GruffyddA Journal Entry
After the calm and comfort of Koh Tao, it was time for chaos again. A short ferry ride later, we arrived on Koh Pha-Ngan, home to the legendary Full Moon Party. For many travellers, this is the night of their trip, the one they talk about for years. For us, it was exactly that: surreal, sweaty, neon madness… but with a few surprisingly wholesome twists.
Where We Stayed
Accommodation on the island around Full Moon is like trying to buy Glastonbury tickets, expensive or gone. We got lucky. Alongside our two Aussie mates from Phuket, we found a four-bed room that was essentially a shipping container with beds. Not exactly the luxury villas shown on booking sites, but it did the job, and the vibe was right.
Our place was tucked away down a quiet road, ten minutes’ walk from a 7-Eleven and a little food court that served everything from pad thai to fruit shakes for a couple of quid. There were only a few other rooms, and ours was one of the more creative setups, the rest were proper mini villas.
But what made the place special wasn’t the room; it was Nut, the man who ran it. He was one of those genuinely kind Thai locals who make your trip without even realising it. Always smiling, always offering help, and at one point offering to personally drive us to the Full Moon Party in his truck. The perfect example of Thai hospitality, effortless generosity with zero expectation.
The Calm Before the Moon
We arrived a day early to settle in. After weeks of late nights, we decided to take it easy, hit the food court, then stumbled across Wild Wood Gym, an open-air gym right on the beach. Wooden barbells, ropes, and pull-up bars made from driftwood. Working out barefoot in the sand with waves crashing a few metres away felt surreal, like something out of a travel montage.
The next day was all about prep. We had one mission: Full Moon. We took it slow, slept in, bought neon paint, and stocked up on beers. Instead of paying Full Moon prices, we grabbed a small bucket, filled it with ice, and made our own cooler. Cheap, smart, and perfectly on-brand for how backpackers survive Thailand.
The Full Moon Party
As the sun set, Nut pulled up outside with his pickup truck. “You ready?” he asked, smiling. We climbed into the back with another group of travellers from the room next door, music already playing from someone’s speaker.
Ten minutes later, chaos.
The beach was alive.
Neon everywhere, glowing paint, bright shirts, and flashing headbands. Bars lined the sand, each one blasting a different genre of music: techno, hip-hop, reggae, chart pop. Every few metres, a new fire show. People jumped flaming ropes, limboed under burning poles, and drank cocktails from plastic buckets the size of their heads.
The whole place pulsed with energy.
And somehow, through that crowd of thousands, we started bumping into familiar faces, people from hostels, ferries, and bar crawls all across Thailand. That’s what made it special. The Full Moon Party wasn’t just one big rave; it was a reunion. Everyone you’d met along the way, all in one place, covered in paint and laughing about how wild it all felt.
We played bar games, danced barefoot in the sand, dodged people launching fire poi, and grabbed beers from street stalls where vendors shouted prices over the music. At one point, we joined a group of travellers building a massive sand sculpture that somehow turned into a seat for everyone’s drinks. There was a kind of chaos that somehow worked, thousands of people, yet no fights, no bad energy, just a collective agreement that tonight was about letting go.
Somewhere around 3 a.m., we waded into the sea, just far enough to cool off, watching the shoreline flicker with fire and light. The air was thick with music, sweat, salt, and that indescribable “I can’t believe I’m here” feeling.
The Morning After
The next morning was quiet. The island looked like it had exhaled. Empty buckets and broken flip-flops lined the beach, people asleep on towels, waves washing up the remnants of the night before. We walked to a café, grabbed breakfast, and watched as locals began clearing up with calm efficiency, as if this was just another Thursday, which, for them, it kind of was.
Final Thoughts
We stayed two nights, came for one reason, left satisfied. Koh Pha-Ngan is known almost exclusively for the Full Moon Party, but it deserves more. Beyond Haad Rin Beach, there are quiet coves, lush jungle hikes, and some of the most peaceful spots in southern Thailand.
Still, that night under the full moon was something else. It was wild, ridiculous, unforgettable, and somehow still wholesome in its own strange way. The party was less about getting drunk on a beach and more about celebrating how far we’d come, who we’d met, and how every random decision had led us there.
We left the next day tired, sunburnt, and grinning, ready for our next stop, but knowing that Koh Pha-Ngan had given us one of those “only in Thailand” memories that’ll never fade.
