Well, during my most recent 2 year stint in the US, I picked up ~30 credit cards, each with an amazing sign up bonus, got hooked on BMI (British Midland Airlines), and exploited ThankYou Points to the max.

During the past 8 months since I've been back, I haven't played much ball (though I did make an attempt at a second Chase BA 100k; approved, but got a letter in the mail stating no miles) and I've been burning miles at a pretty alarming rate (e.g. whenever a colleague is confronted with a $1000+ trip to HKG or SIN, I volunteer my miles in a heartbeat).

As soon as I pin down my next US trip, I will research the credit card scene and apply for at least three. Basically, it is much easier to tackle the minimum spend requirements stateside than it is here; I wouldn't consider bothering friends/relatives with dollar coins (they are heavy!) for anything short of 50k (non-DL) miles.

While I realize that this post is WAY off topic, I feel it's a good opportunity to advise you fellow expats that the game is still in full force... much better than mileage runs, and you can save a ton of money on intra-Asia airplane tickets (at least ex-PEK).