A Beautiful Encounter
Evangel College, Matthew Hui, Fiction: Group 3
S
ituated in the part of Mongolia, Gobi Desert is a hot spot for travelling. People have a
lot of fantasies about this mysterious land and so do I. Last summer, I was offered to
experience life in Gobi and help the environment work in a function which was organized
by my school. It was a 14-day tour. My beautiful encounter all happened during the tour.
It was a sunny day and amazingly the sky was blue without a cloud. People there said that it
was usual weather. Comparing with Hong Kong, the sky was much clearer, without any smoke.
The lovely weather suggested some unexpected experience.
I was helping to deliver leaflets and educate the local people on how to protect their ground
water from pollution. The place where I worked was Gobi Lakes Valley desert, an eco-region
located at the north. It is a semi-desert. Local people make a living by holding livestocks such as
goat. The life there is mild without rushing. It is totally different from Hong Kong.
I was impressed by the beautiful scenery. When I was travelling Gobi, the most memorable
scenery are the dunes. Local people call them as the ‘singing sand dunes’ because they can
produce unique musical sound. Those dunes constantly change their shape and appearance which
increase its mystery. Dunes are changing their colours all throughout the day.
There, I met a young girl called Nancy from the USA that day. She was also one of the
volunteers to spread the environmental awareness to the local people.
I felt nervous because it was my first time to work with exchange students. I was getting out
my messy notes aiming to organize a talk to local people.
Then, Nancy came and said, ‘Hey! Relax, you will find it interesting.’
I raised my head and saw her face. She is beautiful. She has a pair of big brown eyes, black
curly hair, and I was completely attracted by her charming smile. I was thinking, ‘Was it a
wonderful experience to interact with an exchange student?’
My heart was beating faster and faster. I tried to keep her amused by jokes. People are always
saying, ‘happy time is always short’ and that is true at that moment because she left quickly and
worked with another teammate.
Then, I had to deal with several pieces of hard work alone such as moving heavy boxes and
pasting the pictures into the booklet. A beautiful smile kept popping up in my head; I could not
concentrate on my work.
The village was covered by the dark sky. The valley showed a sign of peace. Local people
started making their food. The delicious local specialties attracted lots of tourists and I was one of
the tourist. The taste of the fresh home-made food was unforgettable for me.
Next day, while I was walking through the desert in the morning, I noticed a man lying on
the ground.
I thought, “he is mad.” But I noticed this man every morning during my walk. I was interested
by that stranger’s behavior so I decided to ask some questions to the stranger.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“The desert is crying,” the man said sadly
“I didn’t know it is able to cry.”
“Gobi cries every morning because its dream is to become useful to humans and to turn into a
