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Night crowd on the beach at Haad Rin under a glowing Welcome to Thailand sign at a Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan

Photo: joestump https://www.flickr.com/photos/joestump/ (CC BY 2.0)

Full Moon Party returns with homage to King Bhumibol (November 2016)

Source
  • 15 November 2016
  • Haad Rin beach, Haad Rin
  • Full moon
  • Parties Koh Phangan

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After the entertainment ban was lifted, the Full Moon Party resumed on Haad Rin beach on 15 November 2016 with a tribute to the late King Bhumibol.

About this event

This was the first Full Moon Party after the October 2016 cancellation. The long-running party on Haad Rin beach, at the south of Koh Phangan, returned on the Tuesday after the November full moon, a few days after the moon itself, once the entertainment ban that followed the king's death had ended. Khaosod covered the evening and described how the mood differed from a normal party night.

The party is tied to the lunar calendar, and the November moon was also the night of Loy Krathong, the Thai festival of floating lamps. The party's beginnings are told in several ways. The most common story places the first gathering at Paradise Bungalows on Haad Rin Nok in the mid-1980s, with a small group of travellers and no mains power. It reached a far larger audience after the 2000 film The Beach. Read the November 2016 night as a record of how the party resumed, not of how big it was.

The facts

  1. Once the ban on public entertainment ended, the party resumed on the Tuesday after the November full moon and Loy Krathong.
  2. Before it began, hundreds of officials led by Surat Thani governor Uaichai Innak prayed for the late King on the beach.
  3. The party's burning sign was changed to read 'For Our King' inside a heart.

Why it matters

The only Full Moon Party staged as a public tribute to a monarch.

More nights like this

Parties on Koh Phangan

Koh Phangan is where Thailand's party reputation comes from. The Full Moon Party fills Haad Rin's Sunrise Beach once a month, with bars playing different music along the sand, fire shows and a start around 21:00. Dates sometimes move a day when the full moon falls on a Buddhist holy day, as with 27 October 2026. Smaller Half Moon and Jungle parties run in forest clearings inland from Ban Tai, and a weekly Friday jungle party runs there too. Haad Rin is reached from Thong Sala pier by shared taxi, tuk-tuk or minibus, and an entry ticket is sold at the beach alleys on the night.

Around Haad Rin

Haad Rin is the peninsula at Phangan's southern tip, with Sunrise Beach (Haad Rin Nok) on the east and quieter Sunset Beach (Haad Rin Nai) on the west. Sunrise Beach has hosted the monthly Full Moon Party since the late 1980s, and bars line its roughly one-kilometre length, each with its own sound system. Sunset Beach sees far less foot traffic outside party nights. From Thong Sala pier, shared taxis, tuk-tuks and minibuses go to Haad Rin, and boats leave from here for Haad Yuan.

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