Every around the world trip needs a near death experience, right?

This was the first, and I hope only, near death experience I'll have on my trip. After a week in Kho Tao my friend Adam and I decided we'd head back to Kho Phagnan for the full moon party. We hadn't really intended on going but since we met up with Sam and Fraser and everyone seemed to be going we decided to take part in the chaos.

When we arrived at the pier I was already in one heck of a mood due to a little hangover and generally not feeling too hot. On the cab ride there the weather got really really bad. We had to wait over 2 hours for the boat to arrive and it opened up in the meantime. Honestly, I didn't even think about the weather at sea, I just assumed it would be fine and that if the conditions weren't ideal then the boat would be canceled. No such luck.

It took us nearly an hour just to board the tiny boat that was well over it's capacity for passengers. It was swaying so bad from side to side you had to be very careful with your bags so that you wouldn't fall overboard. While leaving the pier a swell came out of nowhere and shoved us into another boat which normally would be fine because of the tires attached to the side would absorb the hit but somehow we hit the other boat at an angle and the window in our cabin broke. I heard screaming from the back but after seeing what happened I was totally fine with the situation. It didn't break completely and it didn't seem to be a huge problem.

Fast forward 45 minutes and the swells were the highest I've ever been in. Normally, it wouldn't be too bad but since we were in a cabin that was low to the water every swell felt like it was going to tip us over. Adam felt sick (along with 75 percent of the boat) and went upstairs to get some fresh air. I stayed put and did my best to try not get seasick. As I was listening to The Killer's "Read My Mind" I heard hysterical screaming behind me. I looked back to see water rushing into the boat from the previously broken, now nonexistent, window. Water was rushing in everywhere and the women that were sitting next to the window were running upstairs and screaming for their life. Immediately everyone grabbed for their nearest life jacket, which of course, there weren't enough of, and started strategizing on what we were going to do next. No staff person came down which annoyed the hell out of me because people were actually having panic attacks and couldn't think clearly. The nice Canadian couple behind me and I seemed to be the only people that could stay relatively calm in the midst of the craziness - well, at least from the outside. Inside, I was absolutely terrified. I knew we were going down I just didn't know when. I couldn't deal with the thought of getting off that boat with all those people who just couldn't think rationally. After another hour we finally saw land. Whew. I knew within a matter of an hour the swells would die down significantly as we approached the pier. It seemed to take forever but finally we arrived at the port and after an hour of unloading all the people off that darn boat we were on hard, solid ground.

I took a picture of that stupid boat, although I'm not sure why, because I will not forget that experience any time soon.

What better way to recover from a near death experience and celebrate life than attending a full moon party with 25,000 of your closest friends . . . dressed in neon. The party started off pretty slow but by 1 AM the beach was packed and with the tide coming in it was difficult to even walk. I chose to just dance. I mean, what else are you going to do? There are people that are jumping a rope that is on fire and people who are jumping through rings of fire. I'm not sure who thought of these great ideas as every one there is wasted out of their minds but I didn't see any serious injuries occur.

Me and Sam with our buckets (enormous mixed drinks) and water

 Tons of dudes in neon pink:

 The crew

It's hard to tell from the pictures but this shot is all people, thousands of people:

Whoa - I loved the song that was playing:

After a day of recovery it was time to leave Thailand and the islands. I left Adam behind in the pouring rain at the pier and headed to the mainland with Sam and Fraser. I almost had a full on panic attack when I saw that this boat was not the safe, nice boat we took when traveling to the island the first time, but rather the terrifying tiny boat that we almost died in a few days ago. CRAP. Good thing I was with Sam and Fraser and managed to keep my cool.

It was time to say goodbye to Sam and Fraser which was sad for me because they are so damn cool and traveling with them was great. It's pretty amazing to once again meet up with people that I met across the world on similar journeys. I'll just have to go to Scotland to visit them one of these days!

After a brief and uneventful trip back to Bangkok it was time to leave Thailand and move on to Hong Kong. The next post will feature the cold and busy Hong Kong and my lovely friend Mandy from college!