite his tiredness he still stuck with me. We got home 2 hours later, to which there was no Rik, but there was a bed. I laid my head down on the bed and closed my eyes for what seemed a second, but lasted 12 hours.

Rik's story was even more crazier then mine. After he got lost, he slept head down on a bar on the beach until 7am. He then looked for us but to no avail. He then, tried to get a taxi to the pier, but because he was robbed, he had no money. So he walked for 2 hours in the morning Sun to the pier. Half way there he was chased by two stray dogs. As both jumped up to bite his face he gave both a slap in their faces, both dogs moaned and then walked away. Once at the pier he had to beg the pier guys to drop him to Koh Tao, where he would pay them there! After 30 minutes of trying a nice Thai girl agreed to let him go on for free! But the 8am boat had already left so he had to wait until 2pm. He gradually stumbled to our guesthouse in Koh Tao at 4pm.