Paddle boarding at sunset.
It is late October 1999 and time is about to be called on the 20th century. In the real world, Pakistan’s government is in the process of being overthrown while the rest of the planet nervously awaits the consequences of the Y2K bug, with conspiracy theorists warning of an imminent Armageddon.
Pre-millennium tension, though, is in short supply here on Haad Rin Beach, home to Koh Pha Ngan’s famous Full Moon Party.
I made my way to the island alone a day or two before. Now I’m holding court in a party of compadres – spinning yarns of travel in Southeast Asia as colourful as the garish fake designer T-shirt I’m modelling proudly and unselfconsciously. With bars and sound systems lining the beach pumping out a pounding soundtrack of Goa trance, I dance until daybreak.