Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 37

The Adventure in Bauhinia Bay
Victoria Shanghai Academy, Gillen, Ciara - 8
Dear Theo,
My heart sank when I heard you cannot come to visit me here in beautiful Bauhinia Bay during the next
school holidays, because it’s the best city in the world! It’s actually a mega city, here on the Pearl River
Delta, made up of nine different cities all combined together – and it gets its name from the flower tree that
grows everywhere around here. There’s so much fun to be had here.
Last weekend, we went to Ocean Park. While we were in the panda house, my mom turned briefly to talk
to her friend and a shiny silver door caught the corner of my eye. I crept towards it and gently pushed it
open. Inside was an entire bamboo forest! And there, under a pile of bamboo leaves was…… a cute cuddly
panda cub!! Her bright shiny eyes glistened as if to say ‘come and play with me!’. My heart was pounding
with excitement, so I rushed towards her to get a closer look. We used the Banyan trees’ aerial roots as
zooming ziplines and the wind blew through my hair as we swung from tree to tree, just like Tarzan. Just at
that moment, my cute, cuddly little friend spotted a rainbow-coloured butterfly fluttering just above her
nose. As she chased the butterfly, eyes up, she didn’t notice a tree trunk ahead, bumped into it and tumbled
over like a ball of fluff. I chuckled, gave her a cuddle and helped her up. We climbed the bamboo trees
together and when we got to the top of the canopy, we just sat together in silence and looked out at the
amazing view of Bauhinia’s many green-jewelled islands, each framed in white sand, as soft as flour. They
are dotted around the shimmering blue sea that is home to Bauhinia’s pink dolphins! Do you know this is
one of the only places in the world that has pink dolphins?
I felt on top of the world looking out at that view, it was breathtaking and it was a magical feeling to be up
there with a real-life panda. However, just then, I spotted my mom through the glass waving wildly at me
through the crowd of tourists. A moment later, a ranger came in and called me down. It was then that I
knew my secret adventure was over.
Guess what though, the ranger has invited me to go back to help him feed the baby pandas every weekend!
So when you do manage to come and visit me some time, you can come and help me!
There are so many adventures to be had here in beautiful Bauhinia Bay: please Theo, do come and visit me
here one day!
Lots of love, hugs and kisses
Your cousin, Ciara xxx