Last month, I had enough of Sydney and booked a Virgin flight to Queensland for a cleansing of the mind, body and soul. Due to a sudden tropical storm threatening nearby skies, the pilot made an emergency landing on a small island runway. I thought we had landed on one of those man-made islands China is constructing along its coast, but there were no Chairman Mao billboards anywhere. Only gorgeous girls and handsome guys everywhere and they were all teenagers. Did I feel out of place, or what!!!?
They spoke English, thank goodness… and were very friendly. A smiling teen named Linda saw that I was lost and came up to say hello. Then I met more and more of her friends. For some reason, they called me “Uncle Shen,” eventhough my surname is Lee… but I got used to it. I soon decided to stay for awhile in this earthly paradise as all the young people made me feel young… younger… and who knows what the future will bring?
There is one strange thing about this island. They have people with video cameras everywhere filming everyone. I don’t mean those tiny ones on our smartphones, but BIG ones. You, however, soon get used to it and don’t even notice.
I hear from Linda that a video about life on the island will be put together and that it will be shown next year all around the world… and “Uncle Shen” will be part of it. How exciting!!!
Oh, there’s one more strange thing… Linda tells me the island is called “Mako,” after some kind of shark, but I never saw any around the island… but one sleepless night, I roamed a nearby beach and saw… don’t laugh… a girl lying on the beach… but she had a sparkly green fin where her legs should have been. Year ago I must have taken my children to see “The Little Mermaid” to many times. The next day, I told Linda about this… and she just smiled and walked away. As least she has legs… Maybe I was just sleepwalking…
To see the “Uncle Shen” video, keep an eye out for Mako: Island of Secrets – Season 3. Linda tells me this is their third year of doing the video. Can’t wait to see what all the “secrets” are!
Uncle Shen with beautiful young people on Mako Island
Mako: Island of Secrets is an Australian television programme for children and teenagers. Internationally released as Mako Mermaids, the show is a spin-off of H2O: Just Add Water and is produced by Jonathan M. Shiff in association with Network Ten and Nickelodeon. A third series of 16 episodes was announced in 2014, and is set for release in 2016 on Eleven and Netflix. The series will introduce Chinese mermaid Weilan (Linda Ngo)