Our arrival in Koh Phangan was 4 nights before the infamous Full Moon Party, and the impending mayhem could be felt as day-after-day more roustabouts flooded onto the island, particularly Haad Rin (Sunrise) Beach where the party is always held. While Benami and I were eager to get some quality beach time, we also wanted to explore the island, and on our 2nd day we rented motorbikes and rode for hours on the smoothly paved roads, alternating between fresh fruit shakes and cold beers at the various beaches we visited. We had a minor incident reaching the remote Bottle Beach, and after being extorted for the repair costs, we gave up on renting motorbikes on the islands again.
Full Moon, Full Power
The night of the full moon arrived, as did my NY friends Ashley and Jamie (after 4 flights spanning 24 hours of travel time). We started the night with drinks at our bungalow, with about 10 people in attendance. Ashley and Jamie instantly made friends with my posse, and we had great laughs, all while mentally preparing ourselves for the night ahead. We came up with a plan that would hopefully keep us from all losing each other, and for the first 30 minutes or so, it actually worked. But shortly after, people started wandering off, and the crew disbanded. With thousands of people drinking and dancing all along the beach, there was very little chance we'd see each other again before morning. One of my friends, who will remain nameless, was not able to control his alcohol intake, and i spent the majority of the night babysitting him as he took a nap on the beach, with the party in full effect going on around him. While basically carrying him to get some food, we came upon another random partier who couldn't control himself. He was passed out on the sand, in the middle of the party, getting trampled on by people walking past and dancing around/on him. He didn't budge once. We watched 2 girls, on separate occasions, approach him to check his pulse just to make sure he was alive. Yaniv and I decided to drag him to one of the designated sleep areas, which was fenced off, so no more people would step on him, and to prevent pickpockets as well. We determined the best way to grab and carry him, and as we lifted up his arms, he instantly sat up. For all of 5 seconds he sat there, then stood up by himself, shook off some of the sand, and began dancing like all the other lunatics at the party. I would say that could be the single defining moment of what the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan is like, and when I went home around 7am, I was happy to have this experience behind me. Little did I know though, that there was much, much more excitement waiting just around the corner.
The day after a party like the Full Moon Party is usually reserved for recuperation. But since Ashley and Jamie were only able to make it to 4am that night (still a very impressive feat after all their traveling), we were determined to make the next night just as fun. And that's what it was. With the overwhelming majority of party-goers off the island, the beach party was much more relaxed. We were able to wander off and reunite many times. And the raised platforms were untouched, so of course we were the first ones to claim one as our own, and spent the entire night dancing above the crowds. Ashley, Roey, and I all had our attempts at the jump rope of fire. On my last attempt, I fell into the sand face first, and so I decided it was time to go for a swim.
I was joined shortly afterwards by Jamie, Ashley, and Roey. We spent the first 10 minutes tackling each other and wrestling around in the ocean. I then decided I was tired of fighting, and called for a truce. We decided to do a 4-way handshake truce, and just as our hands released, it was the moment of no return. Ashley, the little weasel that she is, was eager to break the truce, and instantly lunged at me to tackle me into the water. Roey, at the same time, grabbed mine and Ashley's hands, and pulled us towards each other. Ashley's forehead collided directly with my nose, and we both went flying backwards into the water. (Ironically, this is all while the song "I've Gotta Feeling (that tonight's gonna be a good night)" was playing at the bar). It was a very forceful hit, and I knew that if I was hurting that bad, Ashley must've been in pain too, so I instantly ran to check on her. She was laughing uncontrollably, in no pain at all, while I quickly saw that blood was pouring out of my nose. Roey played doctor, telling me it was only a small scratch on the inside of the nose. Being that I have never broken a bone, and assumed that it would hurt more than the slight pain I was feeling, I believed him. But when we ran into some friends a little while later, and I saw the look of shock on their face (and the crookedness of my nose in a cellphone camera picture), I decided to go to the clinic. The doctor assured me my nose was broken, and wanted me to wait two days for the swelling to go down, and then go to Koh Samui to see a specialist. As I was about to give in to that diagnosis, a drunken Australian lad, with his left foot swollen to twice it's normal size, stumbled in and put in his two cents. "Aww mate, I've broken my nose 3 times, and each time coach just puts it back into place like this," as he showed me his fingers pushing the top and bottom of his nose from opposite directions back towards center. I looked at the doctor, who didn't have much to say, and hesitantly proceeded to push my nose back into place. It was at this point that Ashley began to cry, though the pain was far from what I'd call excruciating. I felt two clicks in my nose bone, and then examined myself in one of the nurses little pocket makeup mirrors. I suspected there was still a bit of a bend, so I took matters into my own hands, and pushed the bone one click further towards center. Because of the swelling, I couldn't be sure that it was properly set, but it was the best I could do.
4 months I traveled around Asia, going on 2-week treks climbing to 5,500 meters, enduring motorcycle journeys on extremely dangerous roads, and ended up with not even minor scratches on myself. But one night after my friend Ashley arrives from the US, I ended up with a broken nose. Ironically, that night, the 7th of August, 2009, was one of the most fun nights I had on my entire trip, and the broken nose incident just made it that much more memorable (and also a little more painful). And with Ashley scheduled to continue traveling with me for the next 6 weeks or so, she and I both knew that I wasn't going to let her live it down anytime soon.
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