ok, sometimes i wonder where these stats or thailand or, now, stars come from. i will plead ignorance on the 5 star selections, only been to phi phi and krabi, and not sure which beach they are talking about. but the 'regular' 4 stars, well, i don't know about samet is., but hua hin and chaweng beachs don't impress me at all. i love and visit hua hin alot, but won't go in the water now, used to, but main city beach isn't swimmable for me, and lower beach near monkey temple is ok, bit shallow. can't comment on beachs above main city beach in posh resorts as haven't visited them. but they are so close i can't image a large difference, especially being north of main beach and south of cha am beach, which i also won't go in. same opinion of samui's and bang saen beach, now 3.5 starts. nice to look at, but not my choice for swimming. if a beach is going to get 3 or more stars, it should be crystal clear swimmable water, which these just don't qualify. in my opinion of course.'Five-star' beaches named
Adang Island Beach in Satun, Phi Phi Island's Long Beach and Bilae Beach on Krabi's Hong Island are the recipients of the government's first "Five-star Tourist Beach" titles, a senior official said yesterday.
The acting director-general of the Pollution Control Department (PCD), Monthip Srirattana Tabuganon, said the PCD has conducted an annual assessment of beach quality for four years now and most beaches received between three and four-and-a-half stars.
One hundred and five beaches - 31 beaches from Trat to Chon Buri, 38 along the Gulf of Thailand and 36 on the Andaman coast - were given between three and four-and-a-half stars, she said.
Regular four-star winners include
Sai Kaew Beach on Rayong's Samet Island, Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin Beach, and Chaweng Beach on
Surat Thani's Samui Island, while Chon Buri's Bang Saen Beach was elevated to three-and-a-half stars due to local authorities' improvement of the environment there.
Janjira Pongrai
The Nation
sort of goes in line with that 96 % literacy rate in thailand. sadly, that's not even funny anymore, but embarrassing. does that mean you can count to 10 and sign your name. don't know where they pulled that number out of, although can think of one place.
ok, you all know i'm a really handsome guy, but i wouldn't seriously try to sell that to the rest of the educated world, although not knowing 1st hand, may believe it.
i've been to much nicer beaches in thailand that didn't get mentioned, although not many did get mentioned at all. would love to see their top 50, out of curiousity.
