I Has a Bucket

For title reference, visit: http://ihasabucket.com/

Upon arriving in Hat Rin on Koh Pha Ngan a couple weeks ago, we learned that most of the tourism in the area is geared toward the town's Full Moon Party, a raucous celebration that attracts throngs of farangs to drink, cavort, and consume buckets. "What are buckets?" you ask. We wondered the same thing, especially when we saw all these stands on the beach, promoting their "Will Smit Buckets," "Fucking Good Buckets," and of course, "Bethlehem Buckets: Jesus' Favorite."

Okay, so buckets are some sort of drink. We wondered if you just got a bucket with some beers in it, or if maybe you'd purchase a bottle of Thai whisky and a mixer and carry it around in a bucket. Seems like a good way to keep your drinks organized during a beach party. Later on, on our beach in Thong Nai Pan (we were happy to have missed the Full Moon Party), we saw that the minimart sold buckets with Sang Som, which is our favorite brand of Thai whisky. (Sidenote: Mekong tasts like paint thinner. Don't drink it. Ever.) Thinking that nothing could be better than a cocktail on the beach, we decided to give this bucket thing a try. The lady at the counter led us around the minimart to select our mixer (we chose Coke) and energy drink (Red Bull), both of which would be included in the bucket. She also offered us ice. Some miscommunication must have ocurred around here, because what we ended up with was not a bucket containing this bottles and cans, but rather this:

I had been suspecting all along that a bucket might really be a bucket of booze, yet somehow we weren't quite expecting this. It's sort of obscene. Walking through town with a bucket that did truly runneth over was sort of shameful. We had tried to separate ourselves from those drunken farangs and yet, there we were, bucket in hand. It was fun to drink and tasted quite good, actually, but, needless to say, we didn't come close to finishing it. I can't believe folks can consume multiple buckets in one evening. Frats have nothing on Full Moon Parties.