Day 39: Full Moon Party

What do you get when you put 5000+ people together on a beach, with glow-in-the-dark body paint, several megawatts of energy pumping music and strobing lights, a gigantic water slide, a burning ring of fire, and thousands of buckets of alcohol, all under a full moon?! One huge mess to clean up in the morning!

Dinner at the rooftop of Amsterdam Bar was only the appetizer for what was to come. Too bad a huge storm was coming and the sunset was obscured by dark clouds; otherwise, the reggae restaurant would have been the best place on the island to watch the sun go down. Meanwhile, the full moon was rising and all over the island, people were beginning to engage in a strange monthly ritual that involved painting each other with odd markings to dance amongst the stars and pale moonlight.

Luckily the impending storm kept us inside long enough to make sure we were properly adorned for the party. Who knew that body paint could be so much fun?! Eventually we made it to the other side of the island, where the main event was already underway. All we needed was our bucket libation and off to the beach we went.

For blocks, all you could see were neon lights and people jumping around as DJs filled the air with rhythmic sounds at 128bpm. What fascinated us most was the gigantic jump rope, but not just any jump rope, as it was also lit on fire. Yes, people jumped this rope. Yes, people got burned. But did they care? Clearly not! Even more crazy was the burning ring of fire that lunatics tried to jump through. On occasion, you'd hear the synchronized groan from the crowd when someone could not clear the ring. Ouch!

Then the power would go out. More groans. But after a few seconds, the lights would come back on and the music would start playing again.

It brought me back to the days when we'd go clubbing in DC down on Half Street. You know the place. Yup, I'm definitely too old for this stuff now. But it was definitely an unforgettable experience. And what happens in Thailand...