Long before Full Moon Party became a bucket-list line item for half the backpackers in Southeast Asia, Drop In Bar was already standing on Haad Rin Nok Beach. P’Toh’s uncle opened it in 1989, back near the start of the whole Full Moon phenomenon, and P’Toh took over after moving home from Bangkok in 1999, starting out bussing tables before working his way behind the decks himself. It’s now the longest-running bar on the beach and the unofficial epicenter of the monthly madness: the fire rope jumping show that draws the biggest crowd of the night happens right outside the door. On regular nights, minus the 30,000-strong crowds, it’s still one of the best beach bars on Haad Rin, run like a family business because it is one. Three-plus decades in, Drop In Bar isn’t chasing the Full Moon Party’s fame. It built it.
