Ko Phangan Warnings and Dangers

Do not bring your valuables to the party. Thousands people are there, you'll never catch the thief. Full Moon Party is the big day for robberies, because nobody is staying in the bunglow. Most bunglows provide lockers for you, don't leave valuables in room.

If you're coming to the full moon party taxi/truck, you will be stopped by police and asked to open bags and somewhat searched. So if you're planning to bring anything that you don't want the police to see, leave it back at your bungalow.

As for at the party itself, don't bring any valuables and watch out for pick pockets. There are a countless amount of people just waiting to take advantage of drunk people and their lack of judgement. Just bring cash to the party and leave any valuables with the bungalow safe - if you can trust them!

Make sure you don't leave any valueables in your room on the night of the full moon either! I've had friends get their stuff stolen on the night of the party because robbers know that no one will be at the resort and take advantage. Again, leave valuables in a safe with the resort or bungalow.
Have a blast!!

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In most places in thailand there are tons of dogs....none more so than the islands where stray dogs are everywhere. Many do have owners, it seems, although in most cases dogs run free and unhibited. They are awesome animals and even tempered, however, many can be down right nasty. There are tons of stories of people being bitten without warning and in everycase, a turn in a trip no one wants to take. Exercise caution with dogs on any beach, road or town.

The Thai police dont mess around, and they know exactly what us backpackers are upto. Girls, the thai guys can be dodgy and very horny so try and stay in groups or make friends with some male travellers. If you buying narcotics, read the situation carefully, and when you get them, drop them straight away cause the cops will search you if your wiped out. Smoke wise, keep it prvate, its no problem in your bungalow or if like us your out in e remote hamlet. If you down the port or haad rin keep it shy, trust me there are severe penalty for anyone caught with drugs, and they love to get one over on the westerners. A legal option though are the mushroom shakes, available in many bars, they will have you tripping for 5 hours or so.... just dont try and drive your scooter afer.... my buddy did.... he didnt have much skin keft that night, and he was really lucky! Watch out for that pink flamingo...BANG! HAHA

Great way to get around - not so great if you fall off, since generally t-shirt and shorts vs. ground = pic on the left.

Luckily (!) it was near the end of my trip as it stopped me diving and going in the water at all in fact.

Very nice nurse patched me up at the medical centre - thank you!...

Wear a helmet - I wasn't and it could have been much worse - will do next time!

When you are in Koh Phangan you tend to forget that Thailand has some of the most stringent controls on drugs in the world. Koh Phangan feels like it's own country, where anything goes. Drugs like MDMA/ecstacy, coke, opium, mushrooms and weed are freely available and it seems like everyone is on them, especially at the moon parties. But don't get complacent! There are undercover police all over the island and they catch foreigners quite often. They look especially for "farangs" because they can usually get more money from them. If you are caught with weed, you will have to pay around $2000 US minimum, and if you don't have it you will go to jail until such time as they give you a trial and most likely deport you. If you are caught with something like ecstacy or coke the repercussions are worse. Thailand police have been known to go into a party venue, close it off so no one can leave, and test all the patrons for drugs. So even if you don't have any on you but you have it in your system, you can be screwed. They also stop vehicles for random searches. The best way to enjoy your holiday here is to simply not do any drugs. At the very least, don't keep them in your room or vehicle, and try to do them in private, not at a public party. Chok dee kha!

1) take care of your belongings. Keep them in the safe of the bungalow if they have them. 2) Be very careful swimming on the west coast, as the coral is redicuously sharp and can easily slice open feet, arms, hands and anything else. 3) if sleeping near Sri Thanu, know in advance that it IS the main fishing port of Koh Phangan, and that boats tend to leave early in the morning. Like 6am or earlier early. Also know that all these boats have some sort of amplifier on their exhaust. They believe it chases the evil spirits away.

Please be aware that swimming at the Hat Yuan beach is very dangerous!! when i was there a 28 old drowned only 20 meters away from the beach. apparently that was already the second person in only two weeks. there was not the most basic live saving or first aid equipment at all to save him. the boats, which went out much too late, did not even have a live belt. Another tourist told me later that he ran to the reception of one of the hotels to call an emergency doctor but it took him ages to convince the receptionst to interrupt the call she was making and to call a doctor. Beforehand he was at a different hotel reception, where they said they didn't have a number to call. Also there was no official person like a doctor or police arriving, at least not on the day it happened. Maybe by making this danger known people will be more careful and i hope very much that if people get to know how dangerous it is there, the bungalow owners will arrange for at least some basic securitity, some first aid structure and will warn tourists not to swim there.

if you arrive there by boat (as most people do) insist on a life jacket, some boats have a few, but the people operating the boats don't care to offer them and don't carry enough for everyone. when we took the boat the waves where very high and my friend nearly fell out of the boat. after arriving we were told that just the other day two people fell of a boat.