1968 Commando rescue

Dean · Apr 6, 2018

Well overdue for an update... best laid plans...

I am have been restoring my bike while living as an Aussie expat in the Middle East. No fixed abode. It's been through 3 house moves in 4 years. Now it all falls apart. The company I am working for posted a loss of 1.8 billion dollars last year and is in crisis mode with lots of staff lay offs. So I have survived the cut but it's such a negative place to work now need to get out. So have jobs on the table for dubai, Japan, Portugal, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Singapore. Liking the look of Singapore and its close to Australia, Any feedback on these places gladly received. So The journey continues and my poor Commando is still not finished. Time to send her home to Australia to a storage facility until I can get home... Or it appears on storage hunters. Anyway when life gives you lemons... drink beer
D

cjandme · Apr 8, 2018

Dean said:
Well overdue for an update... best laid plans...

I am have been restoring my bike while living as an Aussie expat in the Middle East. No fixed abode. It's been through 3 house moves in 4 years. Now it all falls apart. The company I am working for posted a loss of 1.8 billion dollars last year and is in crisis mode with lots of staff lay offs. So I have survived the cut but it's such a negative place to work now need to get out. So have jobs on the table for dubai, Japan, Portugal, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Singapore. Liking the look of Singapore and its close to Australia, Any feedback on these places gladly received. So The journey continues and my poor Commando is still not finished. Time to send her home to Australia to a storage facility until I can get home... Or it appears on storage hunters. Anyway when life gives you lemons... drink beer
D

cjandme · Apr 8, 2018

Hello Dean, I neglected to tell you in my earlier posts to your restoration thread, that I have been to Dubai many times since the late 90's. However I try to live by the " if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all". After re-reading thru this the rain on your delivery day brought back memories of one of my shore leave visits there, rained on us that first day of liberty, unbelievable since as you say it almost never rains there. Well....Singapore is closer to your Australia, the people were always nice, I had a good time on every occasion. It is very small though. I guess that's only a problem if you're there for a long time, (I did a 2 year tour on Guam -12 miles wide and 35 miles long- and was ready to leave when my tour was done....I deployed for 7 months aboard the U.S.S. Essex LHD 2, but my wife stayed and was ready to get going too). Anyway, hang in there. I have finally gotten a tentative offer letter to work on Army Blackhawks in Japan. The listing has come up 3 time in the last 5 years that I've been looking...3rd time is a charm, right. I look forward to getting back to my stalled out project (a '75 MKIII). Well like I had said earlier, that '68 got lucky landing in your hands, it's looking good.

Fast Eddie · Apr 8, 2018

Dean said:
Well overdue for an update... best laid plans...

I am have been restoring my bike while living as an Aussie expat in the Middle East. No fixed abode. It's been through 3 house moves in 4 years. Now it all falls apart. The company I am working for posted a loss of 1.8 billion dollars last year and is in crisis mode with lots of staff lay offs. So I have survived the cut but it's such a negative place to work now need to get out. So have jobs on the table for dubai, Japan, Portugal, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Singapore. Liking the look of Singapore and its close to Australia, Any feedback on these places gladly received. So The journey continues and my poor Commando is still not finished. Time to send her home to Australia to a storage facility until I can get home... Or it appears on storage hunters. Anyway when life gives you lemons... drink beer
D

Japan is fabulous, but hard work long term unless you can read and speak Japanese. Highly recommended though, if you’re adventurous.

I’ve never been to Singapore, but those ex pats I’ve met who lived and worked there absolutley loved it.

If you’re Australian, it’s worth noting that both Japan and Singapore drive on the correct side of the road !

kommando · Apr 8, 2018

Japan is on my bucket list, I was in China for 3 months spread over 8months mainly based in Shanghai and really enjoyed it. Shanghai is used to seeing Europeans but outside in the countryside families used to rush over and get a picture taken with me, with my local host getting a status boost too.

frankdamp · Apr 14, 2018

The Japanese may look as if they're "driving", but most of the time they're in massive traffic jams. Our son has lived there for almost 10 years now, in a city called "Chiba-shi" on the west shore of Tokyo bay. He married a girl he dated while in the Navy. He served in the US Navy out of high school, all 6 years active duty at the Yukosaka base in Japan.

He reckoned it took about 2 years living there before his Japanese language use was fully understandable by the locals. He decided not to bother driving frequently because of the traffic density. He takes trains to/from work. The only trip he drives is a regular visit to Costco, and he borrows the in-laws' car!

If you have the Commando on the road there, you'll certainly get noticed. Good luck!

cjandme · Apr 14, 2018

Well, not "most of the time" Frank. We have a van that we haul our 6 kids around in. While it is great to be able to choose from the very nicely maintained and on time public transportation system over there, we drive an awful lot of the time because it is so convenient. The city traffic may get heavy at times but it does move and is not Grid Locked. There are fantastic country roads, mountain roads, interstate / turnpike type roads and really cool elevated city freeways. Chiba is a nice place. I got my Norton shipped over when I retired from active duty, but have been contracting in the middle east and really want to get it back on the road. Sorry to get off track Dean, let us know where you end up.

1968 Commando rescue

Dean

cjandme

cjandme

Fast Eddie

kommando

frankdamp

cjandme

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