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Surely there will be certain unforgettable and impressing places which attract many tourists, especially those young persons, including me, of course. As for me, this special place is Nan’ao Island in Shantou City, Guangdong Province.
There is a station built many years ago with the purpose of researching on marine biology and ecology and Nan’ao is the island where the marine experimental station of Shantou University locates. I barely knew about the island before I came to for the first time. Once I got a special chance to know about Nan’ao Island.
So I just hurried there with one of my friends and had a momentary glance at Shantou University owing to time-limitation. That was how I got in touched with Nan’ao Island.
It is quite a remote place for those who live downtown in Shantou, for it takes at least 3 hours to reach the ferry which is the only way to go there. Therefore, transportation there is quite busy, heavy and, not easy to take.
It kept raining for quite a long time. When it turned out a sunny afternoon shortly after we reached our destination — Nan’ao Island, we were quite surprised and happy, of course. We found a rickshaw man to pick us up from the ferry to the experimental station. After a short talk, I know that he was not a native there but spoke quite good native language, because he has been settled down on the island for almost a decade. Many strangers, like him, went there and finally became parts of the small but warm island. Besides, to our surprise, he only charged me 12 yuan for almost 20 kilometers. When I asked him why it cost that little, he just said the price has never changed since ten years ago. Then he left me a name card and drove away in the sunset.
I was kindly welcomed by the staffs at marine experimental station of Shantou University. After dinner, I wandered on the beach near the station with bare feet collected many seashells whose names I don’t know. I was then enjoying the soft and tiny sand under my foot between my toes. I sat down and probed my head into the holly sky, thinking about me and the people around. “Why are most people here so different? Why are they not wealthy but always happy? Why was I so tired on the way seeking for a better future?” Millions of similar questions occurred to me. We have tens of thousands of way to choose which makes us too busy to stop. Many of us only focus on self-achievements but forget that our destination is to be happy, not to earn fame or wealth that we barely enjoy. So when you are in hurry, you will surely miss something essential and something worthy of being treasured.
I chatted with some staffs there for the whole night, without any entertainments, without my cell phone and computer. I just talked with them. Then with the soft beating sound on the beach, I fell asleep comfortably with relief from the long-depressed body. I left there the next day but I viewed there as my first special and treasured place in Shantou.
From that time on, I changed my opinion on the word ‘travelling’. Travelling should be the thing from which we can get something special. It should not merely be those famous tourist spots that are crowded with people. And for us busy persons in this busy world, some remote nature sights such as Nan’ ao Island are the best places to release ourselves.
I miss the island so much and hope to go back there again soon.