Like many travelers before us visiting the Full Moon Party in Haad Rin on the island of Ko Phangan is a rite of passage. Swelling up to 30,000 partyers during the peak season it's no doubt it is one of the ulitmate beach parties in the world. We danced, jumped through fire, and slipped down slides all the while drinking beers, buckets of fun, and lot's and lot's of Redbull until the sun welcomed us to another day.
After a few days sweating it up in the Jungle we headed to find another island. We probably would have skipped Koh Phangan, but the infamous full moon party was too near to miss. This would plop us on this island for 6 nights giving us one night to recover from any wrong doings. Once we swam in the most popular beach we set out for something a bit more remote. Forcing us to take the risk of renting another motorbike (they like to scam foreginers about previous dents) to find a beach to our liking.
We cruised north seeking out bottle beach with Nathan in search of clear waters and quiet sandy beaches. Once arriving north, you have two options to reach bottle beach. This first being a three hour hike through dense jungle, the alternative we took was a nice boat ride around the bend to our destination. The beach was as I imagined, although lacking the free bottles of beer.
Muay Thai is referred to as the "Art of Eight Limbs" because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight "points of contact". We were excited upon arrival as we put on the traditional boxing shorts making us at least look the part. From then on, we were ready to fight. They started the workout out with us jumping for 20 minutes on a tire (which is a cheap alternative for a trampoline, sorta). When our feet and legs couldn't take anymore, they took us off to stretch our legs and put on some gloves.
They showed us some basic moves, then we were fighting like pros… Or so we thought. They constantly showed us the weakness in our defenses. The guys kept yelling at us to kick or punch, but their accents were so strong, it was hard to tell if they wanted you to knee, kick, punch, or elbow them. Our new friend Nathan was also able to join us in the Muay Thai fighting experience. It was also nice having a group session, so you could get a break while the other two people were with an instructor.
Watch out… Cassie is driving a motorbike! Seriously though, watch out, this girl drives like a nut case. Haha, just kidding. We decided this was a good place to jump on our first of many bikes, since the roads were a bit more deserted besides the seldom logging truck. After a few adjustments, we were zooming past the locals on our way to a lake we never found. What we did find though, was beautiful views and our new found love for motorbikes.
Don't get me wrong, I love beaches and ocean life but after three islands you really need a change of scenery. Lucky for us, on our way to our fourth beach we just happened to be driving through the second jungle on our trip. We jumped off our bus at Khao Sok ready to see how this would stack up to Taman Negara in Malaysia. Seconds after stepping off the bus we were surrounded by bungalow hawkers, we hastily jumped into the back of one of the guy's trucks to see his accommodations. The place would do, so we sat down our bags and started getting all the info needed to make our stay interesting such as: hiking, tubing, and motorbiking.
After a good nights rest we set out early in the morning to hike back into the lush jungle alive with new sounds, textures, and patterns. As usual I had my cameras close by my side to document what we saw. One thing I've grown to love, is to really examine what I'm looking at closely. I like to touch every plant, look for different patterns and really soak up the colors. What else do I have to do anyways? It's amazing what slowing down and really looking at the world around you can do to your state of consciousness. We found everything from plastic feeling leaves, razor sharp prickers, and wood twisting like a slinky stretched to it's limits, and my favorite: the bamboo like stalks revealing layer after layer of patterns and colors.
The great thing about this hike is the possibility of seeing an elephant in the wild; unfortunately, we didn't see one. However, we did find some huge footprints that led us down to his drinking hole, where I preceded to take a dive and wait for him. After feeling defeated I got dressed and we hiked back out stopping to hang around on Jurassic Park sized branches before the jungle attempted to take me as a prisoner.
