Full Moon And reverse Culture Shock

SO during the only break that we get on this program, me and a few friends decided to take advantage of the time we had and go down south to the islands of Thailand, and more specifically to koh samui and Koh Pha Ngang. Luckily enough, our break coincided perfectly with one of the largest events in south east asia, the Full Moon Party. The full moon party is a large rave that happens on a remote beach on the island o Koh Pha Ngang. Its come tobe a large gathering of forgieners, mainly europeans and australians, for a night of what most would call debauchery. After having spent the majority of the last two months in Thailand living in villages and picking rice, we thought that this might be a intresting break from it all and a return to some of the things that we know best. While it did have components of that, it also had a large component of "What the hell is going on?"

We flew in to kho Samui the night of Halloween. Koh Samui is the larger island and the hub i guess you would say of the islands in the south. AFter we arrived we made our way to the island of Koh Pha Ngang were the party was going to be. The only way to reach Koh Pha Ngang is by ferry, However before we left I personally made a reservation for a room on the island, and the time was getting too late to check in. So since I got the reservation, i rushed to the isalnd as fast as I could while the others waited for the next ferry at the hour. I had to take a speed boat with two chilean couples. As we rode the 45 min journey, the sun set on the water, islands surronding us, and paridase engulfing us. it was amazing. Once I got to the island, I immediatly realized that the place was not the Thailand I knew. There was pizza and t-shirt shops every where, and excitingly enough mexican food. I walked around to area ammazed at all the lights and western culture that was stuffed in to a small island, and to be compleatly honest, I was a little freaked out. haha

As my firends arrived, We realized that the hotel I booked was on the other side of the island and that It would be impossible to travel that far everyday. Instead we found a place that had three rooms on the beach amd stayed there. That night, the beach was filled with fire and peope from everywhere. While walking from one side of the beach to the other I heard probably 5 different languages and accents. It was amazing. Then in the distance I saw something I thought I would never see in my live. It was a 20 foot fire jump rope, being twirled by two of the scranisest thai men I had ever seen. I ran to the rope as fast as I could and immediatly jumped in.... did 4 jumps and tripped on the rope.

And that was only the first night.

The second night was the Full Moon Party. AS I spent the day exploring the island and even snorkeling with a burmesse refugee, who told me the story of his live and how he escaped the Myanmar government by walking across the boarder with just a plastic bag, I couldn't help but think about the immense differences in culture and ways of life the locals on the island must live compared to those where I come from. While they don't have to deal with flooded rice fields, they do have to deal with asshole tourist, a huge loss of culture, crime, and many other things. It was a intresting contrest to the program, but had great parallels.

The night of the full moon was incredible. While within 1 our I lost my firends, i had a blast, and at one point looked up at the sky, saw that huge ful moon and thought" Where the hell am I?"