The death of the Full Moon Party

[pharvey]

"The Full Moon Party on the Thai island of Koh Pha Ngan is the stuff of legend.

Now Covid-19 has put a stop to it. And some see an opportunity for a different type of tourism.

Is this the end of backpacking in Thailand?"

Best read at link: - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/sgzd3b ... moon-party

[dtaai-maai]

Yes, interesting article by Jonathan Head.

I spent my first 14 months in Thailand in 2003-4 on Samui, with a little bungalow on the south beach, a kayak, a pushbike and a share in a long-tail boat with a drunken elderly Brit and an equally drunken Aussie. I arrive there fat and lazy and within 3 months was fit as a fiddle. It really was paradise in those days.

I went to Koh Pha Ngan several times, but only once to a full moon party. At 46, once was enough, thanks very much. But the rest of the island was beautiful, much like I imagine Samui had been 20 years earlier.

<sigh>

[buksida]

I went to a couple of them back in 1998/9 when I was in my early twenties and they were a blast (but most things are when you're twenty-something). Things then were certainly different to the commercial bullshit that they have become today, overrun by scammers, thieves, and dodgy Thai cops looking for handouts. Too old for that malarkey now.

With regards to backpacking, consecutive governments have tried to eradicate that form of travel over the years in favour of two-week wonders from China. They're now reaping what they sowed.