At its height 1200 monks lived there, making it was the largest monastery in Inner Mongolia.
This auspicious statue of an elephant had a monkey, rabbit, and bird on its back.
We stayed at the pilgrim's hostel and got up early for the monks' morning prayers.
Monks practicing the art of motorcycle maintenance.
With a bust of Genghis Khan.
Our colleague Ian giving a photo op with two little Mongolian warriors.
He impressed Diane's students with his Japanese, his insights on being a Japanese American, and his explanation of the role of the church in China and the world. 
We toured the Red Revolutionary Museum which houses a hundred statues in all sizes of Chairman Mao, a large display of his little red book, and learned of the 3 wheels of revolutionary success -- a bicycle, a sewing machine, and a watch. 
Franklin and William before stone cutouts of a Mongolian horse and fish.
We visited the Tibetan style Buddhist shrine and watched worshippers burning incense and writing prayers on white and blue scarves.
Mongolian-style singers, musicians and dancers entertained us at local restaurant
where we dined on lamb and sipped milk tea with millet.
Since we had a faculty development session that day, we took a break and had birthday cake. Birthdays are fairly new celebrations here, since the traditional way is everyone turns a year older when the lunar new year arrives.
Diane and Jenny, a teaching colleague, then celebrated together. In China the birthday cake is eaten before the meal. Life is too short to miss dessert, right?
Jenny turned 55, the age of mandatory retirement for women. Dinner was in her husband's show room; he designed the table and chairs in his picture and is on the left in the red shirt. Their son and niece are next to Jenny.
The birthday women finished the meal with the traditional bowl of noodles with egg; the egg symbolizes a year without problems and the noodles are for long life. So we're looking forward to a great year.
Visitors to Jining must see Tiger Mountain, where the tigers sport gold-painted teeth and nails. 
Since our Amity colleagues are British, we gave their students a different accent experience.
School officials welcomed us at a local Mongolian hot pot restaurant. Rolls of thinly sliced mutton and an assortment of tofu and vegetables are cooked in individual hot pots, and goblets of yogurt complete the banquet.
Daniel strikes a pose in front of a Revolutionary statue.
Pineapples from the south of China are pealed with delicate designs.
The Museum of Inner Mongolia in Hohhot had a wonderful exhibit by a Chinese American painter, Li Zujian.
Spirit money is sold in the market, along with gold colored paper cars, houses, coins, and even clothing.
The tomb is washed and decorated with new red cloth, flowers are placed on the headstone, and food (fruit, nuts, cookies), cigarettes and spirit money are piled on the grave. Wine is then sprinkled around the tomb and incense is lit.
Prayers to the ancestors are said as the offerings are burned.
This cemetery has thousands of tombs and most of them are visited on this day. It's an impressive sight with hundreds of fires burning as ash floats skyward.
We ended the day visiting friends; Jenny is one of our teaching colleagues and her husband gave us a tour of his new design showroom.
The school is attached to one of the Christian churches but supported by all 100 churches and church meeting points in the district. This building houses the classrooms and dormitories, and there's also a cafeteria on campus.
Our friend Ruth shows Daniel the library. To attend, one must be a Christian for five years, have a letter of support from your pastor, and pass an admission test.
A hundred students attend this two year program. Ranging in age from 18 to 71, about 80% are women.
Ruth shows us her bed in the 10 person dormitory room. Married with a 12 year old son, she stays here during the week and goes home on the weekend.
Pastor Han is the director of the college and the only ordained person on staff. Since ordained people are rare, most Chinese churches are led by members with additional training as provided by the bible school. Church workers receive a stipend and rely upon family to support for their work.
The future leaders of the Christian church in China are coming from bible schools like this one.
Every day we see men and children urinating in public. Diapers are rare, so parents toilet their toddlers on the street. Apparently back in the '50s this was such a problem that the government had a "public nuisance" campaign. But no longer.
This is our bedroom window ledge after a couple of days, and we have yet to see the real sand storms. Silt and soot are everywhere and in everything. Sigh.
We learned these are sidewalks for the blind. Somehow there's a bit of a gap between the idea and the implementation.
When you go to China Post (both a post office and a bank) to mail a package, you're given a sheet of plastic plus a needle thread to make your own mailer. 
Walking backwards is popular in China, and you often see older people taking a backward stroll. It's supposed to improve balance and cognition. Why not give it a try -- millions can't be wrong.
We see many kiting enthusiasts in the parks, with large reels to navigate their kites that sometimes fly almost out of sight. 
Diane has been telling Daniel to go fly a kite, and it looks like he might. There's certainly a lot of choice. 
The carving of intials in a tree trunk must be a universal. 
We ended the day with a gourmet cup of coffee, complete with whipped cream and artistically shaped spoons. At these moments we feel we're living in the lap of luxury.
We start by wheeling the washing machine, a new model that is popular here, into the bathroom.
Fill the wash tub on the left with with water from the shower head, add soap, and set the timer; then transfer contents to the right tub to spin, refill the wash tub for the rinse cycle, and repeat. 
The little machine can become quite active during the spin cycle, so Daniel stands at the ready. He's head laundry person.
Hanging sheets is his specialty