Full moon: The truth about Thailand's most notorious party

Samantha Candle
Jul 7, 2024
6 min read

Fire, dr*gs, (literal) buckets of shitty alcohol, and 30 000 people gathering on a single beach. It was like a rite of passage for people in their 20s doing a Thailand trip to “find themselves” or embody the essence of YOLO. But, is it worth the hype?

Earlier this year, I spent around 2 months traveling Thailand, and the whole second month was spent on the island of Koh Phangan. Most people know this island as the home of the famous (or rather infamous) full moon party. And judging from what I heard from MANY backpackers the previous month, it was a party that was best to be avoided. I've heard horror stories of drinks getting spiked, women getting taken advantage of, and people getting so messed up they wind up passed out on the beach only to get mugged mid sleep. It seemed like a breeding ground for late teens/early twenties English frat boy-types who were there on a simple dual mission- to f*ck, and get f*cked up.

My intention for being on Koh Phangan was NOT to go to the full moon party, but was to teach yoga on a work exchange, in the hopes of brushing up on my teaching skills, and to regain a little bit of routine after hopping around hostel to hostel for the past 2 months. I was originally planning to stay for 2 weeks, but in the first hour of me arriving on the island, I felt the vibes, and decided to commit to my work exchange for the whole month.

Koh Phangan is the place to be for the freest of souls. Unlike my experience in more traditional or conservative parts of Thailand, this was a place where one could live in their bathing suit, barefoot, cruising around on scooters, and spending the weekends ecstatic dancing and doing acro yoga.

Before I share the f*ck up of a culture that is full moon, I need you to understand that full moon is the exception on Koh Phangan. Most interactions I've had with men and women alike, whether in markets, yoga classes or even in parties, were nothing but conscious, respectful, growth-oriented, and sex/consent positive. As a woman, I have never felt so safe in my body, accepted, and free to express without feeling uncomfortably perceived.

Despite all that I've heard about full moon, it was a last minute decision to go in order to have one last dance session with a soul sister before we parted ways on our travels.

Full moon on Koh Phangan is an experience that begins DAYS before the party itself.

During this time, the volume of people on the island triples, and most people staying were there for only one or two nights just to have a place to store their belongings while they spent the night partying.

Most, if not all, accommodation on the island gets fully booked quite far in advance. And because hotels know how bad people want to attend the party, they rack up their prices as high as 50 Euro for a simple dorm bed. Some hostels even keep a stash of mattresses they put in front of their property for people to sleep on…also going for 50 euro/mattress, which is a wild price for Thailand.

Because the volume of people on the island increases exponentially, so does the volume of people on the roads. This means more inexperienced drivers using island life as their chance to learn how to ride a scooter, and reckless taxi drivers going three times the speed limit on steep, winding roads, passing vulnerable drivers, and nearly running them off the roads.

There is something known as a “Thailand tattoo”- the place where you get branded after crashing your scooter. Needless to say, there were a LOT more people with “Thailand tattoos” during this time.

Now for the party itself:

1.The demographic:

I assumed the majority of the crowd would be young people. Surprisingly, there were a lot of middle aged people. You would think that with an older crowd, the vibe would be a lot more mature…but this was NOT the case.

2. Culture, scene & activities:

As soon as we stepped onto the beach of Haadrin, we were instantly culture shocked. It looked like a night of bad decisions. There was an alarming amount of fire considering how many inebriated people there were- signs with each letter lit on fire spelling “full moon party” and people jump roping, with the ropes on fire.
There were multiple stages with different music- each DJ seeming not to understand what transitions were, or playing some “techno” from a bad dream.
One thing I will say is that the beach was not as full as I expected it to be. Yes, there were a lot of people, but I'm grateful that we could find sanctuary in some quieter, music-free parts of the beach.

3. My experience as a woman: TW sexual assault

Firstly, as a woman going to festivals or large music events like this one, it's unfortunate, but we are all too familiar with men staring at us while we dance. However, it wasn't until the full moon party when I experienced groups of men unapologetically FILMING us while we danced. With flash. They weren't even trying to hide the fact that the camera was pointed directly at us. There was no room for closing your eyes and losing yourself in dancing…unless you want to end up unknowingly on some strange man's IG story.
Secondly, while me and my girlfriend wandered through the different stages, it was clear that a lot of men were using the night as a chance to get with intoxicated and vulnerable girls. On multiple occasions did my girlfriend and I have to subtly ask other women if they needed us to pull them away from the man three times their age fondling them.

And lastly, it was sad to see that people from all over the world still had yet to learn SO much about consent culture. I experienced the lack of consent culture in such an aggressive way. Again, as women dancing at a rave, we are too familiar with random men sexually dancing up to us in the hopes that we will say yes to them grinding up on us. Both me and my girlfriend were not there for male attention or company, so we really had to assert ourselves to make this known; through obvious body language (backing away and putting our hands in front of us), and clear VERBAL language (“NO, I don't want to dance with you. Please leave.”). Despite our assertiveness and clarity, it was INSANE how many men thought a NO was a “maybe” or even a “YES” masked with the game of playing hard to get. There were moments where we even had to get physical in letting these men know that WE WERE NOT INTERESTED- pushing them and swatting hands away when it was clear that they would do anything to feel up against us.

Needless to say, we did not feel the safest, but we had each other and were conscious enough to be able to protect ourselves if needed. I didn't even want to know the worst case experiences that happened that night, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.

Final thoughts:

The full moon party is an experience that if I died and never experienced, I would not be upset. However, I don't regret going...for the simple reason of educating anyone that is considering going, on the culture and scene of it.

The full moon party is an overpriced, overhyped party, with a very concerning and irresponsible culture to it.

If you're considering going, even for the simple fact of saying you've been to the full moon party, definitely no shame in that, and in fact, go for it! My biggest pieces of advice for you is:

Keep your wits about you, and practice responsible consumption.
Pickpocketing is common- only bring your necessities (I only brought water, a bit of cash, and a shitty camera).
Drive safe! It's no joke that the taxi drivers are absolutely reckless.
And most importantly, company is EVERYTHING. Make sure you trust the people you are going with, and LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER.

I hope this article shone some light on Thailand's most notorious party, and at the very least, it was an entertaining read for you. If you enjoyed this, it really helps with exposure if you liked, shared and commented below.

Lots of love & safe travels,

Sam Candle