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.