New Year's Eve is notoriously a let down but as 2014 is set to be such a big year we were determined to welcome it in in a big way. Luckily, being in Thailand, we didn't have to look too far. Koh Phangan was just a boat, bus and boat away and guaranteed us a good night at the infamous full moon party.
We arrived four days before New Year's Eve but the parties had already started. One was set up in the jungle, another at a waterfall and the rest down on Haad Rin beach where the main event takes place. They're known as the 'warm up' parties but they're so massive that by the time New Year's Eve came around we were the very opposite of warmed up; I felt thoroughly run down!
We swigged down a couple of pro-plus with vodka red bulls but as soon as we joined the sea of people heading back down to Haad Rin we realised it wasn't necessary. The atmosphere along the beach was insane and more than enough to perk us up! Everyone around us was covered head to toe in UV paint, glitter and fluorescent coloured clothing. Stages had been set up at each of the bars and loud music was pumping from every section. There was a little too much house for my liking but if ever a song came on we couldn't sing to we'd just shimmy on down to the next. It seemed the further up the beach you went the crazier it got. There were skipping ropes and rings of fire, monkey bars and a rope ladder up to a slide with a mattress as a landing. It was the perfect playground for tipsy travellers fuelled with M150 (Thai red bull, but questionable.)
We'd pushed our way to the front just in time for New Year and although they epically failed with the countdown, the moment was acknowledged with a burst of beautiful fireworks throughout the sky. If there's one thing Thai people know how to work with it's fire and the show went on whilst the sound of thirty thousand tourists singing Auld Lang Syne drowned out both the bangs and the drum and bass.
Thirty thousand tourists. That's not a joke! Even after making a meeting point and painting our address across Ross' chest the fact that we all made it back in one tuk tuk is nothing short of a miracle. Team Thailand at its best.
As is often the case with the best nights it was followed by the very worst of days. The 1st January should only ever be spent horizontal but by midday we were already on a boat back to the mainland where we'd catch a ten hour bus up to Bangkok with a two hour stopover in a slum. It was hideous but after successfully completing that journey I genuinely feel I can manage anything. So come at me 2014, I'm ready!
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