Koh Phangan – The Full Moon Party Island.

Koh Phangan Paradise Island - Once known as a tiny island deeply hidden in the Gulf of Thailand where life was still livable, weed was still smoke able and the term ‘Global Dance Festival’ was believed to be a fruit growing on some wicked trees somewhere overseas.

Well … about a year ago even the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr. Thaksin Shinavatra, criticized the loss of Original Thai Culture amongst his tax paying population being under heavy and constant influence of the so called ‘western world’!

Well … those so called ‘western values’ our PM of Thailand, Mr. Thaksin Shinavatra, was so worried about, did at least influence him in such a fascinating way that most of his tax paying fellows are a bit pissed with him at the moment. The so called ‘mob’ starts reminding the PM Thaksin of the ‘Original Thai Culture’ and its values like code of ethics, morality and leadership ability! How’s that? What happened? How could Thai nation leader Mr. Thaksin loose the golden track of the ‘Original Thai Culture’?

In this case the magic and mostly fascinating number was approximately 80 Billion Thai Baht – tax free of course! Resulting in a pissed off tax paying mob every couple of days in front of the government house in Bangkok urging PM Thaksin to pay his taxes and resign. Unfortunately PM Thaksin Shinavatra seems to have other plans with the nation in his mind.

Anyway … do you think that our modern western values of money, money and money could somehow influence the fragile eco - nomical system of a tiny island deeply hidden somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand? Or can you still discover the Original Thai Culture here on Koh Phangan with its values of ethics and morality?

In cases of service value the local Thai community on Koh Phangan has adopted very quick to the standards of the western world. The value of the services is never measured on its actual costs. Instead the current market situation and demands create the price for the service. Meaning a day time taxi around noon from Thongsala main village to Haad Rin beach costs you around 50 Baht. A night time taxi from Haad Rin to Thongsala is a complete different scenario! I’ve seen guys in the middle of the night at Chicken Corner during no moon season offering 500 Baht and begging for a taxi ride over the mountain to Baan Kai. Only earning friendly smiles from the local taxi mafia who constantly refused the taxi service for such an unacceptable fare.

500 Baht! Years ago they would have offered you a gorgeous elephant, a local hooker and a decent blow job while enjoying your elephant ride over the mountains to Baan Khai village!

This very efficient pricing system can be found all over Koh Phangan Paradise Island. An ecstasy around low moon season on the island of madness costs you around 500 Baht. Another 2 weeks later around 1.000 Baht! And MDMA during the Full Moon Party night sometimes can result in a complex financial situation depending up your local drug supplier!

By the way, recently Becki was told to write more positive news about Koh Phangan Island. So … compared to last year’s high season the price for marihuana on the local market in 2006 has remained stable! Even the ‘War Against Drugs’ campaign from the Thaksin administration couldn’t negatively influence the stable price of around 25.000 Baht per kilo of marihuana. Also ANY other kind of mind altering substances are widely available for purchase on the local drug market. That’s good news, isn’t it? Though local drug suppliers criticized the decrease in sales of hallucinogens like LSD! That’s definitely something to worry about!

The Original Full Moon Party! Have been there last night for private investigations and it was again an awesome experience with the usual suspects. Thousands and thousands of disoriented young men and women, gathering at world famous Full Moon Party beach Haadrin, looking for a way to satisfy their souls. Also the local Thai community on Koh Phangan has adapted very quick to the standards of the western society by participating this monthly Full Moon celebration. The local Thai community mostly meets up between Vinyl and Zoom and is therefore declared as a SEVERE RISK AREA by Island News Headquarters!

Thais are world wide known as the race with the friendly smile and the ‘Chay Yen’ – the ‘Cold, Tempered Heart’! But somehow, mainly around Full Moon and mainly between Zoom and Vinyl, the world wide known ‘Chay Yen’ race constantly experiences difficulties with the ‘Cold, Tempered Heart’ and transforms into something known as ‘Chay Roon’ – the ‘Hot Heart’! The ‘Hot Heart’ expresses itself mainly by arguing with others to a point where physical strength is needed. This mostly results in fights, broken bottles, some blood and many, many bystanders observing the ‘Hot Heart’ mentality!

By the way, for most local Thais it is still a major mystery how another race, called ‘Farangs’, manages to celebrate monthly peaceful full moon parties without having major arguments, fights or probably kill each other. How’s that ?

Another mystery for most business men here on Koh Phangan is the massive increasing and also decreasing number of farang ATM machines coming to the island of madness. Mostly around full moon the whole place is packed and then another week later the cash register doesn’t ring as much as it used to be a week before. That’s of course a critical sign!

What’s wrong with that ‘farang’ race? Don’t they like our massive construction areas next to the bungalow anymore? Don’t they like our very affordable taxi fares anymore? Compared to Switzerland it’s pretty cheap! Don’t they like world famous Hadrin beach anymore, where it slowly starts to massively stink and smell again as the tide is getting low? Don’t they like all our rubbish which we nicely place everywhere in our fragile island eco-system? What’s happening?

Well … that’s mystery!

Information : Koh Phangan – The Full Moon Party Island.