The issues that made our year

I cherish the memories of my first trip as a reporter

When my colleagues warned me to be well-prepared for the tight schedule and intensive interviews on my first trip as a reporter, I didn't take them seriously. How hard could things be for a passionate young woman who was about to open a new chapter in her career?

Days later, as I stood in front of a hill covered by gray and brown gravel and barely visible paths in the middle of the Gobi Desert, I retracted that statement about myself.

Mount Dahong is the nickname of a 1,100-meter-high hill near China's border with Mongolia. Border control officers sometimes climb up and raise the national flag on the summit to lift their sprits amid the extreme living conditions.

I love hill walking, but it was the first time I had been forced to find a track without any steps or other man-made aids. Although an officer carried my heavy camera, I was still fearful of slipping, and by the midway point I felt exhausted.

An officer holding my arm to support me said climbing Mount Dahong was the most relaxing thing in his job, because life in the desert was sometimes so tedious that solitude was the only enemy.

I hardly understood his words at the time, partly because I hadn't interviewed any officers before climbing the hill. Or, probably, I was too tired to think.

It turned out that the experience ahead of the interviews was a really good way to get to know the young officers who guard the border area of 9,400 square kilometers and also take care of local herders.

As I finally approached the summit, I discovered that the hillside bore some names and slogans written in pebbles.

Previous officers at the station had left their names on the hillside to commemorate their efforts. Their words reminded their successors to persevere by climbing the mountain and reading the names.

I placed my name on the summit, too, though my fatigue was nothing compared with the hardships or contributions of the border officers.

But at least my name on a hill in a desert will remind me of the precious memories of my first work trip with those hard-working officers.