We arrive a few days before the party expecting pre-party hustle and bustle, but the island is dead. 
These islands are the first places in Thailand that we visit which rely primarily on the tourist industry and the effects of both the shaky/shaken global economy and the Thai tourism slump are obvious (our trip to Koh Tao took place towards the end of the protest at the Bangkok airport). We see 200-passenger capacity boats carrying only 40 people, restaurants empty with staff trying to drum up business in the street, and all the Thais in the tourist industry looking bored bored bored. Koh Pha Ngan is the same, only more so. Pubs and restaurants are empty, the beach is dead and every place still has rooms available. (Pierre sees on BBC news on day 39 that Thai accommodations are at 20% capacity instead of the usual 65% for this time of year.)
As a tourist, this has a upside - traditionally, accommodation is very scarce for the week surrounding the party and room prices can increase by 30%. Thanks to the lower numbers of tourists, we luck into a great, dirt cheap bungalow (12$CAN a night) with a view...
...a porch and hammock...
...and a pool open to guests just a short walk away:
The Thais and tourists are good sports and the show goes on, though more subdued and less crowded than it normally would be. During the day, the east beach offers great views and waves to play in without a strong undertow (Pierre gets out to the 15' swells for awhile):
(Random grafitti on a beach wall:)
At night, there are firedance shows for tourists/drinkers on the beach:
The beach caters to both those who want to drink at a bar on the beach as well as those who want to have their own party. Koh Pha Ngan is the only beach we visit that sells the ever-popular booze buckets: a plastic beach bucket with a pint of liquor, a can of pop and a small bottle of red bull. They're sold from kiosks that line the the beach, and each kiosk owner hand paints a name that he or she feels will appeal most to potential customers. Here's a sample of kiosk names, copied down word for word from some of the kiosks):
- Sunrise Beach Fucking Good Bucket
- Leona Fucking Good Bucket
- Jackson Fucking Cheap Bucket
- Bethlehem's Bucket (Jesus' Favourite)
Koh Pha Ngan's south is as hikingpath-challenged as Koh Tao was and our first hike, marked with green dots heading over a hill to another beach on the east side, is a spectacular failure. The trailhead isn't well marked and we don't know if we even started out in the right place. We find a lot of things resembling a trail but nothing that ever turns out to be The Trail. ("Who marks a trail in a green forest with green dots?" says Pierre from time to time. "Use red paint. Honestly...") We flounder around the hillside for a few hours before giving up and heading straight down towards the town. The second hike, down south towards a lighthouse, goes a bit better and offers up some beautiful views:
We spend our last afternoon walking the beach watching tiny sea crabs fix their homes (this hole is about 1/2 cm in diameter...) :
(In this one you might see the crab if you full-size the picture and look closely; he's around two-thirds over and halfway down:)
...and we catch the sunset from our balcony:
We leave the island the day before the Full Moon Party but we later meet a couple of English girls on Day 44 who were there - though all signs suggested a disappointing turnout they say the party ended up being great, though less crowded than usual. Their favourite kiosk slogan was "Same-Same But Better."
Photo credits: P, P, P, P, D, D, P, P, P, D, D, D, P, D, P, D, P, P, D, P
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