Time has a nostalgic history from Colin Hinshelwood, a Scottish journalist living in Chiang Mai, of the first-ever Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach. Hinshelwood claims to have attended the inaugural 1988 bash when it was just a quaint hippy get-together. In those carefree days before the corrupting influence of electricity or MDMA, Hinshelwood recalls a coterie of stoners gathering on the then virgin beach to skinny dip, drop acid and solve the world’s problems.
Here are some notable highlights:
– “I had a restaurant-bar on the beach and was the only farang [foreigner] with a business there at the time. We had a generator like all the other resorts, but it was only operational from about 6pm to 10 pm. Then the restaurant closed and all the party-goers had to make do with candlelight or make a bonfire on the beach. The skies were star-spangled back then and blue phosphorescence would spray like diamonds in the sea when you splashed the waves. It was especially exhilarating when you were on hed kee kwai or “buffalo-dung mushrooms.”
– “The thing about the beach in 1987 to 1988, is that packs of mad dogs roamed at night, and there were muggers and the occasional shooting. When there was no moon you couldn’t see a thing and few travelers — for no! we were not backpackers or tourists back then, oh no! — would sally forth down the corridor of darkness along the shore. But on full moon nights, well, that was a different story. The beach became shrouded in a blue mist. The sand glowed silver and the waves danced alive as they hit the shore. Humans emerged from their slumber and re-inhabited the beach. The dogs took shelter in the bushes and everyone set about dancing and ‘shrooming the night away under the beautiful blue moonlight.”
– “The night itself was unspectacular but at the same time momentous. Having a great gathering of characters in a tightly-knit scene was much better than dancing to Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” over on Samui by a long chalk. We had about 20 souls, maybe 25 including a couple of Thai locals, and a few faces that somehow appeared in the middle of a trippy night. We had tents, sleeping bags, some crates of water, Coca-Cola and some food. I think we had some Singha beers as well, but not many. Perhaps a bottle of Mekong [whiskey] or two for some. Not much alcohol at all; certainly no buckets. For the majority, it was ganja-smoking rituals by the bonfire followed by magic mushrooms and an evening of getting naked, splashing in the sea, and dancing around imaginary Stonehenges. It was pretty groovy, if truth be told.”
The same day that the magazine printed Hinshelwood’s narrative, it also published a screed by Time journalist Charlie Campbell on how “Thailand’s Full Moon Parties Have Become a Trashy Disgrace.” Apparently the once noble fiesta has descended into an orgy of buckets and bad decisions. Who knew? Coconuts can only surmise that if Hinshelwood was early to the party then Campbell was perhaps a little late.
Reader Interactions