Day 6 of Xinjiang Trip 2019: Hemu Village, a pristine and simple Tuwa village

As soon as you enter Hemu Village, the small wooden houses and herds of livestock, combined with snow-capped peaks, forests, grasslands, and blue skies with white clouds, create a unique landscape. The smoke from cooking rises slowly in the sunset, far from the hustle and bustle, leaving only enchanting and dreamy scenery. Tonight, staying in Hemu Village, the innkeeper said: 'You are really lucky, it has been raining for three days in a row, and today it just rained five times, but now the sun has come out.' With such good luck, I hurried to look around the village, just in case the weather changes again! Dining in the village is very convenient, with many restaurants to choose from. I ate at one of them today, and they offer good food. It was my first time drinking Wusu beer, and it didn't feel much different. The beer's formidable reputation is just that, I guess! After dinner, I planned to watch the sunset and the evening glow, but unfortunately, it rained again. The clouds covered the sun, leaving only a group of tourists halfway up the mountain, holding umbrellas and waiting for the sunset. The village is quite large, and the village shuttle is free to ride, operating in a one-way loop. Hemu is located in the northern part of Xinjiang, within the territory of Buerjin County, bordering Mongolia, Russia, and Kazakhstan. It is the northernmost township in western China and the concentrated living area of the Tuwa people, who maintain the most complete national traditions, and it is a Mongolian township. Hemu Village is situated in a flat basin surrounded by mountains, with lush birch forests, rich grasslands, and wooden fenced courtyards for each household, with several pointed-roof wooden houses in the yard. To the north of Hemu Village, the Hemu River flows swiftly, embraced by birches, with a wooden bridge suspended over the river. On the opposite bank, there is a plateau, open and flat, standing a hundred meters above the village. From the plateau, you can overlook the panoramic view of Hemu Village, with distant views of the sunrise, snow peaks, and streams, and a close-up view of the Tuwa homes. It is an excellent spot for shooting sunrises, morning mists, wooden houses, and the Hemu River, and Hemu Village, known as a 'fairyland on earth,' is also called 'photographer's paradise.' Here, you can put aside the busy life and feel the tranquility and beauty of nature. Hemu Village is a peaceful haven away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The architecture of Hemu Village is characterized by wooden houses. The wooden houses are built by notching the ends of the logs and interlocking them, stacking them up one by one, with gabled roofs commonly used. Each house's door faces east, and when a new house is topped out, a white cloth is pulled up, which the locals say is for blessing. In the wooden houses built of pine, every gap between the logs is filled with a grass called 'nook,' which swells when wet and fills the gaps, making the walls windproof. The wood used for the wooden houses is thick and straight red pine, which is cut, trimmed, sawed into beams, columns, and purlins with sharp metal tools. All the components of a house are laid out on the ground, with long yew wood, round wooden purlins, and a large pile of yellow mud, presenting a perfect combination of the wooden world. The wooden houses are scattered on the mountain grasslands, full of the flavor of the original ecology. These small wooden houses have become the symbol of the Tuwa people, with most of them half-buried in the ground to withstand the severe cold of the nearly half-year-long snow-capped mountain period, especially primitive and simple, with the characteristics of nomadic tribes. In summer, the colors in Hemu are not rich, but by late autumn, it will be a world of colorful splendor. If you have time, it will feel even better then!