Singapore, here we come!

The blog is back! I know many of you were unsatisfied with our blog upkeep over the last year. The blog was great for sharing all of our NEW experiences - the first time we went to the Australian Open, the first trip to Queensland, SE Asia, New Zealand, etc. As we became immersed in the Melbourne lifestyle, nothing really seemed that new anymore. And who wants to read a blog about going to work, running errands, and the typical weekend outings. We were in a rut! Then came the end of the year. Knowing we were set to leave Melbourne in April - following our last 'summer down under' - we realized there were so many new experiences that we needed to cram in before we left. Check back periodically as we retro-actively update the blog with our trips to Ayers Rock/Uluru over Christmas, sailing the Whitsundays aboard our own yacht, exploring the south island of New Zealand, and some other odds and ends.

Now, back to the present. We arrived in Singapore this morning and were met with warm Singaporean hospitality. A driver was sent from our serviced apartment to greet us outside of customs and take us to our new, temporary home. We were also met with heat and humidity - a common theme I think ;-) The flight was a bit harder than usual. Some say that it's much harder to travel east and based on this experience, I'd have to agree. The good news - we were upgraded to business class for the London to Singapore leg which made all the difference!

It was a sad last couple of weeks saying good-bye to friends, work colleagues, and the wonderful city of Melbourne. I had several 'last drinks' with friends and made sure I did one last 'Tan run and Beach Rd ride. We take with us so many great memories and one day, we will return. Thank you Melbourne!

Brrr BEIJING!

This time in Beijing was a lot harder, but a lot more fun. I am not sure if it is because my Chinese is worse than before or because I was there longer and did more.

Starting with the fun. I continue to travel a lot and see very little. This trip I decided to get in a day early and see some of Beijing. It's a hard decision to add an extra day away from home, but one of my long time friends at the company, Catherine, was going to be in China too so we convinced each other.

I don't know when I have ever packed so much into a Sunday. After 17 hours in transit to Beijing - we did the Great Wall, Tian'amen Square, The Forbidden City and the Olympic Village - and none of those places are close to each other.

The hotel tried to convince us not to go to the Wall - saying the weather wasn't good. Well, we only had one day so it was good enough.

Did you know when you barter in China you are supposed to go down to 15-20% of the starting price? Yeah, me neither...I think we did alright. The morning started with the Great Wall. We had to negotiate with a taxi driver to take us there (2 hours), wait for us and bring us back - we were speaking English, he Chinese, the bell boy "translating" (you never really know do you?). I think we made the right choice, not only did we get a fair price ($650 RMB), but he shaved 30 minutes off the Lonely Planet estimated time, while providing a thrilling experience.

The Wall was spectacular. We chose to go to Badaling. Badaling is further from the city, but worth it. After being harassed by hawkers (they convinced Catherine to buy a hat and gloves with the promise that it would be very cold up there),

we took a cable car up to a section of the Wall. The sm/fog made the Wall look like it was suspended in the clouds. The climb is challenging and invigorating. One of the more surprising things was the lack of white people. It was crowded, and everyone was Asian. When we had seen enough, we took the cable car back down. Within a couple seconds of arriving in the car park, our taxi driver had spotted us (super impressive) and we were on our way back to Beijing and on to the Forbidden City/Tian a'men Square.

Upon arriving in Tian'amen Square (later we found out that what we thought was the square wasn't actually the square, it was in fact the one across the street!), we realised that everyone thought Catherine was Chinese (she is Korean). Throughout the whole trip people were approaching her and speaking Chinese. Then they were taken a back when I told them (in my very broken Chinese) that she didn't speak Chinese, followed by confusion that she wasn't actually Chinese. I am not saying it wouldn't have been helpful if she was.

We met up with the rest of the team for some Peking Duck at one of the most famous restaurants in Beijing. Fortunately, we had an actual Chinese colleague with us so it was ensured that we would actually get the duck.

Time to get to work...

We woke up Wednesday to about 4 inches of snow. Snow makes it impossible to get around!!Realising that my feet were still wet, my throat was getting sore, I wasn't going to get to Shanghai until midnight and I was meeting with one of the biggest, most important companies in the world the next morning (GE), I called the hotel and arranged a car to pick me up. Best decision ever!

Celebrating Denise!

It was so nice to be at home. It was the first time in 8 years of working, we took two weeks off of work. (In fact, when we moved to Australia, I didn't even take one day off.) We spent both of those weeks in NJ. It was wonderful to catch-up with friends and family. We got to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday with her; catch up with mom and dad; have lunch with Lauren; spend some time with Laura, Lee and Larry; see Maddie growing bigger; meet Nash; and be around long enough for RJ to know Aunt Liss and Uncle Sean.

Our last night we got to celebrate Denise! It was a celebration of 10 years cancer free. I can't think of a better reason to celebrate! It was such a special day of everyone coming together from all of the stages of her life.

Finishing in the top 3!

Our time at our new beach house culminated with the Brigantine Triathlon. Sean had set a goal for himself to break an hour and 10 minutes this year. Going into it, it was questionable whether or not his bike would make it. He brought his old bike back from Australia. While training that week he had gone through 3 tire tubes. Once he was down in Sea Isle and Dad and I had to bring the van down to pick him up. This triathlon, isn't like the Tour de France with your crew following you in case of a blowout - if your tire goes, you mind as well throw in the towel.

You'll see that he not only met his goal, but he slashed it and came in third! His fan club was very happy :)

Bahamavention

I kicked off my four weeks in the US with a Bahamavention with Sherry. How fun is that?! Sherry recently moved to Orlando so one of us was going to have to fly in order for us to get together. Neither of us were too psyched about spending the weekend with Mickey or Barack so we decided on Nassau. It was an inexpensive, direct flight for both of us and there was a Sheraton - which means hotel points.

The beaches on Nassau are some of the most beautiful I've been to. If you're an east coaster, it rivals Fiji, yet much closer and less expensive. Don't miss what's in your own back yard!

It was great to catch-up with Sherry and have a girls weekend. It's one thing I've missed being so far away from home!