The nearest island to Ko Samui is Ko Pha Ngan, the island which plays host to the full moon parties which are becoming increasingly popular. Haad Rin on the southern tip is where these parties take place - normally the resort is fairly quiet and relatively empty, but around the time of the full moon it becomes packed to capacity. There are around 5000 rooms on the entire island and it's estimated that 7000 people swamp the island around that time. The bars, films and Internet cafes are still there, but it's vastly nicer compared than Chaweng due to the lack of prostitutes and traffic. The party is held on the beach and involves every bar playing extremely loud music of differing types throughout the night until the mid morning - seventies and eighties, house, techno, funk, it's all there somewhere. There is a festival atmosphere with jugglers, face painting, food stalls and a police presence. To avoid the accommodation issue we took a boat to Ko Pha Ngan from Ko Tao on the night, which I'd recommend. Take the fast boat which takes 45mins instead of the slow one we used which took four hours. And take a hammock! We headed straight for the north east coast and a resort called Star Huts after a glowing recommendation from a friend on Ko Samui., and a fine recommendation it was too. The taxi was a four wheel drive and needed to be, the journey over the hills was demanding and interesting - it's also a route that can't really be done after or during rainfall. There are only two taxi's per day to the resort, and because of its isolation it's an idyllic, quiet, resort with the most chilled out atmosphere of anywhere I've been. The accommodation is even more basic compared to other islands, but it's also very cheap - roughly 150 Baht (three pounds) per night for a room in a wooden hut, right on the edge of the bay. The Bio Kitchen is one of the two bars to while away time in the evening, it's a very laid back affair with hammocks spread around the raised dais and backgammon sets everywhere. We took a pleasant day trip to Bottle Bay, which is even more secluded than Star Huts as the only way in is either walking or by boat. For this reason it has become popular with many backpackers who smoke all day long as the police can't easily get there either! I personally wasn't too impressed - the beach wasn't as nice, construction was underway on more huts, and the line of palm trees which bordered our bay was noticeably absent.
