Lesson from Gobi
Macau Anglican College, Desiree Wolfsgruber, Fiction: Group 2
A
fter 17 hours and 37 minutes, I arrived at the Lhasa Galan Airport to join the Gobi
wilderness camp. A flight attendant, assigned to accompany a minor flying alone,
which is me, assisted me to the immigration and helped me collect my luggage,
“You will have a fun time in the Gobi, cheer up! See you in ten days’ time.” I was
not so looking forward to the camp. Why did my parents send me here? The camp is designed
exclusively for teenagers, like me, to experience living in Gobi desert. Definitely, not teenagers
like me! I spotted a group of Gobi campers bearing a welcome sign in the crowd of the arrival
hall. They greeted me with a warm smile, “I’m Natasha, and this is Joey and bla and bla and bla...
We are all campers like you. Welcome to Summer Camp Gobi!” I waved at them. Do I bother to
remember their names? We all went out of the airport and met Leader Martin. Then we jumped
into a safari jeep to go to the campsite.
It was a long ride to the campsite. We passed by a pasture of sand dunes. We only spotted
cactuses and a few camels along the sand dunes. That’s it. All the twenty teenagers were chatting
nonstop. No one seemed to be exhausted from the hot and dry weather except me. Leader Martin
escorted us to a huge tent where cold ice teas awaited for us. Beside the huge tent, there were three
other tents, one for the boys, one for the girls, and one for the supplies. We were told to mingle
and get to know each other, but I was too tired to bother. During dinner, we were told about our
schedule as well as stuff we had to prepare everyday. We were briefed to get ready by 6.30am for
breakfast and be ready by 7am every day. I sneaked out to bed silently when everyone was still
discussing the summer program.
The morning alarm woke us right at 6 am. A dull set of uniform was placed next to our bed.
Our uniform was a grey long-sleeves polo shirt, with grey shorts, and a pair of grey sneakers.
Leader Martin even wore the same uniform as ours! For the first three days, we learned about
the map of Gobi, the survival aid in case we got lost, reading the desert trail, and observing
weather to predict the sandstorm. On the fourth day, we were going on our first trip to the desert.
Everyone was so excited for this trip, except me.
It was a sizzling hot day, with the sun permanently on top of our head. Leader Martin
reminded us about robust weather change in the desert, which we need to observe from time to
time. After three hours’ drive, we arrived at the sandy mountain. I forgot its name; they all looked
the same to me. We started to walk to the nearest oasis. I was sweating from head to toe. My mind
became blurred. All I could hear is the Gobi desert is bla…bla…bla… hot and sunny and we have to
be bla…bla…bla…, watch out for the bla…bla…bla...
I secretly took out my phone and started fiddling around with it while walking slowly.
Suddenly, I noticed that it was so quiet. I looked around- it was blurred due to a mild sandstorm.
Where is everybody? I started to panic. What should I do? Maybe I should go back to the jeep
and wait for everyone. But there was no jeep to be found except for sand and more sand. I walked
the opposite direction with hands covering half of my face from the sandstorm. I gazed to the
distance- the sand dunes all looked the same. I started to cry. I should have paid attention to what
Martin had told us. I did not know what to do.
Wait, I have a survival kit in my backpack. Inside, there was the survival instruction, a
