Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 282

Future Adventures of the Greater Bay Area
St Francis of Assisi's English Primary School, Mak, Long Hei - 12
About a month before the summer holiday, I originally thought that my family was going to
Europe for a relaxing trip, but lives could be as changeable as the weather. One night, Dad came home and
told us merrily, “I’ve won the lucky draw in my office! Guess what? The prize is a free trip to the Greater
Bay Area to explore!” He was skipping with joy when he told us the “good news”. I groaned loudly, “Are
you joking? I thought we could fly to Europe to experience something different!” Dad answered, “Don’t
worry, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) has many fabulous places. It consists of the two SARs, Hong Kong and
Macau, and the nine municipalities, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan,
Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing. These 9+2 cities are all in the Guangdong Province. There’ll be lots
of fun! We’re going to stay there for two weeks!” I sighed and started packing up for my trip.
First, we travelled to Macau through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge by a shuttle bus. The
tour guide said,” The bridge is the longest open-sea fixed crossing on Earth! It has a total length of 55km.
The travelling time to Zhuhai has been reduced from 4 hours to 30 minutes. That is speed!” When we
looked out of the window, the view was breath-taking! The sea was clear and the sky was shining as bright
as my feelings. Soon, we arrived at Macau. Our tour guide recommended us to go to the Ruins of St. Paul.
It is a historic landmark and iconic symbol of Macau. When we got there, the remains of the chapel were
impressive. It was built in 1640. However, it was burnt down in 1835. The ruins is now only a giant stone
façade. It has been still standing after 200 years! Then, we went to the Macau tower. “What is so special?” I
was puzzled. My mother explained tenderly, “Well, this is the tallest tower in Asia that we can play bungee
jumping. When you stand at the top of the tower, you will see many grand casinos and hotels nearby.”
Seeing the view, I thought that I was in Las Vegas. How splendid!
Afterwards, we went to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai. There were various
amusement rides and we tried most of them. We also saw the cute animals. One of the African bears was
taking a bath in the outdoor pool relaxingly. It reminded me the humorous polar bear in a zoo in Hokkaido,
Japan. There were interactive activities with the animals and the living environment was very clean.
That night, we tasted the famous seafood nearby. Fresh shrimps, fist-like abalones and scallops are
most likeable among the locals.
The next day, we went to Shenzhen. Shenzhen is a tech-city which has a number of renowned
technology companies’ headquarters in there. I was astonished to see that well-known companies like
Huawei and Tencent have their headquarters in Shenzhen. It reminded me of the Silicon Valley in USA.
Dad said, “Your favourite video game “Honour of Kings” was developed in here. Recently, you like to play
drones in the countryside. Do you know the leading company of drones, DJI, has its headquarters in
Shenzhen as well? The founder studied in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology before.
He had won in a competition and the University gave him a grant of HK$18,000 to develop the drone
technology in 2005. Now DJI has over 70% market of share in the globe. In 2017, this company had over
US$2 billion revenue.” I said, “Wow! That is cool! In fact, I think the mobile phone is the greatest
invention in this century instead! I cannot survive without it.” Dad replied, “Well, you should know
Huawei further. It is one of the pioneer companies to release the 5G network in the world. 5G is over 100
times faster than 4G. Our communication will be advanced incredibly.” Shenzhen is an all-rounded city
and aims at development in four cornerstones - finance, logistics, high-tech and culture. I believe that
Shenzhen will have another useful technological invention very soon.
Next, we went to the Splendid China Folk Village. We saw the miniature of Great Wall, the
Forbidden City and the Shaolin Temple - all the models presented the historical constructions vividly. It
was like visiting every corner of China in one place! In the rest of journey to Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan,
Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, my father also told me that Mainland China authorities are
constructing a bridge from Shenzhen to Zhongshan by 2024. All these places will be connected very soon.
On that day, travelling among the places is like a piece of cake.