Last night, while I was viewing the trends on twitter, I saw there was a recent undersea volcano eruption in Tonga. One satellite video clip showed a mushroom cloud shooting into the sky from the ocean surface. I could not help feeling worried about the people of Tonga.
Before the COVID-19 epidemic, I made two business trips to Tonga. When I arrived there for the first time, because of the tight schedule, I was rushed to a meeting as soon as I got off the plane. I didn't have much free time to wander around for the next few days. When I was there for the second time, I had almost a full day to for free activities, so that I could better explore experience its main island, Tongatapu.
Tonga is made up of many islands, the one we stayed is Tongatapu, which is a coral reef island. And I did see a lot of coral reefs by the sea. The hotel I stayed in is just by the sea, and it took me only ten minutes to walk to their Grand Palace, because of the small size of the island and the convenience of the hotel.
Tonga boasts of being the first country in the world to see a day’s sunrise. So I got up very early one day and watched the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my life. When jogging by the sea, I passed by their Grand Palace and saw what the courtyard looks like. I also rode a bicycle across the island, from city to countryside, then to the beach, to finally arrive at the other side, just to see the famous blow holes.
But what impressed me most was standing bu the sea and looking up at the sky at night. There were countless stars in the deep night sky, which could not be seen in many places in China. I listened to the sound of the sea hitting the coast, thinking that that was just a small piece of land in middle of the ocean, which was far far away from the worldly hustle and bustle, which was like a magic to me.
Returning to the recent undersea volcanic eruption, which is said to occur only once every few decades, and may cause tsunamis in places like Japan and Australia, and even have an impact on the global climate. Of course, the eruption and the aftermaths hit the Tongan people the hardest. It is my hope that there will be no casualties and that life and production of the Tongan people will return to normal as soon as possible. Pray for them.
