It was a hot day, and a hot evening. Down at the beach, there were people everywhere. Imagine the crowd that streams onto the ground after a soccer match, then imagine that crowd is on the beach at night, and that there's dance music pouring from the neon-lit nightclubs along the edge of the sand. That's Hat Rin Nok at 1am on full moon night.

Every club along the beach was open last night. A few of them had erected large tent-pole frames out on the sand with black lights and yellow dayglo netting over the top. Outside the Cactus Club, the Vinyl Club, the Paradise Bar, the Orchid Club and Tommys, the crowds extended right down to the water. The Thai vendors were hawking glow sticks and dayglo paint tattoos.

I went to the Orchid Club for a while for their Drum 'N' Bass and Jungle mix, and then to the Zoom Bar. Staying out all the previous night turned out not to be such a good idea, because by 4am I was exhausted, and staggered back to my room to sleep for the next 12 hours. I actually enjoyed the previous night much more than the real Full Moon Party, but that was probably because I was so tired. If I happen to be in Southern Thailand in four weeks time, I might go to the next FMP, but if I do, I think I'll stay on Koh Samui and take one of the speedboats that ferries people across to Koh Phang Ngan at around midnight.