Thailand's Full Moon Parties have become a trashy disgrace

[manarak]

modern day gomorrah

well, maybe this bit finally convinced me to visit the parties !

[slipperylobster]

_{I saw it last year..koh phangan...full moon...first and last time. Koh Phayam is much more to my liking.}

[morpho]

Been to Koh Pha Ngan years ago but never had a desire to go to a full moon party or half moon party or no moon party there...and never will.

[plahgat]

Picture I took over Hat Rin in 1988.

Plahgat

[bigbamboo]

Yes when I first went to Koh Phangan in 1987 it was wonderful. Great atmosphere and a refreshing contrast to "touristy" Koh Samui ! Fast fwd to the present day and I refuse to go as I don't want the memories of many visits in the late 80's trashed.

What has become of Koh Chang is an even bigger travesty.. When will the Govt learn that people come looking for unspoilt tropical paradise.. Not 7/11's , Indian tailors and f**kin house music/rap/hip hop !

But how do you cater for 100,000 tourist wanting to go to an unspoilt paradise??

Re-name them quality tourists and triple the prices?

[Bikkii]

Just posting some old photos my dad took. Hope it shows the contrast of what it is today.

A photo of my mother and father on the full moon beach in 1982.

183633_186501644722100_2472098_n.jpg

The very first sign of human civilization 1984

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Good old days when the full moon party was a total gem. Sometime in the early 90s.

533866_469997599705835_1771632803_n.jpg

Great pics man, thanks for sharing. I have never been or will go anywhere near this place. Smells a bit too much like Kuta to me.

Mass tourism, it is every beautiful spot on earths greatest predator!

[hgma]

Its remarkable to see comments made by TV members who actually LIVE in Thailand and for one reason or another found 'home"

2-3 week tourists have a different mindset when they come in about thailand......22 million last year, i am not sure if they have they same perception of paradise Thailand as they leave!

[Bikkii]

What's wrong with listening to house, techno and trance music, I have been since 1988 and I DJ too. I've never been to the Full Moon Party, but went to a Half Moon Party in Chaweng in 2010, very enjoyable!

There's nothing wrong with this music. It is the music of our time.

I think the real issue here is the murders, rapes, drink spikings and young fools who become macho and want to fight after a few drinks. F@@cking embarrassing!

[Bsd]

You're forgetting the dozens of speedboats that dart to/from KPG from Samui all night, each laden with at least 30 pax. I drove past the departure point (Petcherat) before midnight recently & saw around 50 minibuses hogging both sides of the road delivering "Moonies" from all over Samui who were meandering across the road in total darkness...

Your right I did skip the speedboats so lets do some maths on those.

Your 50 minibuses, with 12 seats each assuming they are standard minibuses with people sitting on each other is 600 people, lets assume that 50 minibuses an hour from 8pm until 2am is normal for delivering people to the speedboats, that would be 7 runs to haad rin in 20 boats (your 30pax) assuming that each boat can make one return trip an hour (seems fair) that would give us 4200 extra people over the ferries.

I am going to be fair and say that the full mooners that stay on Koh Phangan will full up the ferries for 2 days (really it is a sliding scale between moonies and those just on a beach holiday over about 3-4 days) so that gives 14,000 on the ferries leaving 16,000 for the speedboats, since the speedboats only run that night and really can only do a maximum of 7 full runs each. That means 210 people per speedboat or 76 speed boats running all night to transport all the moonies. To get to the 40,000 figure you need 124 speedboats

[pacovl46]

I blame Leonardo Di Caprio.

That movie was shocking but look at what it caused, a tide of idiots pouring in.

First of all Koh Phangan doesn't feature in the film as far as I remember, and secondly not only you, but also the guy who wrote this article mistook Koh Phangan for Koh Phi Phi Ley, which is where the beach from The Beach actually is. It's certainly true, though, that the film had a major impact on tourism on Phi Phi Islands, but to blame Di Caprio for it is just stupid. If you want to blame anyone then blame the production company, or even the Thai authorities who gave them the permission to shoot the movie in Thailand in the first place, and even that would be stupid. As the article states the first full moon party went down in 1988. The Beach came out in 2000. By that time the full moon party on Koh Phangan was already well established!!!

[fire and ice]

Yes when I first went to Koh Phangan in 1987 it was wonderful. Great atmosphere and a refreshing contrast to "touristy" Koh Samui ! Fast fwd to the present day and I refuse to go as I don't want the memories of many visits in the late 80's trashed.

What has become of Koh Chang is an even bigger travesty.. When will the Govt learn that people come looking for unspoilt tropical paradise.. Not 7/11's , Indian tailors and f**kin house music/rap/hip hop !

But how do you cater for 100,000 tourist wanting to go to an unspoilt paradise??

You just dont get it: MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT A DESERTED "UNSPOILT PARADISE" otherwise they would not go where they go!! Most people are happy with the developed tourist places they venture to.

Personally: I like lots of people on holidays, I like crowds, I like developed places, I HATE deserted isolated places, if I want to be alone or just with my family i can stay at home and no one bothers me.

YOU can like you deserted places all you want but get a life and stop assuming the rest of humanity wants what you want.

YOU are NOT superior, smarter, better than or holier-than-thou just because you go to "non touristy" places. You can want whatever you want but you obviously do not know what others want.

[tribalfusion001]

What's wrong with listening to house, techno and trance music, I have been since 1988 and I DJ too. I've never been to the Full Moon Party, but went to a Half Moon Party in Chaweng in 2010, very enjoyable!

There's nothing wrong with this music. It is the music of our time.

I think the real issue here is the murders, rapes, drink spikings and young fools who become macho and want to fight after a few drinks. F@@cking embarrassing!

Good point, I've never been to koh phangan, seemed a like a lot of hassle with the dodgy boats and thefts from the accommodation.

I prefer Narz in Bangkok, the progressive house and trance room, it has the feel of The Gallery @ Turnmills in the late 90's and early 2000's, smashing stuff!

[Frank James]

Sounds like a horrible mess. However, I know that if this had been happening when I was 20 years old, I'd have busted my ass to get there!

[Shurup]

Yes when I first went to Koh Phangan in 1987 it was wonderful. Great atmosphere and a refreshing contrast to "touristy" Koh Samui ! Fast fwd to the present day and I refuse to go as I don't want the memories of many visits in the late 80's trashed.

What has become of Koh Chang is an even bigger travesty.. When will the Govt learn that people come looking for unspoilt tropical paradise.. Not 7/11's , Indian tailors and f**kin house music/rap/hip hop !

But how do you cater for 100,000 tourist wanting to go to an unspoilt paradise??

You just dont get it: MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT A DESERTED "UNSPOILT PARADISE" otherwise they would not go where they go!! Most people are happy with the developed tourist places they venture to.

Personally: I like lots of people on holidays, I like crowds, I like developed places, I HATE deserted isolated places, if I want to be alone or just with my family i can stay at home and no one bothers me.

YOU can like you deserted places all you want but get a life and stop assuming the rest of humanity wants what you want.

YOU are NOT superior, smarter, better than or holier-than-thou just because you go to "non touristy" places. You can want whatever you want but you obviously do not know what others want.

A little harsh reply don't you think? No need to foam at your mouth when someone just expressing their opinion that might be different from yours?

[Birdman]

You're forgetting the dozens of speedboats that dart to/from KPG from Samui all night, each laden with at least 30 pax. I drove past the departure point (Petcherat) before midnight recently & saw around 50 minibuses hogging both sides of the road delivering "Moonies" from all over Samui who were meandering across the road in total darkness...

Your right I did skip the speedboats so lets do some maths on those.

Your 50 minibuses, with 12 seats each assuming they are standard minibuses with people sitting on each other is 600 people, lets assume that 50 minibuses an hour from 8pm until 2am is normal for delivering people to the speedboats, that would be 7 runs to haad rin in 20 boats (your 30pax) assuming that each boat can make one return trip an hour (seems fair) that would give us 4200 extra people over the ferries.

I am going to be fair and say that the full mooners that stay on Koh Phangan will full up the ferries for 2 days (really it is a sliding scale between moonies and those just on a beach holiday over about 3-4 days) so that gives 14,000 on the ferries leaving 16,000 for the speedboats, since the speedboats only run that night and really can only do a maximum of 7 full runs each. That means 210 people per speedboat or 76 speed boats running all night to transport all the moonies. To get to the 40,000 figure you need 124 speedboats

you forget, that there are many tourists allready on KPG for holidays and many are joining the FMP even for a short while

[Shurup]

I blame Leonardo Di Caprio.

That movie was shocking but look at what it caused, a tide of idiots pouring in.

First of all Koh Phangan doesn't feature in the film as far as I remember, and secondly not only you, but also the guy who wrote this article mistook Koh Phangan for Koh Phi Phi Ley, which is where the beach from The Beach actually is. It's certainly true, though, that the film had a major impact on tourism on Phi Phi Islands, but to blame Di Caprio for it is just stupid. If you want to blame anyone then blame the production company, or even the Thai authorities who gave them the permission to shoot the movie in Thailand in the first place, and even that would be stupid. As the article states the first full moon party went down in 1988. The Beach came out in 2000. By that time the full moon party on Koh Phangan was already well established!!!

Missed sarcasm, didn't you?

[bri1guy]

I go there about once every 5 years for the last 15 yrs now & its always great fun, Safe & only problem I ever had was that I drank too much..

Oh the last time I was there was 2009 so looks like I will be going there again soon.. Just stay away from drugs but I am never looking & stay away from trouble .. Police are strict on that & as long as you keep clean you will be fine & its not a disgrace to have a Hugh party!

[Birdman]

nothing stands still. The change of Had Rin was logical since 3 decades. Wonder, that it isn't even more commercialized. And in my humble opinion better that than numerous perfectly laid tables for 5* Candle light Full Moon Dinner on the beach and dance floors with dress code for 12.000++

[mjj]

Yes when I first went to Koh Phangan in 1987 it was wonderful. Great atmosphere and a refreshing contrast to "touristy" Koh Samui ! Fast fwd to the present day and I refuse to go as I don't want the memories of many visits in the late 80's trashed.

What has become of Koh Chang is an even bigger travesty.. When will the Govt learn that people come looking for unspoilt tropical paradise.. Not 7/11's , Indian tailors and f**kin house music/rap/hip hop !

But how do you cater for 100,000 tourist wanting to go to an unspoilt paradise??

You just dont get it: MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT A DESERTED "UNSPOILT PARADISE" otherwise they would not go where they go!! Most people are happy with the developed tourist places they venture to.

Personally: I like lots of people on holidays, I like crowds, I like developed places, I HATE deserted isolated places, if I want to be alone or just with my family i can stay at home and no one bothers me.

YOU can like you deserted places all you want but get a life and stop assuming the rest of humanity wants what you want.

YOU are NOT superior, smarter, better than or holier-than-thou just because you go to "non touristy" places. You can want whatever you want but you obviously do not know what others want.

Wow, I guess you are fun to be around. Thanks for shouting and making assumptions.

I made no reference to whether I like touristy places or desolate places, but carry on.

Taking the meds. :-)

[hellodolly]

They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.... Thailand wants to be mass tourism leader of Asia... but to achieve that all the culture and beauty of the country will be eventually lost to shopping malls, and tawdry tat of what is mass tourism in all countries. There is no control on development, there is no real masterplan being considered to protect local culture, population, history, environment. Long term, they will destroy what attracts people and eventually only have one thing that interests mass tourism... the sex trade that is omni-present in all the cities, municipalities and locations of Thailand. and they complain about foreigners harming their reputation, the only ones harming Thailand seriously are the greedy Thai

Have you ever heard of Issan. If you think Thailand is the only place in the world you can buy your sex. Well you really have to get out more.

[squarethecircle]

I think it happens to some degree with many things in the world: it starts out "pure", and then the a**holes move in and take advantage of it. Same thing in Goa - it began as a sort of mythical destination, the end of the road of the "hippy trail" that extended through Iran and Afghanistan and down into India. Then it began to attract all sorts of people, both local and western, for (IMO) the wrong reasons: to go on a binge, to take advantage of "loose" women, etc. The same thing happens with organized religion, something that starts out as pure inevitably attracts leeches who use it for their own predatory purposes.

Call me a snob...but i think this is just a fact of human existence, the high attracts the low. There are still good places in Thailand and elsewhere.

Edited July 9, 2013 by squarethecircle

[angiud]

I live in Koh Phangan since 1999 and I can assure everybody that is extremely reductive the equation KPG=FMP.

Said that I'm a bit tired to explain why KPG is different from what most of people and a few tabloid paint.

We have already enough tourists and business so, if somebody don't like, there is Pattaya, Phuket, Lanta, Samet, Lipe, etc. etc.

PS: almost no sex business here

[slipperylobster]

Yes when I first went to Koh Phangan in 1987 it was wonderful. Great atmosphere and a refreshing contrast to "touristy" Koh Samui ! Fast fwd to the present day and I refuse to go as I don't want the memories of many visits in the late 80's trashed.

What has become of Koh Chang is an even bigger travesty.. When will the Govt learn that people come looking for unspoilt tropical paradise.. Not 7/11's , Indian tailors and f**kin house music/rap/hip hop !

But how do you cater for 100,000 tourist wanting to go to an unspoilt paradise??

You just dont get it: MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT A DESERTED "UNSPOILT PARADISE" otherwise they would not go where they go!! Most people are happy with the developed tourist places they venture to.

Personally: I like lots of people on holidays, I like crowds, I like developed places, I HATE deserted isolated places, if I want to be alone or just with my family i can stay at home and no one bothers me.

YOU can like you deserted places all you want but get a life and stop assuming the rest of humanity wants what you want.

YOU are NOT superior, smarter, better than or holier-than-thou just because you go to "non touristy" places. You can want whatever you want but you obviously do not know what others want.

A little harsh reply don't you think? No need to foam at your mouth when someone just expressing their opinion that might be different from yours?

Maybe the noisy crowds and loud music are making him nervous... Time for a real relaxing vacation.

[Raybo]

Just imagine what We experienced when we were there in 1964-65. Pattaya had one small hotel and a US military guest house.

The beach was mostly empty.

When I went back the first time in 1988 it was already ruined.

Raybo

[sprq]

Yes when I first went to Koh Phangan in 1987 it was wonderful. Great atmosphere and a refreshing contrast to "touristy" Koh Samui ! Fast fwd to the present day and I refuse to go as I don't want the memories of many visits in the late 80's trashed.

What has become of Koh Chang is an even bigger travesty.. When will the Govt learn that people come looking for unspoilt tropical paradise.. Not 7/11's , Indian tailors and f**kin house music/rap/hip hop !

If the govt ever does learn (unlikely), it won't be able to do anything anyway, because everything in Thailand is run by money and influence, not by parliament, and it always will be, because the Thai people accept the status quo and are too lackadaisical or unconcerned to rise up and change things. The whole country will eventually be a commercialised ruin apart from the enclaves the rich preserve for themselves.

[sirchai]

I didn't like the mushrooms last time... my wife and son flew too high in the sky.-

[tomacht8]

You're forgetting the dozens of speedboats that dart to/from KPG from Samui all night, each laden with at least 30 pax. I drove past the departure point (Petcherat) before midnight recently & saw around 50 minibuses hogging both sides of the road delivering "Moonies" from all over Samui who were meandering across the road in total darkness...

Your right I did skip the speedboats so lets do some maths on those.

Your 50 minibuses, with 12 seats each assuming they are standard minibuses with people sitting on each other is 600 people, lets assume that 50 minibuses an hour from 8pm until 2am is normal for delivering people to the speedboats, that would be 7 runs to haad rin in 20 boats (your 30pax) assuming that each boat can make one return trip an hour (seems fair) that would give us 4200 extra people over the ferries.

I am going to be fair and say that the full mooners that stay on Koh Phangan will full up the ferries for 2 days (really it is a sliding scale between moonies and those just on a beach holiday over about 3-4 days) so that gives 14,000 on the ferries leaving 16,000 for the speedboats, since the speedboats only run that night and really can only do a maximum of 7 full runs each. That means 210 people per speedboat or 76 speed boats running all night to transport all the moonies. To get to the 40,000 figure you need 124 speedboats

you forget, that there are many tourists allready on KPG for holidays and many are joining the FMP even for a short while

If you are talk about the number of Party People, do not forget the locals and the 1000´s burmese workers.

They like to party too! KP hosts still the biggest regulary Beach Full Moon Party.

[oldsailor35]

Rather than blame the people who come to these parties for the downgrade in standards, i blame the people who promote and present them. And who are they ?

Edited July 9, 2013 by oldsailor35

[connda]

One person's trashy disgrace is another person concept of fun. Hell, I'm officially a senior citizen now, and it looks fun to me.

Edited July 9, 2013 by connda

[aechzen]

its old style the full moon parties , people have some new ideas, its funny for kids and teenager