If you’ve ever travelled to Thailand then you’ve heard about the famous full moon party on Haad Rin beach on the island of Koh Phangan. Each month, as many as 30,000(!) revellers descend on this tropical paradise to enjoy a night of dancing, drinking and unadulterated debauchery. But like so many of these grand get-togethers, this wasn’t always the case. And like so many things with a genesis shrouded in a cloud of vices, the true story of the party’s origin has been lost in a knot of legends and lies. So, in an effort to offer some insight and context, here’s the history of Thailand’s biggest full-moon party, to the best of our knowledge.
The first full moon party is if you’ve ever travelled to Thailand then you’ve heard about the famous full moon party on Haad Rin beach on the island of Koh Phangan. Each month, as many as 30,000(!) revellers descend on this tropical paradise to enjoy a night of dancing, drinking and unadulterated debauchery. But like so many of these grand get-togethers, this wasn’t always the case. And like so many things with a genesis shrouded in a cloud of vices, the true story of the party’s origin has been lost in a knot of legends and lies. So, in an effort to offer some insight and context, here’s the history of Thailand’s biggest full-moon party, to the best of our knowledge.
The first full moon party is rumoured to have started as a little escape from reality for a bunch of weary travellers sometime in the 80’s. Not surprisingly, even this is argued by “those who were there at the time”, but the consensus seems to be that at least a small groups of people were partying on Haad Rin sometime during this period.
According to an expat who was living on Koh Samui at the time, it was the arrival of electricity on that island that inspired the move to Koh Phangan. Electricity was seen by some as too much commercialisation of their formerly humble island paradise, and so they headed out to Koh Phangan to escape it.
In those days, Phangan wasn’t row upon row of bungalows and sound systems playing different styles of dance music; Paradise Bungalows held the monopoly. But by the early 90’s word had well and truly gotten out.
Long before social media people actually talked to one another, and word of mouth was a powerful marketing tool. With tourists from all corners of the world travelling through Thailand, soon everybody was keen to get a taste of the mysterious beach party they kept hearing whispers about. Once the full moon party made it into guidebooks it almost doubled in size. Rather than just one bungalow pumping out hits, nearly every stretch of the Haad Rin coastline was full of bars, hostels and music. Music styles were varied and eclectic. It was standard to hear techno, drum and bass, house, dance, reggae and even blues being played.
Soon the party had exploded into a worldwide phenomenon, and more than 30,000 people were making the pilgrimage. With that many people turning up on their doorstep on a regular basis, it’s no wonder the locals started to take exception. Events that were made to capitalise on the success of the full moon party, such as parties celebrating quarter, half and even black moons, were outlawed by the military government in 2014. A police colonel was quoted as saying “the sort of tourist that comes here to drink too much and take drugs are not the type that Thailand wants”.
Today, some 30 or so years after its inception, the Full Moon Party rages stronger than ever. Despite yearly cases of violence, people being shot, robbed and injured in dumb accidents caused by firework malfunctions, it remains one of the biggest music events in the world.
Rumoured to have started as a little escape from reality for a bunch of weary travellers sometime in the 80’s. Not surprisingly, even this is argued by “those who were there at the time”, but the consensus seems to be that at least a small groups of people were partying on Haad Rin sometime during this period.
According to an expat who was living on Koh Samui at the time, it was the arrival of electricity on that island that inspired the move to Koh Phangan. Electricity was seen by some as too much commercialisation of their formerly humble island paradise, and so they headed out to Koh Phangan to escape it.
In those days, Phangan wasn’t row upon row of bungalows and sound systems playing different styles of dance music; Paradise Bungalows held the monopoly. But by the early 90’s word had well and truly gotten out.
Long before social media people actually talked to one another, and word of mouth was a powerful marketing tool. With tourists from all corners of the world travelling through Thailand, soon everybody was keen to get a taste of the mysterious beach party they kept hearing whispers about. Once the full moon party made it into guidebooks it almost doubled in size. Rather than just one bungalow pumping out hits, nearly every stretch of the Haad Rin coastline was full of bars, hostels and music. Music styles were varied and eclectic. It was standard to hear techno, drum and bass, house, dance, reggae and even blues being played.
Soon the party had exploded into a world-wide phenomenon, and more than 30,000 people were making the pilgrimage. With that many people turning up on their doorstep on a regular basis, it’s no wonder the locals started to take exception. Events that were made to capitalise on the success of the full moon party, such as parties celebrating quarter, half and even black moons, were outlawed by the military government in 2014. A police colonel was quoted as saying “the sort of tourist that comes here to drink too much and take drugs are not the type that Thailand wants”.
Today, some 30 or so years after its inception, the Full Moon Party rages stronger than ever. Despite yearly cases of violence, people being shot, robbed and injured in dumb accidents caused by firework malfunctions, it remains one of the biggest music events in the world.
You must be logged in to post a comment.