exploring the world: Koh Phangan

I know what you're thinking...two blog posts in two consecutive days? Crazy! Well I actually was just waiting to get pictures developed from a disposable camera we took to Koh Phangan- tricksy tricksy. And now you say, disposable camera? Why, when you have a $500 DSLR? You are about to find out. [cue suspense noise]
This month the full moon fell on Saturday (August 4). No big deal unless you're a werewolf or something, right? Wrong. In Koh Phangan, a short hour-long ferry ride from Koh Tao, Haad Rin Beach hosts a giant beach party. But not just any beach party. This one involves every beach bar lining the shore, restaurant, stalls that sell fluorescent paint and buckets, and multiple live DJ's! We took the 4 PM ferry from Koh Tao and arrived around dinner time. We thought that when arriving on the pier we would be at the beach- we quickly found out it was 30 km away (if that gives you any idea of how unprepared and last minute we do things here- YOLO? jk...). So a quick cab ride across the island and short walk through some alleyways later, we were there! Walking on the beach was like walking through an Abercrombie & Fitch photoshoot, the ones where all the boys have short neon bathing suits kinda like your dad's old Polo ones from fratstar days (hey Dad, they're still in style don't let Mom tell you otherwise).
We quickly found a "Thai" restaurant to eat at, and I had some of the most disappointing Pad Thai I have had here in Thailand, meaning it was bland and the noodles were entirely too skinny for Pad Thai (we all think we're Thai chefs since arriving). After loitering for a while the girls wandered around the streets perusing different clothing stores for tanks and t-shirts we planned on buying later and just general exploring. In the meantime, the boys found a perfect location for chilling out and watching the lights come up across the bay on some large rocks. MK and I spent the time looking at the different types of rocks and making corny geology jokes (only Environmental Science majors could do this and have fun...) while some napped and others admired the sky full of stars which we aren't used to in Bangkok.
After some "back to nature" activities it was high time we returned to the beach activities, where the favorite activity turned out to be people watching and dancing to American pop music (played at all clubs in Bangkok, also). At one point W, T, and I couldn't resist the flurouescent paint anymore and went on a mission to find some! After stopping by stalls that function the same way henna tattoos do (except with paint) and seeing you had to pay 300 THB for a dragon, we went in search of our own paint. On our way back to accept defeat T found an entire jar of neon green paint dropped in the sand! After shrieking with excitement we quickly painted designs on ourselves and ran back to the group to show everyone our treasure. Sadly, after walking through one especially rowdy and pushy crowd all of my paint came off just minutes later. A majority of the night was spent sitting on the beach laughing at crazy Europeans and meeting new people with cool accents.
I will say that looking back on it, my absolute favorite part of the night was watching the moon rise over the ocean. Around 9 PM MK shouts at W and I, "HEY HEY, THE MOON" and I turn and the moon is a giant yellow ball sitting right on the horizon. We proceeded to watch the moon rise higher and higher, and get smaller and whiter. It was breathtaking and definitely something I will never forget. I only regret not getting a picture of it. Here are some pictures (in chronological order), that look vintage but are actually just from a 550 THB disposable camera. Enjoy.