Haad Rin, Koh Phangan, Thailand

Haad Rin (Thai: หาดริ้น, RTGS: Hat Rin, Thai pronunciation: [hàːt rín]) is a peninsular beach area and town on the southern tip of Ko Pha Ngan, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Its two main beaches are Sunset Beach (Haad Rin Nai) to the south and the larger Sunrise Beach (Haad Rin Nok) to the north. The famous Full Moon Party takes place on Sunrise Beach each month. 

The town and beach first became popular with backpackers escaping the tourist influx to Ko Samui in the 1980s. As the popularity of the beach and Full Moon Party have increased, the town has grown to accommodate the new visitors. The town is centred on Chicken Corner, a crossroads and popular meeting spot.

Most of the nightlife in the town is centred on beach-front spots. The original beach bars, Drop-In Bar and Cactus Bar attract the largest crowds, with nightly drinks promotions and fire shows.

Here, popular chart tunes, R&B and club classics entertain the crowds. Other beach bars include Vinyl Club, Zoom (both playing psytrance, the original Full Moon Party style of music), Orchid (playing Drum and Bass and Jungle) and Boom Boom Bar (playing deeper house and trance music). While there are a few massage parlours, this part of Thailand is largely devoid of the prostitution prevalent in other areas such as Phuket and Pattaya.

Fire shows 

Apart from the music and bars on the beaches of Haad Rin, a famous feature of the Haad Rin is the spectacular nightly fire shows put on by individuals at the Cactus and Drop-In bars. Various individuals specialize in the arts of Poi and Staff, performing mind-boggling and beautiful tricks to entertain the crowds. The firesticks are ropes twisted around sticks and soaked in diesel which, when burned, emits choking clouds of toxic stench, so don't stand downwind. Many tourists are inspired by the shows and opt to take up daytime lessons before joining the evening fire shows personally. There is a fully equipped hospital on Samui for such eventualities.

Pollution 

Pollution in Thai is มลพิษ Molaphit. Haad Rin is fairly polluted with litter and such. There are sewerage works and the sewerage is not pumped into the sea. The beach is kept relatively clean considering the constant parties.

Phra Nang Beach, Railay, Thailand

Ao Nang (Thai: อ่าวนาง) is a small resort town and subdistrict in the Mueang Krabi District of Krabi Province, Thailand.
Phra Nang Beach is a central point of the coastal province of Krabi, Thailand. The town consists chiefly of a main street, which is dominated by restaurants, pubs, shops and other commerce aimed at tourists. The main beach is used by sunbathers to a certain extent, but there are a large number of longtail boats which offer access to other beaches on the mainland and on nearby islands.

Scuba Diving
There are a number of scuba diving centers in Ao Nang, offering dive course from basic up to instructor level. The "Local" islands in Ao Nang Bay are relatively easy to access and uncrowded compared to many of the diving sites around Phi Phi Island. Other options include Shark Point Marine sanctuary and the King Cruiser wreck which is suitable for intermediate divers, and mini safaris to Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and the Ko Ha Yai Islands for experienced or deep qualified divers.

Rock Climbing

Ao Nang was originally put on the travel map by backpackers, many of whom who came for the excellent climbing that Krabi's unique Karst structure offers, and rock climbing is still widely available through centers in Ao Nang, although most of the climbs are in the areas around Railay, Tonsai and Phra Nang beaches.

Boat Tours / Transfers

The main beach at Ao Nang is the departure point for boats to a number of places, including the nearby resort of Railay (or Rai Leh), which cannot be accessed by road, Poda Island and Chicken Island, ticket booths with clear pricing structures are located at both ends of the beach.

Tsunami Monument

On December 26th 2004 Ao Nang was hit by the tsunami and suffered serious damage to most coastal areas. With help from the local and international communities most of the damage was cleared up fairly quickly, and today the only visual memory the Tsunami is the Tsunami Memorial dedicated to the thousands of locals and foreigners who lost their lives on the day. The monument is located at Noppharat Thara, close to the National Park offices.

Nightlife 

Ao Nang's nightlife centers on two main areas, which are known locally as "Center Point" and "The Soi", another nightlife area, the strip of bars along Bamboo Soi was demolished in 2014 to be replaced by a new Resort Building. Both Center point (located along the main beach road) and The Soi or Soi RCA (about 200 meters up from the beach on the right just before McDonald's) contain bars offering loud music, bar girls and free pool. Popular bars in Ao Nang include KR Bar, Rocky Bar, Amy's 69 Bar, Moo 2 House and Chilli Bar.

Sunrise Beach, Koh Lipe, Thailand

Koh Lipe (Thai: เกาะหลีเป๊ะ) is a small island in the Adang-Rawi Archipelago of the Andaman Sea, in the Satun Province of southwest Thailand, close to Malaysian border. The Thai name is transliterated in many different ways into English. The most common names are Koh Lipe, Koh Lipeh, Ko Lipey and Ko Lipe. Koh Lipe is on the border of the Tarutao National Marine Park and is directly south of the larger islands Ko Adang and Ko Rawi and about 50 km from the island of Ko Tarutao. It was originally settled by a group of sea gypsies (Chao Leh in Thai), originally from Malaysia, known as the Urak Lawoi people.

In high season (November to May) there are several locations from which you can take a ferry or speedboat to Koh Lipe, including: Pak Bara, Langkawi, Phi Phi, Ko Lanta, and Trang. In low season (May to October) the only way to get to Koh Lipe is by speedboat from Pak Bara at around 11:30hrs.

From Langkawi, Malaysia there are two speedboats per day (from November until May): one at 9:45 am costing 128 Malaysian Ringit and one at 2:30 pm, costing 118 Malaysian Ringit; alternatively. These boats dock at the south end of Pattaya Beach. Other ferries are met by longtail boats offering transfers to anywhere on Koh Lipe for an additional 50 baht/person.

Koh Lipe is outside of the Tarutao National Park jurisdiction, and as such is exempt from the laws and legislation that protects the rest of the national park. The island is rapidly growing to meet the demands of increase in tourism, and is facing quite a few issues with rubbish and animal conservation. There are projects currently in place to keep Koh Lipe clean.

Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Koh Phi Phi Leh or Ko Phi Phi Ley (Thai: เกาะพีพีเล, RTGS: Ko Phi Phi Le, pronounced [kɔ̀ʔ pʰīː pʰīː lēː]) is an island of the Phi Phi archipelago, in the Andaman Sea. It belongs to the Krabi province of Thailand.

Koh Phi Phi Ley is the second largest island of the archipelago, the largest one being Ko Phi Phi Don. The island consists of a ring of steep limestone hills surrounding 2 shallow bays, the Maya Bay and Loh Samah. There is also one large shallow fjord like inlet called Pi Ley with a small coral reef at the entrance.

Controversy arose during the making of the film The Beach due to 20th Century Fox bulldozing and rescaping of the natural beach setting of Koh Phi Phi Leh to make it more "paradise-like". The production altered some sand dunes and cleared some coconut trees and grass to widen the beach. Fox set aside a fund to reconstruct and return the beach to its natural state, however lawsuits were filed as many believed the damage to the ecosystem is permanent and restoration attempts failed.

The main dive sites are at Loh Samah, Maya Bay entrance and Palong Bay, and are often combined with diving at Ko Bida Noi, a rocky outcrop some 500 meters south of Loh Samah.

Maya Bay is popular for diving, and has become even more popular after the 2000 movie The Beach was filmed there. According to the Lonely Planet's Thailand guidebook, the 2004 tsunami dramatically improved the look of Maya Bay. This was due to the fact that the high waves had cleaned up the beach and removed all the landscaping the Fox production team had added.