Koh Phangan Goodbye 1993

As time runs out I find that I don't mind at all. 

I sit watching my three-tiered sea through the palm trees that rise above us in this tropical garden of ours, and I find I feel nothing except the calm of it's beauty. The people haven't come flocking as they did for the last full moon party: our bungalows are still empty and Haad Rin remains quiet, even for the warm-up parties, it seems. April, and the season is coming to a close. So it's time to go anyway.

So I'm taking it in all I can. I keep coming across the unlikeliest people stopping to wonder where they are and being amazed by it, and it just makes my own senses even keener. Other people who are just as affected by palm trees and lying in the ocean and staring back at land as I am! I'm so happy to be here, and still the thought of leaving isn't unwelcome - just the realisation that I'm going home. And my heart may not be there quite yet, but it's headed that way.

Fond memories of this place I have, somewhere to return to and ingrate yourself with for seasons at a time. Only when it's been hard earned though: this place is treat of treats, and should be treated as such! Ground has to be travelled to get here, whether that ground be measured in distance or time or experience. I'm on the verge of a transition period now, and the gears are being changed. Ready to get motivated for the road ahead… 

When all the goodbyes are said and done

And we unravel ourselves from this mysterious plot

Is it then that enlightenment will come

 Or have we had our lot?

April 1993 Diary 

© Mia Escobud 2013

 

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Koh Phangan - Ibiza - KL DJs at Full Moon Party warm up

Jungle Experience
Koh Phangan

 DJ Marco Loco's 

Asia Tour

Closing Fiesta and 

Full Moon Party
Warm Up

Catch the boys in action

again TONITE at

Jungle Experience

KohPhangan!  

  DJs Pablo Escobud, Darragh Casey & Marco Loco

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Marco Loco Nights Of Ibiza Album Release 

I AM Defected @ Ushuaia Towers, Ibiza

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Koh Phangan Diaries 1993 - India to Bangkok, Thailand

I recently found my diary from my first trip to Koh Phangan in 1993.
The exultant naivety of a 21yr old's new found freedom on the road. Hey, why not? Let's go back to the beginning...  Mia Escobud, April 2013

Arrival to Bangkok from India, Feb 1993

I arrived into Bangkok this afternoon, astounded that I'd finally reached that geographical point on the atlas. After five months on the road, following the old hippy trail on a double decker bus from London to Kathmandu, then continuing down into India, I was finally here. 

The ultimate achievement of my 21^st year, to look out of the plane window, to find a new and long sought after land before me; one I'd first dreamed of five years ago, one I knew I would get to sometime... and that time was now.

As I headed for immigration, I saw myself in my brother's footsteps three years earlier, and I couldn't help wondering whether he'd been as excited as me to set foot on this soil. That never failing grin, the inevitable elation… the dream realised!  

The moment we landed, India disappeared into another existence, lost into memories that couldn't help - and didn't want - but to be suppressed.  

There was no recalling her; I'd known that this new experience would eclipse India without a moment's notice, and I'd spent the time on the plane furiously writing down all the last impressions, so as not to be drowned out by the magnitude of this other.  

So I passed over Burma with only the twinge of a raised eyebrow, intent on finishing my work and arriving with a totally clear head, to take it all in. Only when we touched down did I really stop - to see, to think, to feel, where I was.  

 And ah, what bliss! The Land of Smiles at last. Thailand!

Bangkok, A Modern Metropolis

It took us two hours to get from the airport to Khao San Road, on what to me were unbelievably modern roads, amidst hundreds of cars who now had - amazingly - ceased to throw black fumes out of their exhausts.  

India now seemed so incredibly dated: here I was, suddenly back in the modern world - the 20^th century. The palm trees and the heat triggered memories of arriving into California a few years before, only this time it was the tropics of S.E.Asia - Bangkok!

Bumper to bumper the cars slowed to a crawl; in this mode we crept across the city in the blazing heat, untouched in the ice-cool shelter of our air-conditioned taxi.  

The two hours passed without my realisation: 

Too caught up in golden temples and highways and modern people to notice the time...

... And when we finally arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes at what I was so in awe to be seeing. 

A new world.   

Newly Liberated-from-Society Travelling Souls 

Khao San Road. The hub-bub of a market street, filled choc-a-bloc with travellers wares to delight the senses: silver jewellery, Buddha amulets & beads, and tie-dyed clothing. 

Friendly Thai hawkers, only too happy to bargain amidst the honking traffic and the sights and smells. Street-side fare of pad thai and corn on the cob to keep us going, while we wandered and pondered this metropolis for backpackers.  

The streets were filled with farangs of all nations, all in their cotton fibre clothing, some obviously - by the unkemptness of their threadbare clothes and bedraggled hair - just landed from India. 

Others, straight from Europe or Australasia or Japan, had quickly blended in by donning the tie-dyed hippy clothing, available everywhere, that appealed somehow to our newly liberated-from-society travelling souls.

Suddenly there were no more Indian beggars and cripples by the side of the road, no more rubbish left to rot in the gutters; dogs that actually didn't look mangy. 

And after the predominantly vegetarian India, here now were stalls and stalls of ready cooked meat - I had to scour at first to see if there was anything I could eat! Five months on the sub-continent road had turned me into a vegetarian, too.

Tuk Tuks not Rickshaws - The Far East

We found a guesthouse near the post office adjacent to Khao San Road, dropped off our bags and headed straight out into Bangkok, tiredness totally forgotten. We wandered the streets for hours, returning only to shower before heading out to Pat Pong, a 20min 'tuk tuk' ride away from Khao San Road.  

Finally out of the world of rickshaws: this time I hadn't seen my world change. For the first time since I'd left London, I'd had no altering scenery or slowly changing faces to prepare me for my next destination - just a two hour plane journey through the air. So I arrived into Pat Pong, amazed to find I was actually in the world of fake Guccis.

It took me a minute to realise I didn't have to go any farther east: I was here, in the Far East itself.

Thais by the side of the road tried to drag us into their infamous 'balloon-blowing, razor-pushing pussy shows'. In the open doors of the not-so-illicit bars, we caught glimpses of scantily-dressed girls dancing on the bars, coming over to entertain the customers with open wide Thais smiles on their faces.  

Amused, I watched as a half-naked girl came to sit with the lone man at the next table. She glanced at me a few times, and when we looked at the same time, we exchanged open friendly grins. My first encounter with a Thai bar girl, where I would realise we are all just the same - regardless of the clothes we're wearing, or the job we're doing!   

No judgement needed here, we're all just people, whichever role we're playing. Finally feeling the exhaustion of the day, and with 'One Night in Bangkok' under my belt - that immortal song that has surely called to many a soul - I headed home to bed, full of it: tired eyes still wide open.  

I went to sleep that night with a vision of bumping into my friend in Khao San Road... 

And strangely enough within five minutes of wandering there the next day, there she was. Vicky's boyfriend and another friend from home were two minutes behind her, and before I knew it I was back in the company of my best buddies, five months after leaving them in my hometown.  

They were leaving for Koh Phangan in a few hours, and I promised to follow them within a week. They'd only arrived back into Bangkok the night before, after spending three weeks on Koh Samet, so it was a real coincidence to bump into them. 

Strange how Vicky had been dreaming of seeing me too.  

This was before the days of email and mobile phones and facebook: we had to rely on message boards, post restante - and intuition and luck! - in those days...

Diary Feb 1993   

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Koh Phangan: Ode to an Isle

Ode to an Isle 

Thank you for thee, for now I love my life

Live my dreams and chase the sea

Forever happy I may be

For your sweet soil you so humbly let me tread,

Catch me when I fall, bump my head

Graze my knee, you've seen it all.

My good, my bad, my shine, my best

My tears my fears, booze fags and all

You were there to witness my graduation

My stupidity.

Hold my memories dear to your heart

Oh mountain from the sea

Remember me if you please

Let me be the part of you that is

The Essential, the Essence, the Ethereal

by Island Resident Kaonashi
Koh Phangan, Thailand

   DJ Kaonashi Conneiusseur of Music

   via Phanganist.com

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DJ Pablo Escobud at The Castle Koh Tao, Thailand

Late call for The Castle Koh Tao!

It's always great to get a late call for The Castle Koh Tao, an island away from the hedonistic party paradise of Koh Phangan. It feels like going on holiday to us! Koh Tao is also a party haven in its own right, and nowhere more so than at The Castle. Koh Tao's biggest party rocks the smaller island three times a month, providing some of the best underground house to be heard on the Samui Islands. 

 DJs Pablo Escobud & Rob Gritton @ The Castle Koh Tao, Thailand

I took a magical mystery tour to The Castle Koh Tao for Phanganist, you can read that review linked here. Keep Calm & Party!

People flock to Koh Tao to relax before or after Koh Phangan's Full Moon Party, but little do they realise that the party never stops on the Thai islands.  Famous for its dive industry and the best snorkelling in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Tao is full of stunning coves, rock formations, coral reefs and white sand beaches.  As if that wasn't enough reason to visit, then there's The Castle!

We always have fun @ The Castle! Catch up with DJ Pablo Escobud's live mixes from the Thai Islands and beyond here:

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David Chong King of the Koh Phangan Underground

Written by Mia Escobud for Phanganist.com - Online Party Magazine Koh Phangan 19/04/2013

With what is close to a cult following among the communities of Haad Yuan & Haad Tien, Guy's Bar & Eden resident David Chong has reached his Icon Status on this island for very good reason: his music...

DAVID CHONG - KING OF THE KOH PHANGAN UNDERGROUND 

The undisputed King of the Koh Phangan Underground - I would say original King, but that would be forgetting Marc London - David is a trail blazer in the Underground House Scene, and a much revered iconic superstar to those of us in the know.

Spend a weekend or two listening to his music, and soon you too will be having your own musical epiphany, and don't be surprised when you too find that you are becoming a convert to the David Chong cult religion!

His music is full of interesting intros, beautiful melodies and harmonies, strings and violin lounge music to bring the vibe back down… then that snatch drum comes in up high, leading us back into the banging tech beats to come.

 The epitome of the Koh Phangan Underground, David Chong is a Master of the Journey.

"Ooh… I love this track!… Is it?… Isn't it?" As his music progresses you're never sure where it's going to go, never quite sure if you recognise that beat or not? His music builds and builds, the feel good energy sweeps through the dancing crowd, then those tribal bongos come in... and you know those fat dirty bass lines will follow! 

When the tempo rises, the whole dancefloor comes alive with the vibratory energy. DJ, music, dance floor and audience are ONE - a spiritual connection: each of us to the whole, and each other. There is a sense of unity and belonging to the parties he presides over, and sometimes, you just know it:

We are in the presence of something very special.

... And then David drop will an Eden classic of the season: Ooh Ooh Blush!  The progressive, Indie tech house track 'Howling' by Ry Cuming, & Frank Wiedemann.

Instantly the beautiful melody draws us in, the spiralling white noise leading us up where we need to go. With the deep cello strings and layers of low vocal harmonies - Hot night… coming… Blush! - the gentle mystery builds with the silken tones of the vocalist - You had me howling - until the spiral picks up the beat again and the piano solo takes us away. 

The subtle euphoria builds to a beautiful xylophone crescendo, until at the end, the high keyboards come in and send us flying. Sky looks much taller!

'Gold, I swam into your spell'

David Chong's music incorporates all of these recurring themes; the gentle mystery, the subtle euphoria, the haunting vocals. We feel the melancholic stirring in our hearts as our bodies pick out a vibe to dance to; and soon we are grooving, dancing, alive and free. One with the Dance!

Hours into a set, J'Adele says: "He's playing tune after tune after tune! How long's he been playing for now? It's hours!" When a DJ can play for hours on end and still pull the tunes out, you know for sure… "Yes, THAT'S why he's an Icon!" 

J'Adele - winner of the 'Made In Shoreditch' DJ competition 2012 and a London regular at venues as high profile as MOS & Egg - has been listening carefully to all DJs' style on this island: the most similar DJ to her own deep edgy tech style is none other than David Chong himself.

Unsurprisingly then, when she sent him a mix, he invited her over to play Eden - and he has also expressed interest in collaborating with J'Adele and her edgy vocals. As she tells me this I stop dead on the dance floor:  "OMG you've got to do it! I want to listen to it! We all want to listen to it!!"

Here's hoping Mia is the first to know if & when that track gets released!

ALL HAIL THE KING!

Koh Phangan, Thailand
April 2013

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