Playing Lost

Friday 11th December 2009, 12pm, The Gulf of Thailand - somewhere or other.

After escaping the chaos of Bangkok for Koh Chang, our group of 5 have now escaped the hedonism of Koh Chang for the serenity of it's tiny neighbouring island, Koh Mak. With each journey I take I find myself somewhere more remote, a beach more beautiful than the last, an island less inhabited than the previous (Mak has 400 residents), a place more untouched by the backpacker trail and the tourist touts. This is where the Thais come on holiday, save for a few intrepid German holidaymakers we are the only Westerners on the island. I awoke from a beach doze yesterday afternoon and couldn't see another human being in either direction, this place is the definition of remote; as one of my friends said, 'I feel like I'm in Lost'.

Right now I'm sat on a speedboat moored 30 minutes from Mak's postcard coastline. We've spent the morning snorkeling round the coral reef which is teeming with fish and plant life of every shape, size and colour. I know that scuba divers sneer at snorkeling but I thought it was magical - like being a giant flying over an undiscovered alien city. I snorkeled in the Barrier Reef a few years ago and although I don't think anything can compete with that in terms of sheer vastness, this site per square metre (forgive the pun), blew it out the water - probably because this place is relatively unexplored and the coral remains unspoilt by human exploitation. My underwater travel writing is clearly even worse than my standard travel writing but basically (and forgive me again because this is my only available topical reference), it was pure Finding Nemo. Normally I'm a bit of a chicken about swimming in the sea as I spend my whole time in the water replaying the Jaws theme-tune in my head, but, you know, 'when in Rome...'. I refuse to miss out on these experiences just because I'm scared of becoming shark food.

Last night I felt the first niggling pangs of homesickness. It could be because I've been away for a couple of weeks now but I suspect it's more to do with the isolation of Koh Mak. The sense that I've never been further from home or those that love me, the void of man-made stimulation and the feeling that I'm Tom Hanks in Castaway, a contestant on Shipwrecked, a plane crash survivor stranded in a Bermuda triangle of space and time continuum. I am Lost.

I feel much more relaxed today though, it's hard not to in such a picturesque tropical paradise as this. I'm not an aficionado of the TV series (entirely due to my frustration, nae, ANGER, at the lack of explanation or concern over the presence of a Polar Bear in the first episode) but from talking to someone obsessed with the programme I gather that all the inhabitants of that island are drawn there for a reason, when they leave prematurely it disrupts the harmony and balance of the place because they are destined to be there. So I'm contentedly playing Lost today, believing that I'm where I'm meant to be, a pawn in destiny's chess game. Hey, last night I sat on the beach at dusk under a palm tree sipping milk from a fresh coconut... there are worse places the Universe could have marooned me.