Sanjay Gupta: Koh Samui, Thailand
Where the medical correspondent, 51, was forced to reflect on the fragility of life
One of my happiest moments of travel is also the most gut-wrenching. In December 1998, my wife and I went to Koh Samui, a little island off the eastern coast of Thailand. We stayed in a place on the beach called the Smile House, which was around $20 a night back then. It was such an indelible experience, but not just because of the banana pancakes we ate for breakfast. To get to Koh Samui, you either take an evening flight or an all-day, 12-hour bus ride followed by a two-hour ferry. We waited in line at the airport but couldn’t get a ticket, so we ended up on the bus. It happened to be my wife’s birthday and I kept thinking, Boy, I really blew this one. The air-conditioning on the bus was so freezing cold that our arms and legs cramped up. We practically couldn’t move. When we arrived in Surat Thani, the mainland city, to take the ferry, it was nighttime, and the horizon was lit up with sirens and rescue lights. We didn’t know at first what had happened, but it turned out that the plane we had wanted to take had crashed. It was terrible. Over 100 people had died. It was one of those moments when we didn’t know what to say to each other. Nothing makes you feel more alive than having been shot at and missed, and that’s how we felt. As you get older, you appreciate how fragile our existence is. You can spend all day kicking yourself for something — like not getting those plane tickets — but fate can flip on a dime. I’m not generally like this, but I do think certain things happen for a reason. That day, if I had gotten what I wanted — or what I thought I wanted — we wouldn’t have survived. Instead, it was this unforgettable moment that’s stayed with me all these years: eating those pancakes, looking out to sea, thinking how lucky we are, how lucky we are.
On my to-go list: Las Catalinas, in Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica, is a new non-resort beach town designed using principles of new urbanism to create community and immersion in nature. It’s car-free and walkable, with plazas and hiking trails, all to make you feel like you’re part of a community even if you’re just visiting.
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