Koh Pha Ngan
This island is probably most well-known for the infamously wild beach parties that come around every month on the full moon.
After taking a short flight from Phuket to Koh Samui, we took our first ferry journey to Koh Pha Ngan.
This was our second destination to experience in Thailand and it did not disappoint. We scheduled our time to be here around the legendary Full Moon party that comes around once a month every full moon. Bear in mind, this island also hosts half-moon parties every month and probably other parties about the moon as well. So if you’re looking to party on the beach with DJs and loads of other people, this is your island.
Low quality photo for a high quality night.. I think he has sauce on his face from that chicken skewer..
We did as you do at the Full Moon party and got ourselves each a bucket of rum and coke and sat at a bar and people-watched for a bit before heading into the masses. Once the booze kicked in, we were feeling ready to go back out on the beach. There’s music blaring from every direction, people dancing, fire shows, and loads of food and drink vendors set up all along the beach.
I can’t say we stayed there until sunrise like I probably would’ve in my early twenties, but we had a really good night and weren’t completely destroyed the following day. (:
We stayed at the Amara Beach Resort which I thought was an excellent value being right on the beach and with a pool, although I think one of the best parts of staying here was the Thai restaurant across the street. Granted, this was still early on in our travels so the novelty aspect was still there, but it was still one of the best and cheapest green curries I’ve had here. It appeared to be a two-woman show with mom cooking in the back and a little girl delivering menus and taking orders. It was a pretty efficient process and definitely garners some tips out of people.
Thai green curry with tofu and veg!
The area where we stayed was up at the Northern part of the island whereas a lot of party scene, including the Full Moon party, is about a 20-minute drive toward the Southern part of the island. Nevertheless, the beach surrounding our resort was still lined with restaurants and beach bars. We took advantage of happy hour sunset cocktails one night. While sitting on loungers on the beach listening to the combination of music and ocean waves, I think that this was the first night we actually sat back and took everything in. This is really it, we’re doing it. Then we toasted to that!
Watching the sun go down from the beach bar