Ao Ton Sai was a great place to ring in the New Year. The place had a laid-back vibe and there were plenty of options for celebrating. The night started with tourists setting off traditional paper lanterns over the beach. Every once in a while, the lantern would backfire and burn itself out on the beach while the couple who had purchased it watched in dismay. Sometimes, a lantern would get caught in a tree and turn into a ball of fire that fell down on the heads of unsuspecting tourists. Luckily no one was hurt.
They looked beautiful as they drifted over the bay and eventually burned out.
There was live music and dancing. As you would expect if you know anything about hippies, there was also fire poi and slack lining to enjoy. At midnight, I lead the charge into the ocean. I found it very surprising that it wasn’t at all like in the movies. The only person to join was Pat, because I literally dragged him and Marianne, a girl we’d met from Scotland who is doing Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan! Response times must have been dulled by all the ganja-smoking done at Ao Ton Sai because the rest of the crowd eventually joined.
Pat and Marianne made new friends with some locals.
All-in-all, it was a great New Year’s and we stayed up late enough to get a good night’s sleep in our tent. This guy managed to sleep until 2 in the afternoon:
Check out the rest of our Thailand adventure here!
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