Journey Through China: Hemu Village I

Upon arriving in Hemu village from Burjin, it started snowing. Hemu village is a remote village in northern Xinjiang, inhibited mainly by the Tuvas and Kazakhs. Here are some photos taken as we walked around the quiet village in the evening before having dinner and called it a night.

A parent with a toddler receiving her 3 children from school.

As we checked in to a home stay of a Kazakh family, the host was very kind to serve us dinner in her own room with Kazakh's traditional setting. It was an eye opener for us. The hot soup warmed our stomachs on this cold day. Our trip had just begun and it had already caught me in surprise because I never thought that I would have such homey feeling experiencing and staying at the Kazakh home.

The host didn't speak much due to language barrier, but she has a very charming son who speaks Mandarin well and act as a communicator between us. It's fun interacting with him as he shared with us pictures of his horses and his recreational activities playing with the snow most of the time.

I woke up super early in the morning trying to catch the sunrise, but only found out that the home stay surroundings was blanketed in snow after one whole night of snowing. The electricity was cut off due to heavy snow, but we were still very excited to be greeted by the powdery snow.

This picture was taken early in the morning when it was still freezing cold and the sun was still hiding under the thick clouds. The rooftop and wires were covering under thick thick snow. Winter has officially kick-started!