Wenwen (center) and his father (right) (Photo provided to West China City News)
A 5-year-old girl from eastern China's Zhejiang province recently took a 6-day hiking journey with her parents in a no-man's land in November, finishing an unimaginable challenge, West China City News reported.
"We learned a lot from the trip, though it was short," said the girl's father, Pan Tufeng, in an interview with West China City News on Dec. 7.
Having decided not to send his daughter to kindergarten, Pan hopes to build up her willpower through such challenges.
The girl named Wenwen started hiking in Lop Nur, also called the "sea of death," in late October, together with her parents, elder brother, and an 11-year-old friend who is a boy.
Pan had planned to cross the desert before, but was later persuaded by his friends that the kids are too young for such activity.
After discussion with his wife, he hired a local guide and decided to spend 10 days in the desert.
The trip was not a touring experience, in that all of the three kids had to carry water with them: three liters for the boys and one liter for the girl. After two days of excitement, they began to feel exhausted with the ceaseless walking each day.
Based on this situation, Pan and his wife decided to call a halt and pull back. However, the couple still had tough requirement on the three children, that is, every one of them must act independently no matter how tired they were. On the sixth day, the five of them made it out of the desert.
According to Pan, the lack of water was also a reason for him to stop the plan. "It was not a successful challenge, but we learned a lot," Pan said.
People always feel desperate in the boundless desert even with a local guide. Such experience would help the children understand the significance of persistence, Pan noted, adding that they have also learned to cherish things.
Now, Pan has a new plan for Wenwen before she goes to elementary school in September 2018: to hike along the Qinghai-Tibet highway, one of the four national highways that stretches into Tibet. Wenwen has already completed hiking challenges on the other three of them.
