His first trip to CHINA!

"I missed the children so much. Depressed...This is not working out..." my wife messaged me on skype...

...and that is only the 2nd day she was in Beijing alone. She still have at least two full months before the entire family can join her...

"OK..that's it" I told myself. 

"Since next week is Raya holidays, we will be coming to see you..ok?"

So, I got Ryan's China visa done, got our tickets and packed our bags for one week in Beijing. For Ryan, this would be longest flight ....6 hours. I have apprehension as to how he would cope with the hours but then, it would be a good preparation for his September's trip with us to Seattle which will take over 20 hours....

When I told him that he was going to China, he was over the moon and started telling teachers, friends, classmates and everybody he met that he is going to CHINA!

I told him that he cannot speak Mandarin and that he can't go. He said he will learn and ask his grandmother what "Eating Rice" is in Mandarin. Grandma said "吃饭". He repeated it and then proudly proclaimed "I can go CHINA already! I know how to speak 吃饭!"

He was so excited about the trip that he even offered to help to pack his own clothes and bag. On the way to the airport, he was talking non stop, telling the taxi driver about his going to China and to see his mommy. At the airport, he even helped to pull our hand held luggage, and stopped every now and then and asked for his picture to be taken...vain!

Waiting for boarding at the Premier Lounge .....

We took MAS and we managed to secure a window and aisle seat all to ourselves. By the time, he board the plane, he was totally exhausted and fell asleep even before the plane took off !!! He slept the entire 6 hours on my lap and only got up when we were about to land. 

So, the journey was much much much simpler than I anticipated and I guess he is ready for the long flight to US now.....

More on his visit to CHINA in the following post .....