Kazakh nomads's horses drink water by the river. No other countries in China have more horses than Zhaosu, which is the home for more than 100,000 horses.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Our time with the Kazakh nomads made me wonder anew what they know that we don't.

So, I asked.

"We're fit because we do manual labor," Sezdehan says.

Herders eat natural food they produce. They drink from streams of melted mountain snow they don't need to filter or boil, he explains.

"City people get their food from stores and sometimes sleep late because they can be lazy," Sezdehan says.

"They spend money in fancy shops. We don't earn much. But we save a lot. It's easier on the grassland. There's nowhere to spend."

Zhaosu's average annual household income is 6,000-10,000 yuan.

But nomads navigate a world according to a compass upon which nature, rather than money, is true north.

I thought of the sheep we were eating. The one I saw breathing.

Our hosts are used to knowing what they eat - to the extent of recalling the personality a meal had before it ended up on their plates.

Life lessons can be learned from that death on that pasture.

It nourished our minds and souls beyond our bellies and bodies.