full moon party

            No one word can describe the feeling of travelling through Thailand. Words rarely are used for that matter. But if you talk to anyone that has been to Thailand they will tell you the same thing-

 Ahhhhhhh!!!

 Ohhhhhhh!!!!

 Urghhhhhhh!!!

Take your pick. You’ve probably heard them all.

My experience was nothing less than Ahhhhhhh!!! Some stories left me kicking myself- while others, let’s say….. they are still kicking around in my head. But to begin I will tell you how a carefree, last minute virgin adventurer ended up in the land of Urghhhhhhh!!!

I just finished teaching at a winter English second language (ESL) school in the south, of South Korea. My contract finished, leaving me with a pocket full of cash and… well, nothing to do.  My plan was to move to Seoul and get a job at a private school and sign on for a continued year.

I contacted an old Jewish friend who happened to be living in Seoul.

“What up Jew”, I said as we talked over the phone.

“Yo, Louis what’s happening”, my fellow Hebrew shot back.

“Can you help a brother out?” I continued, “I’m heading to Seoul looking for a gig, can I stay at your spread until I’m on my feet?”

Two days later I arrived at his door bags in hand.

I spent one day on the internet looking for respectable schools until I contacted Cecilia Park- a wonderful bosomy recruiter for Park English. I made an appointment for noon the next day.

I showed up at her office, was handed a job and told to meet her that night with some of my potential schools staff at a local bar Rocky Mountain Tavern. Well to skip the fine print, we drank 5 pitchers and I was hired on the spot.

I returned to Cecilia’s office the next day to sign the contract and go over details.

To break down the next series of events- I would have to say I am fuckin’ blessed.

I signed the contract at noon. Walked over to a travel agency at one and booked a flight to Thailand that evening at seven. I contacted my old Jewish friend to make sure he was home and took a subway across Seoul back to his flat. Packed- then jumped on a subway in time to catch the airport bus, arriving an hour before flight.

I landed in Bangkok. Threw my bag over my shoulder and walked around puzzled at which utopia to embrace.  Enough the following evening was the ‘Full Moon Party’- a beachside head trip with claim to worldly levels, similar to ‘Burning Man’ in Nevada- but in fucking Thailand.

As I patrol the airport I meet fellow travelers in my same predicament. Small talk between a few of us adventurers leads to a clan and we decide to make our way to Kho Samui (a touristy island a stone’s throw from the drug and sex infested island of Kho Phangang).

We board the plane and touch down an hour later, landing in a tropical rain shower that’s not only refreshing but somewhat necessary. I once read a saying that some people walk in the rain while others just get wet, and I’ve followed this philosophy ever since. I think you can really tell the character of an individual by given circumstances- even something as simple as how one reacts to rain.

I say “let the clouds open up and strike a ferocious climax of dewy substance all over me- I’m in Thailand and nothing can bring me down”.

We all make our way to a tent and purchase tickets to the Full Moon Party, before loading a ram-shackled bus that is nothing less than perfect. When I travel, I look for the real experience- I don’t want to be driven around local communities- passing houses with tin roofs, barred windows, a spray paint finish and dinner pets- in a doctored up Mercedes. I want a busted window, no seat-belt, stale smelling, gutted pickup truck with picnic benches for seats and a toothless driver who- for all I know- might not even be taking me to suggested destination.

All goes well and we end up on the beach-strip after a short drive through the country side. Seeing life through others really makes you question the situation you were brought up in. Thailand is a breathtaking country- but suffers from poverty and dilapidation. But I have been birthed with a skewed interpretation raised in Canada -where one sucks from the teat of indoor plumbing, hydro, and all those essentials that makes life… all that easier.

What we don’t calculate is the pull that all of these must haves have on us. We have to wear the name brands and latest fashions, eat hamburgers that are 30% bigger, but at the same time watch our figures with products that now come with less sodium or are labeled trans fat free. These are the chains and shackles that parade our lives from the first click of the TV to the signs we pass on our way to meaningless jobs. Why do we work so hard to be surrounded by materials- that will be waste when a newer, bigger, better same product becomes cleverly available? 

What I have gathered along my travels is that it is important to be happy and surrounded by loved ones, and if you have that, well than that means the world. Yes, I am biased- being fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to travel and speculate on those who appear to been given the shaft- but appearance is only skin deep.

I would like to draw a comparison between how many view other cultures situations and how the others may perceive them.

If you were to view a dog inside an owners house. Say, you walk past this house every day and never see the dog outside playing, you immediately suspect neglect. So, you decide to call the SPCA on this horrid family. They arrive, don’t ask any questions and take the dog away from the owner and put it in a kennel. Well unknown to you that the dog was quite content being indoors and enjoyed the company of its master- inside warm and comfortable. But your rash decision and lack of knowledge took this dog from its home and put it in a world that it did not ask for, nor care for.

Now to translate:

For many Thai (and cultures that appear less fortunate worldwide) who live under certain circumstances that may not live up to the standards for us Americans, don’t assume that they want a change. Many are content with the freedom of everyday life. They are free from major corporations, brand names, brain washing, politics, and the newest innovations that stir thoughts of greed throughout society. We Americans created our destiny on the basis that it’s what’s best for us, but it’s not what’s best for everyone. And I for one don’t want to take anyone from their home and throw them into a world they did not ask for.

All these thoughts infiltrate my mind as I bop my head to the notes of the uneven ground. We find a beach house, throw our bags down, and high-top through the town to get acquainted.

We stop at a local mart looking for local beer to get us in a local mindset. We stock up and head to the beach to- well, swim.

As night rolled around it was time to jump ship and cruise over to Kho Phangang for the full moon party. We load onto the bus as it takes us for a ride down the strip. 

The bus soon stops to pick up others and a drop-dead Swedish girl, Ula, climbs aboard and sits to my left. She is glowing and gorgeous in a flowing red dress, vibrant and forthcoming. The drinks get passed around along with laughs and the bus comes to a stop at the dock. A bar lining the walkway serves ’buckets’- a sand-castle pale filled with ice a fourth or mickey of whiskey, and a can of red bull and coke- for the equivalency of a two Slovenian reach-a-rounds or 7 dollars Canadian. We all indulge.

As the speedboat comes we board and are in store for the choppiest ride of my life. Foreigners and locals fill the boat and drinking continues but in between intervals of crashing waves slamming against the boat. I unfortunately get caught at the wrong end of a wave and my bucket splashes everyone on the boat including myself as the sweet taste now clings to the clothes of all us nautical adventurers- but no one seems to mind as the laughing ensues.

The thoughts flowing through my mind are hard to retain- as I was living for the moment. Everything up to now has been a complete fantasy and I haven’t even arrived at the crowning moment- I don’t even know if there is a crowning moment (I think my life just gets better from this point on). The boys and I stop to refill our fluids- this is where I notice Ula on a flat-bed truck slowly edging through the crowds. I start running, picking up speed, never dropping my beer I might add, to finally reach her outstretched hand as I jump and am pulled aboard.

A crowd cheers.

Arriving at the party was surreal. Ten thousand creatures inhabit the beach. Alcohol matched with hallucinogenic’s, fire matched with water, music matched with dance, nudity matched with… well all of the above.

We make our way over to a stage that is draped with florescent lights and dancing sheets. We dance for hours, taking turns refilling our buckets and gawking in amazement at the free spirits.

A towering frame dawned with “Amazing Thailand” in huge burning characters ignites the sky as bodies adorn the scaffolding. In my deduced state I conclude that I must climb myself. I mount the structure and fist over fist make my way past naked bodies being prodded with blazing sticks, all the way to the top. 

The whole scene is too much to gauge if one has never been introduced to its surrounding before (speaking for myself that is). It’s unreal. Unfathomable. This is actually happening, while on the other side of the world, my friends fill seats in classrooms. No… this can’t be real. How can it be?

People flock from all parts of the world to take part in their hedonistic roots. An orgy of genres, cultures, styles and flavors’ garnish the beachfront. I was caught in a whirlwind and didn’t know what to make of things- I was completely content. Satisfied. Bursting to the point where I wasn’t’t even thinking of… you know… sex.

This was my fault, because Ula, on the other hand had other things in mind. My negligence led to her in another guys arms after I discarded the thought of hooking up. It’s not that I didn’t’t want to, or didn’t’t think about it. She was gorgeous- of course I wanted to, but I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and magic of it all, that it escaped me.

The night turned to morning, and I swear I wore an inch off my height from dancing. I felt as though I’d outshined Michael Flatly himself.

As I was leaving I saw a man get arrested by so-called police for drug possession. But I have heard of so-called stories where locals pretend to be police and walk the suspect to a bank machine and make them withdrawal all their cash as an exchange to save them from jail. But I have also heard of actual police using this tactic as well- either way I suspect the man will be broke within the hour.

So I reason with myself. I didn’t’t screw the girl but at least I didn’t’t get screwed by the law.

I caught a morning boat back to Kho Samui and was brought back to civilization. An unforgettable dance with hedonism- minus the sex.