China Adoption Travel: Touring Beijing – The Great Wall

When God called us to adopt from China, He prepared both adventures and blessings! After finally receiving all of our approvals to adopt our girls, my husband David, teen daughter Zoe, and i headed to China! We added a couple days on the beginning of our trip to see some of the famous sites near Beijing. Our first day, we toured Tianamen Square, The Forbidden City, and The Heavenly Palace.

Of course, we could not visit China without seeing the Great Wall. On our second day in China, our guide took us on a two and a half hour ride from Beijing to a tourist section of the wall where we could ride a ski lift up and take a toboggan ride down.

We drove out of the city and enjoyed the change of scenery from the huge skyscrapers to the beautiful countryside and mountain scenery. Then we paid and rode a bus part way up the mountain to an area filled with tourist shops and restaurants. My husband, who had visited China several times, learned his lesson the last time he visited The Great Wall. He hiked up to it. The 30 minutes promised by the guide turned in to two hours of muscle torture. Though a hike sounded fun, since we knew better, we took the ski lift up to the wall.

Walking along the Great Wall itself was an adventure. Some places were very steep. In some areas the stones were paved smoothly, and in others we had to watch our step. We walked along the top and climbed the towers.

I brought a light jacket, expecting the mountain air to be cooler than below, like in the Smokies or Rockies at home. Instead, a hot wind blew up from the valleys.

All along the way we enjoyed the magnificent views of the mountains lined by the great wall along the ridges as far as we could see. In the distance, the tall lookout towers appeared tiny. We rarely see something man-made that lasts for thousands of years like the Great Wall, originally begun around 2,300 years ago.

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When we finally had enough pictures and walking, we joined the toboggan line. The slide curves around down the side of the mountain back to the area of touristy shops and restaurants. We sat in a small sled equipped with breaks so we could control our own speed against the pull of gravity.

My daughter, husband, and I looked forward to speeding down the mountain, enjoying the wind and the views; however, the lady in front of us had other ideas. I was first in our group , followed by Zoe, then David. Apparently, the poor lady was afraid to go down too fast. She stayed on her break the WHOLE TIME.

Finally, I came up with a strategy. I slowed way down and let her get as far in from of me as I could, then I released the break and sped down the mountain until I caught up with her. I kept doing this the rest of the way down, and we all enjoyed the ride, though still a little slower than we would have liked.

Click on picture to enlarge.

 We walked back toward the parking lot, past all of the tourist shops. Another thing David learned on previous trips is that the closer to the parking lot, the cheaper the merchandise. On his first trip to The Great Wall, David bought an “I climbed the great wall” shirt for what seemed like a good deal, but by the time he reached the last shops, the merchants shouted offers at about a tenth of the price. This time he negotiated and ended up three shirts for very little.

Our Guide, though he doesn’t really understand the words (his english was very limited), is an avid country music fan. We listened to Randy Travis for the entire trip there and back. I actually like old school country, but five hours straight of “Forever and ever” is more than most people can handle! (On her next trip our agency rep took him some Reba!)

Through the music of Randy Travis, Mr. Yang heard the gospel message over and over. Sadly, he could not understand the words of hope that he could sing. I tried to explain a little, and we prayed for him, but he needs to hear the gospel in his heart language to really understand.

David taught our Mr. Yang to say, “Yee-haw!” This sounded to the Chinese people a lot like “Ni-hao,” so David kept calling out “Yee-haw” to people as he passed them. Zoe and I just shook our heads.

After the ride back, we searched for a restaurant with Peking Duck for supper and ate our most expensive meal in China! The food was delicious, and again, we ordered way too much. My favorite was a pineapple shrimp dish.

Again, we went to bed timed, and a little how, but thankful for a full, fun day. The next morning we would ride a bullet train to Nanjing to get ready to meet our girls! Although I felt excited, it just didn’t seem real. After all the waiting and praying, God had answered. We were really about to adopt Ava and Eve.

Have you considered adoption? Ask God what He would have you do to support and love orphans in the world. We no longer qualify, but God is calling others. Remember, although it’s not easy, every child is worth far more than the emotional and financial cost.

Please feel free to ask any questions about adoption in the comments. I’ll gladly answer what I can!