Full Moon Party Tips and Information
The Full Moon Party is one of the biggest beach parties in the world and it is held on Thailand's party island of Koh Phangan. These parties have been growing in popularity every year since the 90's and they are now one of the most popular parties on the planet.The Full Moon Party is held once a month when the moon is at it's fullest and once Christmas and New Years comes around, there are more Full Moon Parties even though the moon might not necessarily be full on these dates.
The party is held on Haad Rin Beach on Koh Phangan and this beach is pretty much set up for the purpose of Full Moon Parties, with bars and resorts located right on the beach. When it's time for the party, there are massive speakers are set up and the whole beach becomes one massive party for the night and the party even runs well into the next day.
Tips on How to Stay Safe at the Full Moon Party
Many tourists who come to Koh Phangan to party for the first time, have no idea about anything and only hear about the positives of partying and the great time everyone has, but do not know about how dangerous it can be to party here if you are not careful.
On the average, one person will die at each Full Moon Party and with one party held each month, this isn't
a very good statistic. Most of the deaths that occur at the party are self inflicted through being too intoxicated and having a motorbike accident when they go to leave the party. Other deaths are from drowning whilst being too drunk, or overdosing on drugs, or getting their drinks spiked.
There are plenty of medical clinics with volunteers working in them to help some of the tourists who are too drunk or intoxicated and need some assistance. The medical clinics also provide treatment for burns as many party people who jump the skipping ropes that are on fire, find themselves with some pretty nasty burns. When considering jumping a flaming skipping rope, just remember that there is a pretty high percentage that you will get caught up in the rope and you might get burnt pretty bad.
There are special lay down areas for those who have had way too much too drink and there are volunteers who work in these to keep an eye on people.
Although there are clinics setup all around the beach and the island, the safety of everything else is pretty much non existent. There is no one around to ensure that you don't drink too much, so don't expect anyone who sells you alcohol to be looking after your wellbeing, as they wont. Almost all the locals who work on this island are out to make as much money as possible and they don't care how they get it. Make sure that you are always with a group of friends and you watch out for each other.
Not only do some of the locals who work in the bars and makeshift bars - not care about how intoxicated you are, they have been known to spike the drinks. Some spike your drinks with ya ba (meth) to make you drink more and have you coming back for more so they can make more money. Others go even worse then that and put tranquilizers in the drinks and have someone follow you until you pass out. Once you pass out, your pocket could be picked, or worse, you could be raped. Rapes occur at each Full Moon Party and nothing is ever done about it by the police.
Make sure to watch everything that goes into your drink to avoid spiking. It would be best to drink strait from a bottle that you watch get opened in front of you. Just about everyone has buckets of alcohol at the party and these are an easy target for spiking, as some of the ingredients that go into the buckets have been pre spiked.Whatever you do, don't carry your wallet or your passport in your pocket, leave them in your room safe and only carry enough money for that night.
If you are planning on staying on Koh Phangan, then it is highly recommended to do a check up on others feedback ratings on the hotel or resort you are planning on staying at. There have been some hotels and resorts on the island that have had dishonest workers in them, who rob the room safes when the tourists are out partying and when they return from the party, everything is gone. If this happens to you, don't expect anyone at the hotel or even the police to help you, as they are not interested. Make sure you read all of the reviews of that hotel to make sure none of this has happened before.
Many tourists come to Koh Phangan with intentions of getting on drugs. This is a bad idea, as the penalties for getting caught with drugs in Thailand are extremely harsh and not only that, you could find yourself being setup. Even though there are plenty of locals who sell drugs to tourists, when the party is on, the tourists are the only ones who are going to get into trouble for being in possession of drugs. Even if a local is seen selling you drugs, the police will go after you, as they are after bribe money from the tourists. There is loads of money to be made from bribing tourists.
The police know that tourists at the party get their drinks spiked with illicit drugs and they take advantage of this by randomly picking tourists throughout the night and making them have a urine test. All it takes to go to jail is failing a urine test for illicit drugs. To avoid this from happening, stay away from the buckets of alcohol and special shakes and certainly don't take drugs of any kind.
If you are unfortunate enough to get caught with drugs or failing a urine test, then it would be in your best interests to pay whatever money the police are asking for and refusing to pay, will just get you into jail and it could be for a long time. If you don't have the money, or can't get the money, then you are in some serious trouble and it would be wise to not even go down the path of taking drugs in the first place.
Don't think that one pill or a tiny bit of cannabis wont get you into trouble because it will if you get caught. The tiniest amount of drugs can get you jail time if you don't pay up and if someone asks if you want drugs, just say no.
If you are a female and you are attending the Full Moon Party, make sure that you have some friends that watch out for each other all night and don't leave anyone alone. There have been many rapes at the party and most of these rapes occur when there has been drink spiking. It isn't safe to be a male at the party either and if you must go there alone, don't tell any of the locals that you are alone at the party.
It doesn't matter if you are by yourself or you are in a large group of people, always avoid any kind of conflict with any local Thai person, as you could get badly hurt or even killed. Tourists have been killed by locals at the party and many badly beaten. If your in a group or you are a big tough guy and know how to fight, it doesn't matter, you are better off just walking away. If you get into a fight with a Thai man, you are fighting every available Thai man that there is around and there are always many of them around. Not only do they outnumber you, they are savage and will do anything to win, which includes using knives, bottles and even guns and they don't care if you die, as they have killed before and won't think twice about doing it again, as there are no penalties for them.
Walk away from any conflict, don't be a tough guy, it's not worth it and even if you were in a large group who somehow managed to beat the locals in a fight, they will come back within no time with more reinforcements and you could get yourself killed.
On the northern side of the beach, there are some bars that sell special shakes and these shakes are a cocktail of magic mushrooms and who knows what else. The legality of these shakes is unknown, but many people have them when they go to the party. Taking these shakes is a risk, as they could have anything in them and the shakes have been known to occasionally make people sick.
A large number of people who go to the Full Moon Party, stay at Koh Samui and get a boat or ferry to Koh Phangan. The ferries go to and from the islands throughout the day until it gets dark and after dark, the only way to get to Koh Phangan is by night speedboat.
The night speedboat ride to Koh Phangan is very dangerous and the only lights out there on the water are flashing lights on top of the speed boats. It's very hard to see that far in front of you when the boats are racing towards the island and you can't see how far away any boats are to you until it's too late.
There has been some very bad accidents over years with these boats and it would be advised to get the ferry during the day to arrive safely. Click Here for Full Moon Party Accommodation.