Neal
February 1st, 2013, 02:34
IT is 2am on a humid night on the Thai island of Koh Phangan, and the infamous Full Moon Party is at fever pitch.
Girls in skimpy bikinis spew luminous liquid from their mouths, their bodies rejecting the syrupy cocktails they have been guzzling for hours.
As they heave up into the sea, lads sway in the shallows urinating into the water. Girls pull down their bikini bottoms to do the same.
Dozens of other young people strip off to dive in and cool off, dunking their heads under the waves and spitting mouthfuls of sea water at each other тАФ oblivious to the soup of human waste they are swimming in.
Meanwhile a 50,000-strong scrum of people jostles its way along the hundreds of bars along the beach.
All of the bars throb to the sound of loud house music, turning this beautiful stretch of shore into the worldтАЩs biggest nightclub.
It was outside the Zoom Bar that British backpacker Stephen Aston, 22, was killed on New YearтАЩs Eve.
A fight broke out between two rival local gangs, just yards from where Stephen was dancing.
As the losing gang ran away, one member span around to fire off a shot from his homemade gun. A stray bullet hit Stephen.
His died on this beach where, four weeks on, youngsters are downing buckets of potent Thai whisky and locking lips with random strangers. They dance and cavort near the spot where he drew his last breath.
This is the first Full Moon Party since that terrible tragedy. As the name suggests, these monthly events happen whenever there is a full moon and attract thousands of backpackers to the island each year.
Websites will have you believe the Full Moon Party descends straight from the hippy dream which lured many here in the Sixties and Seventies.
But there is little evidence today of the hippy mantra of peace and love.
Koh Phangan is a violent and dirty place where criminal gangs are out to get you. And, if the stories are to be believed, the police are too.
Some tourists claim drug dealers are in cahoots with bent cops, selling punters something either fake or a nasty cocktail of pills and powders, only for a watching policeman to swoop. Then they demand a bribe of 5,000 Thai Baht тАФ around ┬г100 тАФ to let you go free.
If you cannot pay, you are off to the Bangkok Hilton тАФ the nickname for the cockroach-infested prison in the Thai capital.
But that does not seem to deter the many youngsters who flock to these parties to drink cheap booze, take drugs and indulge in shameless antics.
Nor are they put off by the sickening crimes and sex attacks that are not uncommon at these events.
If anything, the notoriety of the Full Moon Party seems as big a lure as any of its other temptations.
One Australian girl fails to hide a macabre grin as she tells us: тАЬOne girl we went to school with was raped by three men just on the other side of the beach there.тАЭ
By all accounts, Stephen Aston was not part of the hedonistic Full Moon Party set.
At home in Purley, south London, he was a hard-working investment broker. As he danced the night away here, in a bid to get over the death of his dad a month earlier from a brain tumour, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sadly the realities of his senseless death seem lost on this latest bunch of party animals, although it has given them a fresh story to trade.
тАЬI heard he was a really good boxer and he was beating a load of them up for chatting s*** to his girlfriend,тАЭ says a British girl, so drunk she can barely stand.
тАЬSo they pulled a gun and he went to grab it out of their hands, so they shot him in the face.тАЭ
Only a month on and StephenтАЩs sad story has become a part of ghoulish Full Moon Party folklore.
Although most of the revellers here are from Australia тАФ to them it is the equivalent of popping over to Benidorm or Tenerife тАФ Brits are everywhere.
Most of them are travelling around the Far East, but cannot resist stopping off at Koh Phangan to see for themselves the wild excesses of the Full Moon Party.
тАЬItтАЩs all anyone talks about when travelling through Thailand,тАЭ says Tom, a backpacker from Kent. тАЬItтАЩs absolutely mental, IтАЩve never seen anything like this. I saw a white guy get knocked out cold by a Thai bloke dressed in kick-boxing shorts.
тАЬOne punch and out like a light. The guyтАЩs girlfriend was screaming for help but no one came.тАЭ
Lee Jones, also from Kent, says: тАЬMagaluf and Ibiza are nowhere near as crazy as this place.
тАЬI wouldnтАЩt buy drugs out here, though. IтАЩve heard they sell you things like Rohypnol then rob you when youтАЩve passed out. I donтАЩt trust the locals at all.тАЭ
Channel 4тАЩs controversial TV show What Happens In Kavos is currently lifting the lid on the wild antics of British teenagers seeking sun and booze in Corfu away from the watchful eyes of their parents.
But the Full Moon Party makes that documentary look like an episode of Songs Of Praise. By 3am couples are openly having sex on the beach, thinking they have found a secluded spot but actually in full view of hundreds of leering party-goers.
At one end of the beach is a crumbling set of steps known as тАЬMushroom MountainтАЭ.
At the top is a rickety little bar selling milkshakes made from magic
mushrooms.
It is not illegal here, and people are downing the grey, sludgy concoction as if it was water.
Some are sat in a huddle on the floor, eyes as round as dinner plates, as the hallucinogenics kick in. Others sway uneasily on the single barrier between the bar and a 50ft drop to the rocks below. A Brit called Kelly tells us: тАЬI love it here тАФ you can do what you want.
тАЬYou can buy any drug going on the beach, you just gotta be careful of cops. IтАЩve taken MDMA and itтАЩs really strong. But I canтАЩt find any of my friends.тАЭ
Other revellers tell me the drug dealers and crooked cops are in cahoots to extort money from travellers who want to buy narcotics.
University student Daniel Ridley, from Perth, says: тАЬI was buying speed off this Thai guy, and the next thing I knew two cops had me by the arms.
тАЬThey didnтАЩt wear uniforms, other than their polo tops had police logos, and they were carrying guns. I thought I was done for, IтАЩve heard stories about Thai prisons тАФ theyтАЩre the sort of place you never come out of. But they just frogmarched me to the cash machine and told me to take out 5,000 Baht.
тАЬIтАЩve never been so relieved in my life, I had visions of my mum visiting me in jail.тАЭ
It is not just bent police that tourists need to worry about.
Rapes and muggings are commonplace at the Full Moon Party, with an average of three sex attacks at each monthly bash.
At the New Year party when Stephen was fatally shot, an Israeli woman was gang-raped on a secluded part of the beach.
In 2007 an Israeli man died after being stabbed eight times in a bar brawl. And in 2004 a gang gunfight left three Thai people dead. By the early hours, the beach is littered with the comatose bodies of those who have drunk too much.
Their downfall is almost certainly the notorious bucket cocktails тАФ actual buckets of booze containing an entire bottle of vodka or whisky and high-caffeine energy drinks.
They sell for about ┬г6 each, and after just one you will be lucky if you can stay on your feet.
Dawn breaks on a scene of utter carnage. Some of the excesses have been washed away by the sea, Mother Nature doing her best to expunge the filth which pollutes these white sands.
But she will never succeed in turning the tide against the dark side of the moon.
More pics see: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... angan.html (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4771404/sun-investigation-sinister-thai-island-koh-phangan.html)
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... z2JaSEuF9Z (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4771404/sun-investigation-sinister-thai-island-koh-phangan.html#ixzz2JaSEuF9Z)
Girls in skimpy bikinis spew luminous liquid from their mouths, their bodies rejecting the syrupy cocktails they have been guzzling for hours.
As they heave up into the sea, lads sway in the shallows urinating into the water. Girls pull down their bikini bottoms to do the same.
Dozens of other young people strip off to dive in and cool off, dunking their heads under the waves and spitting mouthfuls of sea water at each other тАФ oblivious to the soup of human waste they are swimming in.
Meanwhile a 50,000-strong scrum of people jostles its way along the hundreds of bars along the beach.
All of the bars throb to the sound of loud house music, turning this beautiful stretch of shore into the worldтАЩs biggest nightclub.
It was outside the Zoom Bar that British backpacker Stephen Aston, 22, was killed on New YearтАЩs Eve.
A fight broke out between two rival local gangs, just yards from where Stephen was dancing.
As the losing gang ran away, one member span around to fire off a shot from his homemade gun. A stray bullet hit Stephen.
His died on this beach where, four weeks on, youngsters are downing buckets of potent Thai whisky and locking lips with random strangers. They dance and cavort near the spot where he drew his last breath.
This is the first Full Moon Party since that terrible tragedy. As the name suggests, these monthly events happen whenever there is a full moon and attract thousands of backpackers to the island each year.
Websites will have you believe the Full Moon Party descends straight from the hippy dream which lured many here in the Sixties and Seventies.
But there is little evidence today of the hippy mantra of peace and love.
Koh Phangan is a violent and dirty place where criminal gangs are out to get you. And, if the stories are to be believed, the police are too.
Some tourists claim drug dealers are in cahoots with bent cops, selling punters something either fake or a nasty cocktail of pills and powders, only for a watching policeman to swoop. Then they demand a bribe of 5,000 Thai Baht тАФ around ┬г100 тАФ to let you go free.
If you cannot pay, you are off to the Bangkok Hilton тАФ the nickname for the cockroach-infested prison in the Thai capital.
But that does not seem to deter the many youngsters who flock to these parties to drink cheap booze, take drugs and indulge in shameless antics.
Nor are they put off by the sickening crimes and sex attacks that are not uncommon at these events.
If anything, the notoriety of the Full Moon Party seems as big a lure as any of its other temptations.
One Australian girl fails to hide a macabre grin as she tells us: тАЬOne girl we went to school with was raped by three men just on the other side of the beach there.тАЭ
By all accounts, Stephen Aston was not part of the hedonistic Full Moon Party set.
At home in Purley, south London, he was a hard-working investment broker. As he danced the night away here, in a bid to get over the death of his dad a month earlier from a brain tumour, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sadly the realities of his senseless death seem lost on this latest bunch of party animals, although it has given them a fresh story to trade.
тАЬI heard he was a really good boxer and he was beating a load of them up for chatting s*** to his girlfriend,тАЭ says a British girl, so drunk she can barely stand.
тАЬSo they pulled a gun and he went to grab it out of their hands, so they shot him in the face.тАЭ
Only a month on and StephenтАЩs sad story has become a part of ghoulish Full Moon Party folklore.
Although most of the revellers here are from Australia тАФ to them it is the equivalent of popping over to Benidorm or Tenerife тАФ Brits are everywhere.
Most of them are travelling around the Far East, but cannot resist stopping off at Koh Phangan to see for themselves the wild excesses of the Full Moon Party.
тАЬItтАЩs all anyone talks about when travelling through Thailand,тАЭ says Tom, a backpacker from Kent. тАЬItтАЩs absolutely mental, IтАЩve never seen anything like this. I saw a white guy get knocked out cold by a Thai bloke dressed in kick-boxing shorts.
тАЬOne punch and out like a light. The guyтАЩs girlfriend was screaming for help but no one came.тАЭ
Lee Jones, also from Kent, says: тАЬMagaluf and Ibiza are nowhere near as crazy as this place.
тАЬI wouldnтАЩt buy drugs out here, though. IтАЩve heard they sell you things like Rohypnol then rob you when youтАЩve passed out. I donтАЩt trust the locals at all.тАЭ
Channel 4тАЩs controversial TV show What Happens In Kavos is currently lifting the lid on the wild antics of British teenagers seeking sun and booze in Corfu away from the watchful eyes of their parents.
But the Full Moon Party makes that documentary look like an episode of Songs Of Praise. By 3am couples are openly having sex on the beach, thinking they have found a secluded spot but actually in full view of hundreds of leering party-goers.
At one end of the beach is a crumbling set of steps known as тАЬMushroom MountainтАЭ.
At the top is a rickety little bar selling milkshakes made from magic
mushrooms.
It is not illegal here, and people are downing the grey, sludgy concoction as if it was water.
Some are sat in a huddle on the floor, eyes as round as dinner plates, as the hallucinogenics kick in. Others sway uneasily on the single barrier between the bar and a 50ft drop to the rocks below. A Brit called Kelly tells us: тАЬI love it here тАФ you can do what you want.
тАЬYou can buy any drug going on the beach, you just gotta be careful of cops. IтАЩve taken MDMA and itтАЩs really strong. But I canтАЩt find any of my friends.тАЭ
Other revellers tell me the drug dealers and crooked cops are in cahoots to extort money from travellers who want to buy narcotics.
University student Daniel Ridley, from Perth, says: тАЬI was buying speed off this Thai guy, and the next thing I knew two cops had me by the arms.
тАЬThey didnтАЩt wear uniforms, other than their polo tops had police logos, and they were carrying guns. I thought I was done for, IтАЩve heard stories about Thai prisons тАФ theyтАЩre the sort of place you never come out of. But they just frogmarched me to the cash machine and told me to take out 5,000 Baht.
тАЬIтАЩve never been so relieved in my life, I had visions of my mum visiting me in jail.тАЭ
It is not just bent police that tourists need to worry about.
Rapes and muggings are commonplace at the Full Moon Party, with an average of three sex attacks at each monthly bash.
At the New Year party when Stephen was fatally shot, an Israeli woman was gang-raped on a secluded part of the beach.
In 2007 an Israeli man died after being stabbed eight times in a bar brawl. And in 2004 a gang gunfight left three Thai people dead. By the early hours, the beach is littered with the comatose bodies of those who have drunk too much.
Their downfall is almost certainly the notorious bucket cocktails тАФ actual buckets of booze containing an entire bottle of vodka or whisky and high-caffeine energy drinks.
They sell for about ┬г6 each, and after just one you will be lucky if you can stay on your feet.
Dawn breaks on a scene of utter carnage. Some of the excesses have been washed away by the sea, Mother Nature doing her best to expunge the filth which pollutes these white sands.
But she will never succeed in turning the tide against the dark side of the moon.
More pics see: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... angan.html (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4771404/sun-investigation-sinister-thai-island-koh-phangan.html)
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... z2JaSEuF9Z (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4771404/sun-investigation-sinister-thai-island-koh-phangan.html#ixzz2JaSEuF9Z)