The Grasslands - Inner Mongolia

QINGMING FESTIVAL - APRIL 7

We had a very peaceful and fun day today.  It is a national holiday today in China called the Qingming Festival.  All government offices are closed and children have off school.  Three main activities happen during this festival:  tomb-sweeping - people clean the tombs of deceased relatives, place flowers on graves, and will bring the person's favorite food and drink to sacrifice to them so they are being taken care of in their afterlife, the second activity is kite flying, and the third is to take a spring outing - people go to the countryside and relax.  To commemorate the holiday, we engaged in the third activity today by taking a 2 hour car ride north of Hohhot to the grasslands.

We drove through a mountainous area to get to the grasslands.

The scenes along the way were first mountains, and then it leveled off into flat land.  We saw lots of sheep along the way and fields where they grown mainly wheat and potatoes.

In the grasslands, we saw many Mongolian yurts.  These are resorts and they rent out the yurts for vacationers.  The herdsmen that live in the grasslands are known for their hospitality.  

The one we visited today was more of a 'mom and pop' type place.  A herdsman and his wife rent out 10 or 11 yurts on their property.  They welcomed us into their home, we ate in their dining room/bedroom.  They were very kind and generous to us, serving us way more food than we could ever eat.  It was very neat eating authentic food with this couple.  

When we first arrived, the wife had this snack ready for us, millet, 3 different types of cheese, butter, a small cookie-type item, some coarse sugar, and hot milk tea.

We took off our shoes and sat where they eat and sleep.  I asked them how long they had lived here.  They kind of chuckled and said for many generations, hundreds of years.

Here is the outside and inside of one of their yurts.

They had chickens, sheep, and two cows.

Here is the only bathroom.  Inside, there are just holes in the ground...makes our outhouses look pretty fancy.

 Here is the herdsman and his wife.

Brad and our guide, Aggie. The herdsman was marveling at Brad's heighth, so Aggie wanted to compare to him. :)

It was a very peaceful place.

Across the road was one of the herdsmen's shrines.  Their tradition is to walk around the shrine 3 times clockwise and then make a wish.

We really enjoyed the grasslands today.  We were very thankful to have this day to get to explore more of Jedidiah's homeland and see the different ways people live here.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY...our Gotcha Day!  It is in 13 hours from now...11am Tuesday morning here, which will be 10pm Monday night back home.  And we think we have figured out how to FaceTime with the kids at the moment we meet Jedidiah. Pray for us that it works and the kids will get to see the event live!