The end of a good trip

This post is coming very late, but better late than never as the saying goes. Our trip ended well. We spent a lot of time hanging out with our friend Rosy, whom we met our first day on Koh Samui. She was with us when we went to the waterfall, temples and various beaches I have posted pictures of. We also met some a couple of interesting guys from London. They were both Bobbies (London cops) on Holiday, and we arranged to meet up with them the night of the party.
The big event was the Full Moon Party. The FMP is the biggest beach party in the world. During the height of the season here, the party attract as many as 15ooo people. The FMP we saw didn't reach those numbers, but it was still a cool experience. We had another great Thai dinner, and a couple of drinks and then we headed to the beach around 10:30 or 11. When we got there the party wasn't yet in full swing. We bought a couple of the buckets which Had Rin beach and the Full moon party are famous for. They consist of a plastic bucket filled with a bottle of whisky, vodka or rum, plus a mixer and a bottle of the REAL Red Bull. The vendor mixes your selection over ice and the while thing costs about $6-$10. We walked the full length of the beach to take in all the possibilities. There were about half a dozen DJ's playing a variety of music ranging from House, to Latin to Rock. We settled in front of a fireworks display for a while. After the fireworks had fired off they left the shape of a flaming elephant floating on the fireworks platform. We finished our first buckets while we watched the display. We then wandered up to the other end of the beach where there were fire dancers doing some really incredible juggling and spinning. They used staffs which were lit at both ends and when they span and tossed them in the air it was an amazing sight. I will post some pics when I get them off my friends. After we watched the fire show we were all lubed up enough to start some serious dancing. We settled near one of the DJ's playing dance music and got into the groove. By that time the beach had really filled up. During one of my runs to go to the bathroom and find another bucket I lost my friends. By that time I was drunk enough I didn't really care. I looked for them for about 15 minutes, then I headed down to check out some of the other DJ's. The last thing I remember from the evening is zoning out to some really good house music. I think I got one of the bike taxis to take me back to the resort around 4am, but I'm honestly not sure. I woke up the next day feeling a little worse for wear, but a lot better than Teal, who got in far earlier in the morning. I spent my last day in Thailand traveling around on my scooter taking a last look at nearby parts of the island, shopping for souvenirs, and enjoying my last of the amazing Thai food.
The next day was the predictably dull and frustrating 20 hours of travel back to Korea. In the end the highlights of my trip were the trips around the island on a scooter, amazing meals and some truly beautiful sights. The FMP was cool, but a little too spring break for my tastes. The areas we visited were a little too touristy for my tastes. I like to get into the culture and food more on a trip. But it was a good holiday, and it was a very welcome change from my routine in Busan.

I am dedicating this post to my friend Dave. A great friend I have found here in Busan. We are having Christmas dinner together with our girlfriends and I wouldn't have made this post if he hadn't lent me his laptop for the night.

I am posting this at 1 am Christmas morning, so to everyone out there, Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful time with your family and friends.