Haad Laem Sing

This guide to Haad Laem Sing on Phuket's west coast traces how a beach reachable only by longtail boat once had a concrete staircase down from the road, drawing beach bars, jet skis and crowds by the mid-2000s. It follows what happened in 2017, when a landowner's claim over that access staircase shut the crowds out for good. Look up at the headland while you listen: a wall of giant granite boulders half-swallowed by jungle.