half a litre of water left. My heart slumped as I knew I would never make it back without assistance.
The day only grew worse when something more devastating happened: a sandstorm.
I saw it firsthand: a huge wave of sand like a tsunami is rushing towards me. I stood dead
in my tracks, not knowing what to do. Refreshing my mind, I quickly hid in a hole and yanked
a towel from my backpack to cover my mouth and nose. The sandstorm hit the ruins with
tremendous force and the sand slammed on my body like a piece of metal. The torture finished off
with a large heap of sand stacked on my back. I shrugged the sand off, and disappointingly found
my backpack ripped into two pieces. The food was gone, and the water container was leaking
water fast. To make matters worse, my only hope: the satellite phone fell hard on the ground and
broke during the sandstorm. I have nothing to save from this hell-like desert. It seemed my luck
has run out and I was the lamb ready to be slaughtered.
In the desert, half a litre of water wasn’t going to last for long, and had to find some water
sources. But sadly, I was in the driest region within the Gobi desert, which guaranteed me a slim
chance of retrieving water. When I knew that nothing learnt in survival lessons apply here, so
what is left is the extreme method that I would not want to try in the rest of my life: drinking my
own urine. I once saw a television programme which featured famous British scout Bear Grylls,
where he described extreme survival methods, and now, I thought, was the time to put them to
use. Drinking one’s own urine may seem disgusting and the worst thing a man could do, but if a
bottle of urine can maximize your chance of survival in extreme conditions, it is definitely worth
the shot. After hours of being desperate to stay alive, I fell into a coma. I thought it was the end.
I woke up in hospital, and I started thinking crazy things such as am I in heaven or am
I dead. But only took a slap from Timothy to bring me back to reality. When I regained full
consciousness, I started to listen to Timothy about how I escaped the grasp of hell. Timothy said
he found it strange when he didn’t find me in the morning and reported to the base leader. After
the sandstorm, the base leader ordered small search teams to search for me and Timothy led a
team to the ruins where they found me lying in a coma. They quickly used a helicopter to send me
to a hospital in Ulan Bator to get emergency treatment but luckily, there were no major injuries,
only serious dehydration, which is a relief. I spent about ten days in the sick ward when I finally
got discharged from hospital. I figured it is best to return to Hong Kong and Timothy helped me
pack my new bag, which according to him is an upgrade from my last backpack that wouldn’t
break in a sandstorm. Timothy drove me to the airport and wished me farewell, and I was on my
way back to Hong Kong.
This is definitely a trip to remember, and the memories of this trip constantly remind me
to do good preparation and not to boast of my own ability. Although almost tasting death, the
experience never stopped me from going on new adventures. Maybe next time I would go to
Antarctica to step on the South Pole. You’ll never know what to expect, so prepare for the worst
for every trip.
