New Tales of the Gobi Desert
St Joseph’s College, Julian Wat, Fiction: Group 3
A
nother day, another adventure!” I murmured as I packed my wilderness backpack
once again for a special invitation by other adventurers to the remote Gobi Desert.
It was only days since I was still exploring the Amazon rainforest, so I was curious
to what the desert has to offer. Sooner enough, I was in an aircraft, heading to the
Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, to mark the start of the trip of a lifetime.
After being strapped in a flight seat for a gruelling three hours, finally I arrived at my
destination. There I met my fellow adventurer also best friend Timothy, which is a guest
researcher on the project of the habitat of the Gobi. Also an expert of the Mongolian region,
being lost in the desert was the last thing I was worried about. Another two hours on a jeep on
bumpy roads ensured me straight to the restroom at the research base located at the Eastern Gobi
Desert Steppe.
On the very next day, Timothy introduced me to the rest of the research team and took me to
a lab to introduce the work he had been doing in the past months. I quickly grew bored and went
to the fossil pits which were opposite to the lab to observe the archaeologists at work. After days
of just staying round the base basically doing nothing, I figured out it was about time to go out to
explore the wild.
Early the next morning, I grabbed my backpack and went to the leader to ask for permission
to leave the base. The leader gave me the green light and passed me a satellite phone in case of
any accident, and I was off into the bare desert. From the map provided by Timothy, there are
some old ruins ten miles to the North, which was predicted to be about 500 years old and is rarely
researched. This fired up my adventure spirit, and I was gone in a blink of an eye. I had prepared
food for two days, 5L of water and other survival gear such as my Swiss army knife, so I was
confident to complete the expedition with ease.
At first, it went pretty well, although sometimes my boots got stuck in the sand, but no
big issues. When I encountered the first small hill, there was a slight concern that I was going
through my water too fast, losing 2L of water in twelve hours, so from then onwards, I started to
limit my drinking, which made a huge impact on my body later on. The heat of the sun just made
me want to hide and give up, but I promised myself that I must catch a glimpse of the ancient
ruins to accomplish my goal of this adventure in the Gobi Desert, so I kept on going. I walked and
walked, but the only thing I could see was sand. I think I have walked for about seven miles when
night fell, but when sat down to rest, a splitting headache followed and it wasn’t something that I
have ever experienced. I thought I was almost at the ancient ruins, so although my body resisted,
but the spirit kept me going.
I was off at dusk the next day to avoid the intense heat and after climbing another of the
countless sand dunes, I finally spotted the ruins in the near distance. I was so delighted that I rushed
to the scene of the ruins but it turned out to be a mirage. Although not the true object, I know the
ruins were just around the corner, so I kept on searching within the area and my effort paid off. The
ruins were a beauty to watch, containing ancient architecture structures which I hadn’t seen before,
making me wonder how it was like when this place was civilized and full of people. Hiding in the
shade under the structures, I quickly checked what I had left for my supplies. I had some bread and
“
