Harder Family

Harder Family

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Day 3: Beijing

Today was another phenomenal day in China. I absolutely has fallen in love with this country - the people, the culture, the architecture! My favorite part is all the amazing people I have met. Everyone is friendly and kind. I am thrilled and humbled that God has allowed me this amazing experience. The best part of today was receiving a text from DJ that he is on his way to Jinan! Tomorrow at this time, he will be with me and early the next morning, his adoption will be finalized in China!!

Below are pictures from today. Our first stop was the Forbidden City. We also got to look at TianAnMen Square. Normally we would have stood in the square, but security shut it down because the Chinese government is meeting for the next two weeks. The history in China is rich and also sobering. After seeing the Forbidden City, we headed to the Great Wall. Words cannot express how amazing this wall and workmanship is to see with your own eyes. We definitely got a workout. We hiked up the mountain to the wall (over 800 steps) and then we hiked from tower 10 to tower 1. We then hiked back to tower 6 where we took a toboggan ride down the mountain. My Fitbit said that we walked over 20,000 steps today (around 9 miles). I am ready to sleep tonight!

Please pray for us as we travel to Jinan tomorrow morning. After we arrive at the hotel, we will meet DJ at the hotel. Please pray for a smooth transition and that God is glorified in every step of this journey!!

Tiananmen Square:



Forbidden City: Gate 3























The Emperor's chair.


















Great Wall: Mu Tian Yu Section




We opted to hike up to the wall instead of taking a scary chair lift. I'm scared of heights and the sight of these chairs was enough to make me hike up over 800 steps up to the wall!!



We reached the wall!!





















The hike from tower 4 to tower 3 was intense!! I tried to take a picture to give some perspective - it was like straight up!!


Looking down the stairs!!





End of the road. From tower 1 on, the wall has fallen into disrepair making it unsafe to proceed. It was amazing to see how the wall continued for miles into the distance.


Our ride down the mountain - a toboggan ride!

2 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I LOVE that you hiked up to the top of the Wall! We are the only ones I know who have ever done that! (Only when we did it, it was June, and about 100 degrees, LOL And we hiked back down, crazy as we are!) Love all your pics. Excited for you!

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  2. That toboggan is the best way down!! Did you get yelled at? "slow, slow!" 😄 whee!!

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