Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 205

The Fantastic Trip
Western Academy Beijing, Wei, Leo - 9
I am invited to participate Zheng he’s forth sailing trip. I am a soldier, my job is to fight with hostile
enemies such as pirates. When I’m on the ship, I was amazed to find that there were about 27000 people
and 240 ships/boats. This is the first time that I saw more than 200 boats. There were 5 kinds of boats:
Treasure boats, Horse boats, Grain ships, sitting boats, and Battleships. I was on Battleship No. 63.
The sea was blue and endless. Our plan was to go south and then head west to Africa. On passage,
we stopped at 25 stations. They were all peaceful people and we gave them gold, silk away as gifts. We told
them about our country and culture. There were different people with different identity. I saw a lot of plants
that can’t be found in China, for example: coconut trees. We used a compass during daytime and at night
we observed the stars to make sure that we are on the right way, and this strategy is called ”Navigation
Astronomy Technology”. Because of our boat was so big and strong, hardly any waves can come in.
The First war was against pirates, there were 6 ships of them. Lucky we had weapons, like canons.
They first only saw the few boats so they thought it’s easy to rob, but the boats behind came quickly and we
easily defeated them. Next, we went to Sumen, we found out that Su Ganyu has killed the old king. So we
battled with him and captured him alive.
Finally, we are at East Africa. It is the highest terrain in the continent. They had black skin and there
were many kinds of animals that I had never seen before. The sun kept shining and it was hot. For me, the
Great Rift Valley was the most beautiful place in East Africa. It’s full length is about 6000 km and deepest
place the Valley is 2000 km deep. I guess from a space view it looks like a big scar. There is water down
there but it was so deep that I can only see a bit of blue just like some sapphire. Then we went to a
ginormous grassland. The animals was amazing, zebras, antelopes, and all kinds of animals. I even saw a lion
preying a wild deer! There were birds flying from here to there in the sky. Elephants was playing with water
in a small lake and the giraffes even joined. This will be a place that is impossible to forget.
After 2 years 9 months, we came back to China and brought a giraffe from East Africa. We took
leaves to feed it. We were the first one that told China that there was that animal.
I look forward to the next trip, and I believe that it would be more interesting.