I LIVE 10 minutes away from Lamai Beach, and I, ignorant me, would wonder why during the full moon there was not a single soul roaming about the beach, which looked utterly deserted.

"They are all on Koh Pangan enjoying the Full Moon Party," someone whispered.

So when some friends invited me to the Full Moon Party at Koh Pangan, I gladly said yes, imagining dancing to blaring music and boisterous laughter.

On Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 p.m., we hopped a ferry in Big Buddha Pier in Bangrak. A lot of people, both Thais and foreigners, were boarding the ferry. Two young foreigners kept going up and down the stairs of the ferry. I thought they had already started their party on Koh Samui; they looked flushed and could not walk straight.Â

Finally, after 50 minutes, we disembarked at Haad Rin Nai, also called the Sunset Beach. We walked for about five minutes to go to Haad Rin Nok, on the other side of the island, where the famous Full Moon Party takes place every month.

Haad Rin Nok is a long, semi-circular beach with fine white sand. Natives and travelers consider it the most beautiful beach on Phangan and is, therefore, the most popular among the tourists. It is also called the Sunrise Beach.

We were greeted with loud music coming from all directions, the multi-colored neon lights of the hotels and bars, and swarms of people. It was 7:30 and the small makeshift stalls were just starting to lay out their goods: drinks of all kinds, seafoods, barbecues, etc. We walked at the end of Sunrise Beach where a huge, lighted sign of the Full Moon Party, craftily designed like, what else, a full moon, dominated the scenery. That sign and the blasting techno music were like a magnet drawing us to dance. Already, a lot of people were starting to party at this end of the beach. It is in this part of Sunrise Beach where the Full Moon Party is said to have started 20 years ago, in May 1987.

A farewell party was organized here, and apparently it fell on a full moon. The music was centered around log fires on the beach with a generator-powered stereo playing rock and disco music. (Then, Koh Phangan had no power supply. Visitors enjoyed the primitive lifestyle, living in wooden huts and eating local food.) Some 50 people partied that night, dancing around the fires until dawn and had fun, laughter and camaraderie; they all agreed that the full moon was what made that night magical and unforgettable.

At around 10 o'clock, the beach became more alive as more people streamed in from both land and sea. Most of them were spewed out by speedboats and long-tail boats, which departed empty to pick up some more passengers waiting on Koh Samui and Koh Tao.

The giant party takes place at the whole length of the beach. Beautiful Thai ladies enticed partygoers to buy a small plastic pail containing a concoction of whisky, brandy or gin and an energy drink, which cost Bt150. The concoction has lots of ice and is sipped with a plastic straw. Consequently, there is no hard-rock partygoer who doesn't carry his or her own bucket containing this spirited drink.

Strewn at the center of the beach are vendors selling glowing bands of different colors and shapes that can be worn in the arms, neck and head. My friend bought a headband with two protruding lighted red horns. The only two things missing for someone wearing it to look like the devil are the tail and pitchfork. Anyway, the fire was just a few steps away from us. A few local people, including a 10-year-old boy, were dancing barefooted on hot coals. Ahead of us a girl, who looked like she was not a local, held two metal chains, both with a tub of fire at each end, pirouetting, interlacing the two chains and fire in the air. She called to mind Western-movie harems and sheiks, before whom beautiful exotic women dance with their belly gyrating to the beat of music.

In the distance, a big rectangular enclosure was barricaded by a white cloth signages that stated it was a sleeping area sponsored by so-and-so (an energy drink). Perhaps in the past, drunken revelers just slept anywhere in the beach. Guarding the sleeping area were four Thai staffs of Bandon Hospital, who were also assigned to give first aid. The area had mats scattered neatly on the sand. It was in itself an attraction as curious people took their cameras to capture this ingenious safety measure from the organizers and security officials of the Full Moon Party.Â

We came back to Koh Samui at 2 a.m. as we had our jobs to attend to. The ride on the speedboat was most exhilarating and, no doubt, an adventurous experience as it was my first time to ride in it. It was as if finally I had my first ride on a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster, in the wee hours of the morning at that. Sleepiness and tiredness was all gone. The wind swished by, numbing my face and disheveling my hair. The seawater sprayed every one of us.

Upon arriving on Koh Samui, we all looked like bedraggled rag dolls, dumped on the wrong dock far from our destinations. Eventually, the farang owner of one of the speedboats kindly took us in his van to the comforts of our home.