I went over to Ko Phangan for the Full Moon party a bit earlier than I wanted but I was getting a bit twitchy as people were leaving Ko Tao in their droves.

I'd heard all about this thing, and didn't want to be in the middle of the carnage so when I got off the boat I headed for the quieter area of Baan Thai for a place to stay. However I say quiet, it was more like a ghost town when I trundled down to the beach to look for a place to stay. So I took the plunge and headed back to the main road to head for Haad Rin which is the party central. When I flagged down a taxi there was a dutch guy, Martijn who had done exactly the same. We hit it off in the taxi and ended up sharing a bungalow for the 6 nights that we were there. That's how it sometimes works when travelling on your own.

Ko Phangan is all about the Full Moon party and the warm up to the Full Moon party, which by coincidence is a series of beach parties. Oh sorry I did forget they chuck in a Pool party for some variety. You get the picture.

My standard day was get up and lie on the beach from around midday, lunch, more beach, dinner, power nap, then out to the beach party for midnight, may be catch the sunrise and then back home for around 7am. I had no idea how long I would last this punishing regime.

It was great fun and I met loads of people, most of whom I'd bumped into in Ko Tao or Vietnam, airports etc so every night you'd have a chat and a beer or two with all of them. That was the good thing about being there for 6 nights is everyone gets familiar with everyone else.

The only drawback is that it is full on 24/7. If it's not the night parties then the beach during the day is a kind of day party. By day 4 I had to wander off and find a bit of peace and quiet, if only to recharge the batteries for the night ahead .

I did find the Boom Cafe about 45 minutes walkaway in Baan Khai, where I'd just get in a hammock and chill out with my book all day. Those that know me know that I need the cave time!

So it was party after party, but the actual big event itself was brilliant. Where the warm ups only took up half the beach, the whole beach was used the main event. I'm not sure how many were there but it must have been at least 20,000 and they were all in good spirits.

It's something you only need to do once (including the fire skipping I'll upload the video), and I'm not sure I could handle it again. It was the people I met that made it for me though. They were all a good crack so I'm not sure it would be the same second time around. But I've now done it and ticked the box and my liver needs some recovery time. Time to head north.