# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After Bangkok edged out London as 2013's most-visited city, Thailand has finally gained global recognition for what seasoned travelers have known all along: it's one of the most magical and affordable destinations on Earth. While the mountains, temples, and incomparable markets of the mainland shouldn't be missed, no trip to Thailand would be complete without spending a few sunny days in the Thai islands sipping coconut milk in the sand and strapping on the snorkel gear.

Thailand, however, has literally hundreds of islands, many of which are off the beaten path or overrun by sun-and-fun tourist complexes. To help out, we've gone through the recommendations of over 900,000 real travelers on minube to find the most essential islands for your next vacation in Thailand. From rowdy resorts to pristine natural parks, here are the top 10 islands for a perfect trip to Thailand.

Ko Poda - The dreamy island of Ko Poda is roundly considered to be the best day-trip from Krabi, the starting point for many travelers visiting the Thai islands. The journey begins with a one-hour longtail boat trip across clear blue waters dotted with the Thailand's trademark karsts jutting into the sky. Once you arrive, you'll be greeted with reefs full of fish beckoning you to dive on in and untouched white-sand beaches for warming up in the sun. In short, Ko Poda is the perfect place to disconnect from the tourist trail in Krabi. (Photo by Naxos)

Click here to see more photos of Ko Poda

Mu Ko Ang Thong Natural Park - This marine park is made up over 40 islands and has some of the best landscapes and snorkeling to be found anywhere in Thailand. While there are a few scattered hotels and restaurants in the park, your best bet is to find cheap lodging in nearby Ko Samui and explore the park during a day-trip. How better to send the morning than kayaking through hidden lagoons, munching on barbecue on a desert island, and sprawling out on a virgin beach miles from civilization? (Photo by Jean-Louis Gericke)

Click here to see more photos of Mu Ko Ang Thong Natural Park

Ko Tao - Ko Tao is probably best known for Ko Nangyuan, a very popular and picture-perfect group of islands 15 min. from Ko Tao that are connected by strips of powdery white sand. While Nangyuan definitely merits a visit, many travelers suggest renting a scooter and heading to the unexplored eastern side of the island where intrepid travelers can rent a humble bungalow on an empty paradisaical beach for as little as $20 a night. (Photo by Anthony Fau)

Click here to see more photos of Ko Tao

Phi Phi Lee - Ah...the Phi Phi Islands, a name synonymous with honeymoon trips and a classic Thai destinations for everyone from college backpackers to jet-setting celebrities. While most of the action happens on the large island, Phi Phi Don, many travelers recommend heading to the smaller sibling, Phi Phi Lee, whose unique circle of jagged green karsts conceals the calm turquoise Pileh Lagoon made famous in the movie The Beach. (Photo by Miguel A. Cartagena)

Click here to see more photos of Pileh Lagoon

Ko Chang - As one traveler put it, "Ko Chang has a split personality." The island's western half is a busy nest of tours, shops, and nightclubs, but travelers seeking a get away from it all will undoubtedly be drawn to the virgin beaches to the east. Case in point: Zion Beach. This idyllic beach requires a scooter trip and a somewhat lengthy hike, but once you arrive you'll find a tropical paradise where entire days can be spent collecting sea shells, kayaking in the shallow blue water, and perhaps taking a snooze in one of the few bungalows hidden in the shade of the coconut trees. (Photo by Chiara Basso)

Click here to see more photos of Ko Chang

Ko Kai - Ko Kai ("Chicken Island," in reference to the island's trademark rock formation) is part of the Poda Islands near Krabi, and is another top day-trip destination. It's connected to Ko Poda via a narrow sand bar and while its thick jungles and imposing cliffs might not offer the most welcoming face, rest assured that it's home to some of the cleanest virgin beaches in the area and has vibrant marine life which has attracted divers the world over. (Photo by Naxos)

Click here to see more photos of Krabi

Ko Pha Ngan - If all the virgin beaches and quiet bungalows have you feeling restless, Ko Pha Ngan might be right up your alley. Ko Pha Ngan is most famous for hosting the legendary Full Moon Parties, massive alcohol-fuelled beach parties that have become a thing of backpacker revelry lore. Debauchery aside, Ko Pha Ngan does have its fair share of quiet, peaceful corners ranging from isolated beaches to surprisingly affordable luxury resorts (50$ a night!) with private beaches and infinity pools. (Photo by ViagensLacoste)

Click here to see more photos of Thailand

Ko Kut - Ko Kut is one of the lesser-known Thai islands and is a place to consider if you're looking to really escape from the world for a few days. The island is only accessible via a ferry from Trat and is home to a few scattered and quiet resorts which travelers say are absolutely empty during summertime. While visiting Thailand in August might mean a few extra hours of rain during your stay, there'll still be plenty of sun for lounging on the beach and you'll be able to have picture-perfect beaches like Bang Bao Bay (pictured above) practically to yourself. (Photo by Miguel A. Cartagena)

Click here to see more photos of Bang Bao Bay

Ko Samui - Ko Samui is the biggest player on Thailand's beach-tourism scene with over 1.5 million visitors a year, outstripping even Phuket as the undisputed king of the Thai islands. Ko Samui owes its fame to a mix of affordable family-friendly resorts, clean white-sand beaches, jungle waterfalls, and a generally laid-back island vibe that offers visitors a taste of everything. If you're into sipping cold Mai Tais to the thump of reggae, you'll find plenty of accommodating beach bars, but if you're looking for your own secluded island paradise, numerous hidden coves and undeveloped beaches are only a breezy bike ride away (Photo by ViagensLacoste)

Click here to see more photos of Ko Samui

Ko Phayam - Finally, many travelers recommend the small, quiet island Ko Phayam if you're looking to experience "the good life." You know what we mean: munching on freshly-grilled fish or pad thai in a sand-floored beach hut before sprawling out on a sunny bay or resting up in a wooden bungalow to the sound of the palm trees rustling in the breeze. There are also several villages belonging to the famous sea-gypsies of southern Thailand which you can visit after a hike through a landscape of jungles, waterfalls, and hot springs. (Photo by ViagensLacoste)

Click here to see more photos of Ko Phayam

Remember your favorite places from your trip to Thailand? Share your experiences, recommendations, and photos with over 900,000 fellow travelers at www.minube.net

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Islands For A Perfect Trip To Thailand

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After Bangkok edged out London as 2013's most-visited city, Thailand has finally gained global recognition for what seasoned travelers have known all along: it's one of the most magical and affordable destinations on Earth.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
With America's student loans topping $1 trillion, it's hard to ignore the for-profit education industry, which has added to that debt load at a faster rate than other teaching institutions. And among for-profit schools, ITT Educational Services (ticker: ESI) exemplifies the challenge facing those trying to ward off the loan debacle warned of in this week's cover story, " What a Drag!"

Trade-school students take out more loans-97% of them borrow, compared with just 13% at community colleges-and default on them at twice the rate of their non-profit peers. With more than 140 locations, the company's ITT Technical Institute charges among the highest tuition in its industry. It also has the industry's highest rate of loans that go into default within two-years of attendance. Those high tuition charges yield robust profits, but ITT Educational shares have done as poorly as the rest of the for-profit education sector. Since Barron's warned of that industry's tragic flaws in a 2009 cover story (" Leveraging Up to Learn," Nov. 9, 2009), ITT Educational stock is down 34%, to a recent price of $63, while the Nasdaq Composite Index is up over 40%.

Sure, a recession and a saturated trade-school market have cooled the sector's enrollments. But the biggest chill on these stocks has been the Obama administration's new rules aimed at curbing boiler-room sales practices and saving students from taking on too much debt. More than any other large for-profit school, however, the Carmel, Ind.,-based ITT Tech has been surpassingly clever at rearranging its affairs to stay ahead of each new regulation.

"Their management team excels at two things," says Bradley Safalow, an independent New York stock analyst who's followed the company, skeptically, for years. "The first would be maximizing EPS at the expense of students. The second would be avoiding regulations."

When federal aid limitations seemed insufficient to support ITT Tech tuition levels in 2010, the company formed an off-balance-sheet entity to lend students the difference. As defaults became an issue across dozens of its federally registered units in 2011, ITT Educational consolidated those units into two unanalyzable entities and aggressively challenged the government's default measures. This year, when new regulations start measuring whether each trade school's graduates are earning enough to service their student-loan debt, the company is reformatting its curriculum in a way that could delay measurement of its employment outcomes until 2018.

"They are pulling every lever at their disposal," says Safalow, who distributes his work under the moniker PAA Research.

ITT Educational executives declined to discuss the business or its regulatory issues with Barron's, citing a quiet period before releasing March quarter results on April 26.

FOR THE 30 YEARS before its 1994 initial public offering, ITT Tech was wholly owned by the ITT conglomerate. Like other trade-school operators, it enjoyed a sales boom under the indulgent tutelage of the last Bush administration. The company doubled enrollment and revenue between 2004 and 2010. The 80,000 students enrolled in 2010 brought in nearly $1.6 billion in revenue and yielded earnings of $374 million, or $11.17 per share. Such strong financial performance sent the New York-listed shares up 100% over the same period, to a high of $133. Among its happiest investors was Richard Blum, husband of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. His Blum Capital Partners is still ITT Educational's largest shareholder, with a 16% stake.

Last year, the for-profit education industry stopped growing to the sky. At ITT Educational, enrollment at the end of 2011 dropped to about 73,000 from almost 84,000 a year earlier, despite an increase in locations to 141 from 130. Revenue slipped 6% to $1.5 billion. Earnings per share edged down to $11.13. The dent in earnings per share would've been deeper had the company not plowed cash flow into share repurchases, $720 million worth in 2010 and 2011.

"They're dealing with market saturation," says Safalow. "It's more of a market-share game, where brand and price are all that matters."

Thanks to heavy television advertising, ITT Tech has a pretty good brand. But the company charges premium tuition prices, according to calculations by Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Ginocchio (see chart). The average cost of an ITT Tech bachelor's degree is about $77,000, by Ginocchio's estimate, or about $640 per credit. That's 16% higher than well-regarded rivals like DeVry (DV), and triple even an expensive community college, by our estimate based on the College Board's latest data. ITT Tech students mostly go for two-year programs, in fact. An associate's degree in network systems administration, according to an obscure ITT Tech disclosure, will set you back $45,000.

CEO Kevin Modany emphasized the upside during a Credit Suisse conference in March: "People have a misperception with regard to the value proposition that exists for our students. [T]he kind of income lift that they see, the type of return that they see."

STRONG EVIDENCE THAT trade schools raise tuition to whatever level federal aid can support was presented in a February 2012 working paper by Stephanie Riegg Cellini of George Washington University and Claudia Goldin of Harvard. The paper shows that for-profit schools eligible for federal student aid charged 75% more than comparable for-profit schools outside the aid program. The Department of Education and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are attempting to improve their oversight of the debt piled on by trade-school students. At a January briefing, CFPB director Richard Cordray lamented that some for-profit schools anticipated 50% default rates even as they made loans to their students.

Last year, company-wide defaults on federally backed loans at ITT Tech reached 22.3% for students who finished school before September 2009, the highest level among publicly traded schools, according to Education Department data. That's up from 12.2% a year earlier. Insight about ITT Tech's most-troubled campuses, however, became impossible to find because in 2010 the company consolidated 26 of the units tracked by federal regulators into a single entity.

"Gerrymandering" is what analyst Safalow calls the maneuver, which he believes was intended to prevent troubled units from losing access to federal aid programs.

The for-profit industry recently received the government's tentative measure of default rates for the first three years of repayment: ITT Tech's was 34%. CEO Modany has said he's challenging the government's measures, which the company believes are biased by bad counting and poor servicing of student loans by the government's direct-lending program.

In September, trade schools of every stripe will see the first reports under the new "gainful employment" rule, showing whether graduates of specific degree programs earn enough to service their loans over the subsequent three years. Some schools have reduced tuition ahead of the rule, but ITT Tech is revamping its curriculum and speeding students through more credits in less time. Analysts wonder if these "new" programs will allow the company to argue that it needs three extra years of outcome data before it becomes subject to the "gainful employment" standards.

"The rule has clearly sent a message to industry that their students' outcomes matter," says Debbie Cochrane, program director at the Institute for College Access & Success. "It has had a positive effect already, but how extensive that positive effect will be, remains to be seen."

E-mail: editors@barrons.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For-profit colleges are contributing mightily to the country's $1 trillion in student-loan debt. When it comes to defaults, ITT Educational Services is doing much more than its share. With the federal government taking a close look at default rates, the stock could fall.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 2015 Audi R8 LMX is a work of pure perfection and this is the first production car to come with laser beam headlights. One laser module per headlight generates a cone of light with twice the range of the all-LED headlight. A camera system is used to monitor the road ahead and when it senses oncoming traffic, the headlight adjusts its light pattern towards an oncoming vehicle.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of the vehicle's exterior is the body paint, which can be black, blue, grey, or grey metallic.The interior has been splashed with fine leather seats, and there are modern gadgets on the dashboard. Matte carbon is used on the covers of the center tunnel console and the parking brake lever, on the inlays in the doors and the arc around the cockpit. This is a mid-engine, two-seater sports car that comes with GPS and GSM technology to provide seamless tracking and recovery across 36 European countries. You can also expect modern gadgets on the dashboard, including a stereo system with 8 speakers and a multimedia receiver with 6.2" touchscreen monitor.

The car is sitting on 19-inch tires with alloy rims, which are paired with carbon-fiber ceramic brake discs, which upfront measure 15 inches in diameter. The front grille has a titanium gray finish, which gives the car its trademark look. High-gloss black finish has been used on the exhaust pipes, and the wheelbase is around 104.3 inches (2.65 m). The car has a total weight of 3,583 pounds(1625 kg), and a rear spoiler is used to increase the down force on its rear axle. The vehicle is 14ft 7in (4.445 m) long and 6ft 3in ( 1.9 m) wide, and it has a cargo capacity of 3.5 cubic feet (99.1 liter).

2015 Audi R8 LMX Engine

This is no less than the most powerful R8 ever, its 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 having been turned up to 562 bhp with 398 lb-ft of torque. The engine has been paired up with a seven-speed drive train, and this powerful engine can make the car go from 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) in only 3.4 seconds. The car's top speed is 198 mph (320 km/h), and ten cylinders rev beyond 8,500 rpm. This power delivery makes the vehicle so thrilling to drive, and when it comes to fuel consumption, you can expect the vehicle to offer 18.2 miles per gallon (12.9 L/100 km).

Pricing and release date

The new 2015 Audi R8 LMX doesn't come cheap and pricing starts at $289,000 msrp. This is a limited edition production car and Audi is expected to unveil only 99 units. So if you want to get your hands on this car, you should hurry when it makes its debut in the summer of 2015.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
2015 Audi R8 LMX Review, Price, Specs, 0-60 mph, top speed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 2015 Audi R8 LMX is a work of pure perfection and this is the first production car to come with laser beam headlights. One laser module per headlight generates a cone of light with twice the range of the all-LED headlight.