was implying the mirage of the colorful lake. The treasure must be somewhere here! I was one
step closer to the treasure!
The wind was howling, a wash of black had devoured the bright sun. Temperature dropped
tremendously and I had to put on more clothes to keep warm.
The sun had set and it was time to set up the tent, a sudden gale blew my tent away. Left alone
in desperate, I had no choice but to stay in a cave. I brought my few belongings, the camel, lit a
fire and started to study the poem. I had found the ‘intangible beauty’ which hinted the gold to be
somewhere around here. I was fatigued after a whole day of exploring and I fell into a deep sleep.
The dawn’s early light shone on the land, waking up the creatures with its hotness. The land
was once again very vibrant after a long, awaiting night. I went to the spot where I saw the
mirage yesterday and took out the metal detector. When metal was detected, it would give out a
‘beep’ sound. I held it tightly in my hand and walked slowly around the spot. However, nothing
was detected. Working under the fiery sun was unbearable and that I had to sit down to take a
many rests. When I put down the detector, I could hear a “beep”. Was it an illusion? No, it was
real! I immediately took a grain of sand and inspected it carefully. I could vaguely spot something
sparkling but couldn’t tell what exactly they were. I sieved the sand by letting them leak out from
the gaps between my fingers. What was left was some spangling beads! That was what I longed
for---the 100 pounds of gold! I immediately jumped for joy! By then, I seemed to understand the
meaning of “So large, so small”. The golden sand was mixed with the ordinary sand which made
up a large surface area. On the contrary, each sand was so tiny and this explained why it was
described as “So large, so small” I had always believed that the gold would be some gold bricks
but it turned out to be golden sand. Since the golden sand was miniscule to be noticed, explorers
could hardly discover them as the vast desert was filled with sand dunes.
I carefully collected some samples into a glass bottle for investigation. According to my
research, the golden sand was originally kept in a wooden box. After hundreds of years of
erosion, the box had worn out which the golden sand had leaked out and was mixed with that in
the desert. My mission had completed! I packed my things, set the camel free to embark on its
journey home.
I got in my land rover and was driving to the airport. However, something was left
unexplained about the treasure. Why did it appear to be golden sand instead of gold bricks? Gold
bricks were more easy to carry around and I didn’t see any advantages of having golden sand on
gold bricks. This question was in my mind for the whole driving until I reached the airport.
Something inside the airport explained the reason for having golden sand. When I was done
with the check-in, I wondered around in the airport. There were not many shops but one store
particularly grabbed my attention---the little shop at the corner which was packed with Persian
carpets. The hazy sun was hiding behind the mountains and its shimmering light rays shone on
the carpets through the shop window. The carpets dazzled and glittered under the sunlight. At
that instant, I sparked a thought which solved the mystery. Hallam used the golden sand to make
the carpets which would sparkle under the sunlight and golden sand was exactly what he needed!
“Fight FX021 passengers please proceed to gate 8”
My expedition to the Gobi ended here and I was very excited about this adventurous journey.
“Bayartai, Gobi desert.”
