Come New Year's Eve, we headed down to the beach to see what the party was like. In all honesty, it wasn't that great. It was just like any other night out in Haad Rin but with more poeple, added dance platforms, more pervs and different music stages. It was kinda like a small mini festival crammed onto a stretch of beach. I saw more penises than I'd care to see as the shoreline is used as a urinal. The atmosphere was strange, no one seemed to realise it was a new year once the countdown was over. We received some strange looks as we ran through crowds shouting "HAPPY NEW YEAR" - people were just acting weird. In search for something good, we headed onto one of the side streets to our favourite bar "Fubar". This place is great, owned by a British DJ, the bar attracts a nice crowd, plays good music and is part guesthouse. Our nights spent at Fubar were always our best nights in Koh Phangan. We had made friends with some London guys, (they were our dancing buddies since they knew how to rock some techno moves and for 7hrs hours straight) who were staying upstairs a few nights beforehand. They told us to check out Eden bar since we weren't really feeling the full moon vibezzz.
Right, so Eden bar. Eden Eden Eden bar. This place basically saved our New Years from just being average to the best.
Eden bar is located on Haad Yuan beach and is only accessible by long tail boat for 300TB (don't pay anymore than this, the Thais are just trying their luck, if they ask for more, hop off and catch the next one). We had heard so much about the parties at Eden but Tiger hadn't yet plucked the courage to conquer the waves. The waves that hit Haad Rin beach are a quite crazy so the boat ride is very risqué. You end up looking like a peice of washed up seaweed; drenched from head to toe, bleary eyed from saltwater and smelling like fish. However, the near death experience is 100% worth it if you're looking for something different. The thing with the full moon party is that it's just extremely over commercialised. There wasn't that "special" party vibe we were expecting to find in Thailand. We wanted something a bit underground to get away from the wankers (Joey Essex lookalikes) that we'd left behind in England. Plus Haad Rin is slightly like Magaluf with a boy to girl ratio of 10:1. So I think it all depends on what sort of vibe you like. If you're "lads on tour" then Haad Rin is for you. Eden doesn't really attract that kinda crowd and the people that go are usually genuine. It attracts the kinds of people who would choose to do festivals instead of lads/girls holiday to Zante etc. That's the best way I can describe the people there.
Once you get to Haad Yuan, head to the right side of the beach. You need to walk round some boulders and depending on the tide, you might need to walk through some shallow water in order to hoist yourself up onto the rock edge. Pass the "Stone bar" and follow the wooden path way until you reach the bamboo huts. After, head downwards across the rock face until you reach another wooden path which leads straight to Edens.
Edens was so good. It turned our night around however it was packed out with people spilling out all exits onto pathways and gardens. It came to a point where we were waiting 30 mins at the bar until we were served. At one point, it all got a bit too much for Tiger who ended up being sick all up my leg in the middle of the dance floor (can I point out that this isn't the first time I've had tigers insides dripping off my lower half).
After an hour or so at Edens we meet some guys who say they're heading to another bar, Guys bar. Since Edens was claustrophobic and Tiger needed air, we followed them to Haad Tien, the next beach along. The walk from Edens to Guys isn't easy if you don't know where you're going. It's around a 15 minute walk and not as many people carry on past Eden since they enjoy Eden so much. However Guys bar was even better than Edens. It was busy but not to the point where you couldn't move. By the time we arrived, it was around 3.30/4ish, so the place was empty of the absolute drunken messes who couldn't handle their drink. There were two djs playing side by side/ collaborating and the music was really good. At 7am, the sun came up and a different crowd emerged from the hills; no one was in fluo from the Full moon. They were older and they had a system; sleep while the bucket heads party and party once the bucket heads slept. Partying in the day light, under the hot sun after very little sleep proved quite difficult. Come 9.30am we were partied out and caught a boat back.
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