Pantai Pasir Panjang (Long Sand Beach)

This guide to Pantai Pasir Panjang on Penang Island starts with a rusted, unclimbed lifeguard tower and traces the beach's shift from a quiet fishing hamlet to a military training ground edged by a checkpoint. It follows what arrived from across the strait toward Sumatra on December 26, 2004, and the months of clearing that followed. Best approached with a mind to the strong currents, which still make swimming here genuinely risky.