At first, we were pretty happy that Melanie’s new company in Singapore selected, what we thought, was a reputable relocation company with a “Customer-Focused Approach”. Crown Relocations is a company both of us have heard of, and while we haven’t used them before (my long distance moves in the past were usually handled by Santa Fe), we thought it would be a relatively painful process. The Beijing side of the relocation generally went without a hitch.

I am sitting in the United Airlines Red Carpet lounge at Los Angeles’ LAX airport, waiting for my flight to Singapore (via Tokyo/Narita). No, I am not flying Business or First Class, nor do I have status on this sub-par airline. Since I had more than 2 hours to kill at the airport (which, by the way, is pretty lousy), I decided to buy a single day pass. $50 USD or 7,000 miles, I chose to use miles.

Amazing it went relatively smoothly. First, we go to the Beijing 2nd Hand Automobile market located South West 4th ring road. After being told by a few people there that motorbikes couldn’t be handled here, we found the Beijing Vehicle Management Center. Second, I had to take the motorbike around the back to the “inspection” hall where they would inspect it. It turns out they just verified I owned it, my paperwork was in order, and that was it.

So, for the first time in 6 years of living in Beijing, a friend from back home has visited! (Yes, Derek did visit Shanghai on a business trip 2 years ago and I went down to see him, but that doesn’t count! ;-) Jason braved the H1N1 Swine Flu control measures, his temperature was checked some 3 times before getting out of the airport, to visit me (well, he came to see Beijing, but I’m here, so I take that as he’s here to see me!

[caption id=“attachment_558” align=“alignnone” width=“500” caption=“Singapore Panorama - Borrowed from Wikipedia”] Panorama of Singapore [/caption] Well folks, my long stay, just over 6 years, in Beijing is coming to an end. It is time to finish this chapter in my life (and boy, has it been an interesting one), and begin a new one. Melanie has accepted a position in Singapore, and like a dutiful “almost-spouse”, I will be tagging a long.

Update: these photos were lost. Mel and I went to the Nv Ren Jie (女人街, Woman’s Street) Flower and Fish market and bough an aquarium and some fish. We got a mix of some black ones and gold ones. Don’t ask me what kind they are, I have no clue. All together we have 8 fish, including an algae eater. No aquarium would be complete without some aquarium accessories. Here, we got an old man that looks as if he’s turning a wheel.