Early the next morning we got a flIght out of Bangkok to Ko Phangan. This is where the full moon party is held. We stayed here three nights. The first two nights we went out and the last we slept or at least tried to. The second night we went out was the night of the full moon party and it was crazy, the beach was FULL of people covered in UV paint, drinking buckets and dancing until the early hours of the next morning,,,,,, great!!!!
Two memorable things happened to us in the short time we were in Ko Phangan. On the second day there brid and I left ruth and Deirdre in bed to nurse their hangovers while we took a treck up to ... This was great fun, we really got to experience a jungle and we saw lots, we went off the track a bit but this allowed us to climb up waterfalls and see so much more... So there we were climbing away happy as larry when we realised that it was getting quiet late and we hadn't even gotten to the view point at the top yet. In September in Thailand it gets dark very early, as in between six and seven in the evening and also that darkness comes on very, very suddenly so you can realise our panic when we realised that it was nearly six and we were a long way from the bottom... At first as we were clambering back down as fast as we could we were laughing at the situation we had gotten ourselves into and imagining what we would do when it got too dark to see, whether we would sleep in the jungle or try to feel of way back down to the bottom. Then after about an hour when we were still deep in the jungle and it was getting quiet dark it was no longer a joke but a serious worry. I never thought I could tear through a jungle as fast as myself and brid did that evening but adrenaline is a wonderful thing. And we made it down but with little time to spear as it was fully dark about 15 minutes later. What an experience!
The other memorable moment involved an early morning visit to a medical centre to get 8 stitches and a tetanus shot after I fell off the ladder of my bunk bed and cut my arm open. Not a very pleasant experience I can tell you but I'm sure some day I can look back at what I can imagine will be a permanent scar and smile :) [photos in full moon album]