To get to Ko Phangan, the (in)famous island that started the Full Moon parties every month drawing literally thousands of people to Hat Rin beach, I had to travel for about 18 hours by night bus to Surat Thani and wait in the bus office watching The Beach before taking a taxi and bus and boat to KPN chatting with a lovely corn-rowed Manc for most of the journey. As soon as I got to KPN I bumped into the boys who I hadn't seen for a week and then went to dump my stuff with the girls at the Hat Rin Beach Resort which was soo pretty and had a pool and we stayed in a little wooden bungalow. We took a taxi boat to Hat Yuan beach to spend the day and meet up with mine and Ulrika's friend from back home which was nice. Then that night, the night before the full moon, I caught my first glimpse of Hat Rin beach and it was unbelieveable, properly jaw-dropping, it was the best night and the most amount of fun I've had this whole trip. It was just loads of people on the beach partying, drinking thai buckets [literally lethal mixers in actual sandcastle buckets], chatting and chilling watching fire shows.

The next day was spent relaxing on the powder white sands of Hat Rin Nok, swimming in the sea [which is actually pretty disgusting cus its the same beach the parties are on and there are always tons of guys that piss in the sea during the night which you're then swimming in the next day. blergh. crystal clear waters though]. I also got a full body salt scrub at a spa to exfoliate my skin so I could properly work hardcore on my tan! Had dinner with the boys and some guys they'd met from Brighton before getting ready with the girls and getting pretty things painted on us in glow paint by thai artists and then headed to the FULL MOON PARTY! It literally had felt like the entire trip, the whole previous three months of travelling had been leading up to this one night, the night we all had to plan our individual travels around so we could make it. And it was so worth it.

The full moon party was indescribabley insane. It was the most surreal and awesome experience of the entire trip - imagine 10,000 travellers all on this small beach clubbing hardcore under the eery light of the full moon either drunk or shroomed off their faces. There was such a cool mix of hippies and Britpack-tour-louts, old and young, western and thai, such an inclusive atmosphere. It was genuinely one of the most incredible and intense nights of my life. We danced loads at different bars, watched incredible fire shows, I hung out with the boys, Ulrika's fortnum friends, bumped into some people I knew from back home, bumped into a girl me and the boys met in Cambodia, and stayed up til sunrise having the best intense chat for abt 2 hours with one of the guys from brighton about philosophy, psychology, general life, and when we moved onto relationships he said 'I bet I can guess what your boyfriend looks like just from speaking to you - he's quite a bit older than you, definitely quite tall and brunette, and not very muscly.... errrrrr guess again?

The day after consisted of minimal movement, reading by the pool, a falafel lunch with the boys, then dinner at a movie restaurant watching Superbad, and the night spent on the beach again but chilling out playing beach games like fire limbo, fire skipping rope, balloon games etc.