Had Rin freshers' fair (by Joe)

One of the big draws on the Thai islands are the full and half-moon parties at Had Rin, a 1km stretch of white sand at the very south of Phangan island in the Gulf of Thailand.

Reputed by guide books and word of mouth to be one of world's biggest, wildest and most hedonistic-liberal parties, we, like many others, went along to have a look (at least a look!).

We saw (and heard) some incredible two-storey sound system beach huts banging out tunes along the beachfront (see top); we saw fire eaters, acrobats and jugglers.

Yet for us the whole event fell well short of its billing. At close inspection the party crowd comprised almost entirely white middle-class gap year students wearing silly hats and drinking buckets of vodka-redbull coupled with people like us: voyeuristic middle-agers coming along principally to watch the promised mayhem.

In the end the atmosphere resembled the just-left-home must-try-hard insecurities of a fresher's fair party at a top 20 University in the UK , US or Australia.

There are various reasons for it. The government has cracked down on the extremities so the hard-core party people have moved on (to Serendepity Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia to be precise); a conservative mentality of cash-cow commercialism has long since taken over from genuine liberalism amongst the locals; and - like much in Thailand - it has simply grown over-ripe: just another box to tick on the south east Asian tourist trail.

We had a good time nonetheless: several red-bull buckets and the blaring beats kept us going till 4.30 am one night and 2.30 the next. Not a bad effort for 30-somethings, we felt.

The beach and bay were also naturally very beautiful and we found a nice hut for accommodation on a cliff above the bay with a warm sea breeze and a stunning double aspect view (see right - Laura on the balcony overlooking Had Rin).

So good times in the end, but a world away from the wild and lawless hedonistic experience we had been promised ... and were looking forward to!

Joe