Moonshine!

Koh Pha-ngan beckons with its lunar raves, dreamy beaches and the promise of nirvana. 

Don Pathan, The Nation

Madicken dropped out of her art school a year ago in Sweden and went globe trotting – London, Paris, North America and eventually this island just off Surat Thani.

There was no specific plan as to how long she was going stay in the Far East but it has been four months already, most of it spent on this island. And she doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere.

“This is a soul-searching trip for me,” said the soft-spoken 22-year-old Swedish woman who discovered a new sense of freedom, and a new sense of self, after being on her own for the first time.

Sitting cross-legged in her baggy Thai fishermen pants and skimpy little tank-top that allowed her belly button to peep through, there is a sense of optimism about her – the kind she said didn’t exist before she left home.

Years of living a sheltered life, coupled with nagging, overprotective parents, were just too much, said Madicken. 

There was no sense of confidence, little self-esteem and everything was provided for. But now, it’s “carpe diem – seize the day”.

“My brother and I are much closer now. We write to each other more often now,” she said.

Things changed. Lots happened. And for Madicken, it was for the better.

Blame it on Koh Pha-ngan, or what have you. But for many young adults stuck between a post-graduate life and a pre-career odyssey, this 30 sq-km island in the Gulf of Thailand has become some sort of an idyllic setting, a place to escape from the real world.

Marco, a Peruvian-Japanese from Lima, said he was sick and tired of the war back home and needed to get away really badly. The white sandy beach here makes him forget the senseless killings back in Peru. Friends back home probably wouldn’t recognise him now with his pierced lips and golden, dark tan. He admitted that he would have to revert to his “old self” once he leaves this place, saying it would be difficult to get a job if he was to show up for an interview with a ring through his bottom lip.

But recent grad Yuji said he was up for anything – at least until he returns to Japan and looks for a job in three months’ time.

Sitting in cool shade on the beach with his bongo drums between his legs, the Tokyo native arrived on this island a few days ago. He already had blond streaks in his hair from Japan, but had added a lip ring from Khao San Road to complete the package.

He decided afterwards that the ring was more trouble than it’s worth. 

“It just didn’t feel right,” Yuji said. So, off it went.

His partner Miyako, on the other hand, couldn’t give a hoot about anything.

“I quit my job so I could take this vacation,” said Miyako, giggling over a coke as she waited for the moon to come up so she and her boyfriend could rave the night away. 

She was a journalist.

Kacie and her friend Wehby, both from California, made Pha-ngan the last leg of their month-long trip.

“We work at this US$300 (Bt13,500) a day resort where visiting lawyers and doctors scream at you if their towels are missing,” Kacie said. “It’s just nice to be here and get away from all that.”

The two were awed by the friends they made on the trip and were just as pleased at how far the greenbacks can go.

“I just love this mai pen rai thing, you know?”

Dreadlocked Henry from the UK, on the other hand, had bigger plans for the island. 

Trying desperately to come across as a man with a vision – one generated from his intellect, not the grass he got from Rajasthan. (Supposed to be the best he ever tried. It grows wild and cows munch on it freely, he said.) 

Henry was talking about a whole new civilisation in the making. He was brought back to reality, a rude awakening perhaps, when he was told that he couldn’t toke his funny rolled up cigarette anywhere he pleases.

“I don’t understand this. This stuff is going to be legalised soon in the UK,” Henry said. So much for Henry’s civilisation here. 

No doubt about it, Koh Pha-ngan, together with its Full Moon party, has become a legend on the Asian travel circuit. Efforts have been made to maintain the local culture – whatever that means. The sign at the local all-night convenient store says it all: “Today Buddha. No sell Beer”. 

Three times a year, the Full Moon raves are pushed back one day so the party won’t have to coincide with a Buddhist holiday.

But that’s doesn’t seem to be a problem. Sand-loving farangs (and over the recent years quite a few Japanese youth) still flock here, seeing the island as their special place where they can bargain until the vendors turn blue and lose it on the Haad Rin Beach when the sun sets.

For those looking to remake themselves into something they can’t be back home, this island seems to be the place.

“It’s a bit pretentious. People trying to show they have achieved a new sense of spirituality and all that,” said Mika from Germany.

Pretentious or not, these kids appear to be having the time of their lives. 

Bare-breasted girls and sand-kicking boys who toss Frisbees and play volleyball during the day, rave the entire night away to hypnotic trance music and pass out from too much alcohol – or as some would have you believe – enter the state of nirvana. 

But after few weeks, fun gets old and reality kicks in. Visas run out and their coffers run empty.

And as they return home or move on to wherever, Koh Pha-ngan, too, will continue with its irreversible transformation brought about by the nasty machine of tourism, an industry that doesn’t seem to know when enough is enough. 

Perhaps Wehby was right – paradise will always be lost. “In ten years time, it could become another tourist trap. You can see it coming already,” he said.

The recently popped up 7-Eleven, the two rows of shophouses being built along the narrow alley leading to the popular Haad Rin Beach, the Internet shops at the main thoroughfare and the trash left on what would otherwise be a sandy beach – the signs are all there.

But until then it seems this half-baked paradise will continue to be their special place – their Garden of Eden.