f*** it, get a bucket.....

So it's the morning after the full moon party. It's been a pretty horrible morning. Bed about half 8 and wake up at 11 to catch the boat to Koh Tao.

Before I start just for reference, a sangsom bucket or a bucket is a drink that comes in a bucket that is made up of about 300mls whisky, 300mls coke, 100mls red bull. Yum (For you parents currently thinking that's a lot of alcohol, they do cheaper buckets which don't have as much alcohol in.) When on the Thai islands you either drinks beers or buckets.

So anyway on Tuesday we arrived at Koh Phangan about midday after an overnight bus and early boat from Bangkok. When we arrived we dropped our stuff off at the hotel, had a shower and headed to the beach. Relaxing afternoon attempting to fill in our farmer tan lines and having a swim in the sea. After this nice relaxing session we headed to get some food to line our stomachs before our first pre-full moon party. After a couple of buckets at our hostel we headed to the Coral Bungalows pool party first which was mental. (Imagine the house parties in the American Pie films which has everybody drinking in and around the pool. It was a bit like that.) We spent a couple of hours there having a couple of drinks and playing shoulder wars in the pool. After this we headed to the beach to see what it was like. It was pretty busy, not rammed, but it was still two nights until full moon party itself. At this point we got split up and I (Josh) ended up bumping into a couple of people we had met in Bangkok and went to watch the fire shows with them. This included juggling and breathing fire, as well as the burning skipping rope and the burning hoop of fire, which you could jump over and through. I decided to hold back and watch everyone else get burnt. This was a good shout considering the burning skipping rope is only stopped in one way, by the jumpers legs. After a couple more drinks and a bit of a dance on tables it was bed time for me at about 6ish.

Pete: so while Josh was busy watching people play with fire, it was probably for the best that I didn't find this activity on the beach, because if I would of done, my injuries for the night would of definitely been significantly worse than they actually were. Buckets are not my strong point- and as a result I lost money, a lot of my skin as a result of falling over a lot, and what remained of my dignity after being seen from a far... on my own, clambering up on to a table outside a bar, and dancing like a crazy man with both arms pointed to the heavens. Cool. The next day I awoke to a hell of a lot of cuts, and a very crude bandage job done with what looked like a whole roll of toilet paper, wrapped around my big toe, and secured by a crap load of selotape purchased from 7eleven. I obviously didn't think they might also sell plasters.

As you could guess, the next day was a write off. We woke up about half 2, went and met some friends for a couple of hours and then pretty much the same as the night before. Got some food, hostel for some drinks, and then this time straight to the beach. Same ok'd drinking, dancing, getting split up routine. This time I (Josh) ended up chilling with a couple of guys while we watched the sun come and then bed at about 7.

Next morning we decided to get ourselves up do something productive so we booked on a tour that started at 9 and off we went......yeah right!!! It again was also a right off. We got up about 3 and went for our first full English breakfast. Since being in Thailand Pete and I have learnt that at a restaurant 99% of the time one of us would have finished eating before the other persons food arrives. Was it too much to ask that our two full English breakfasts arrived together and not 10 minutes apart!!! Maybe it was because I had fried eggs and Pete ha his scrambled. Anyway, after this we headed up to Mellow Mountain, a bar built into the mountains at one end of the beach, where we chilled out for about an hour before heading back to bed for a nap. We napped for about 3 hours before getting ready for The Full Moon Party.

So we got dressed and had a couple of beers at our hostel whilst covering ourselves in UV paint and then about 7 or 8 of us headed down to the beach. In the way down, it's so much busier than the previous nights, one girl (probably English) is throwing up in the middle of the street. Was this a sign of what tonight would be like? So we get to the beach and by some miracle we manage to get a drink and get to the sea side of the beach without losing anyone. It was really well set up. The sea had been converted to urinals and the sand to beds full of passed put people. A few drinks and some dancing followed. As the sun came up a swim in the toilet/sea (it seemed like a great idea at the time) was required so we all headed in except for Pete who we lost a few hours earlier. It was about half 7, the beach was stilled rammed, sun had risen and we had been for a swim. Only one thing to do. Breakfast before bed. Here I (Josh) had the worse full English I have ever had. It looked great on the menu: bacon, eggs, toast, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans. Apparently that translates in thai as bacon, eggs cooked a couple of days ago, sausage and ham. Oh well we ate breakfast and headed to bed about half 8. As you know, we are on a boat to Koh Tao for a chilled out few days learning to dive.

Will let you know how it goes soon.

Josh and Pete x