BANGKOK - It's described in Thailand's tourist guides as paradise, but the 'full-moon party' island of Koh Phangan is for many unsuspecting visitors a vision of hell. Once a month, as the full moon rises over the island's seemingly idyllic Haad Rin beach, tens of thousands of revelers swarm into its waterfront bars and discotheques and dance and drink the night away.
At New Year, the numbers swell to 50,000, who literally fight for space at the beach bars, where pretty Thai girls serve up drug-spiked cocktails in small buckets. Every year, at least one young reveler dies, dozens are assaulted, date-raped or ferried to mainland hospitals with serious alcohol poisoning.