Torres del Paine, Chile

Well, before anything, I need to ask you to bear with me and my posts...I managed to sort t of screw up two keys on my keyboard (w & e) and now typing feels like one of the greatest inconveniences, esp. when of course, i need to use those particular keys. I still dont know if i can just replace them, or the problem is a whole lot bigger....but until then, my posts may be with typos....or there may be no posts at all coz it is really annoying to have a such a keyboard...though I just cant resist the temptation sometimes and decide to struggle...like pressing 232324 times till i get the w & e right :)

Here is a lovely card from Chile...a country full of beauties. This beauty here in particular is the Torres del Paine National park. The park was established in 1959 as Parque Nacional de Turismo Lago Grey (Grey Lake National Tourism Park) and it was given its present name in 1970.
The landscape of the park is dominated by the Paine massif, which is an eastern spur of the Andes located on the east side of the Grey Glacier, rising dramatically above the Patagonian steppe. Small valleys separate the spectacular granite spires and mountains of the massif. These are: Valle del Francés (French Valley), Valle Bader, Valle Ascencio, and Valle del Silencio (Silence Valley).
To the east, from north to south, lie the peaks Fortaleza (Fortress), La Espada (The Sword), La Hoja (The Blade), La Máscara (The Mummer), Cuerno Norte (North Horn), and Cuerno Principal (Main Horn).
And here you can actually have a glimpse of the Horns.
The park was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1978.

this card had a nice two month travel before it reached me....it has two stamps....the stamp on the right comes from a set of 2 issued in 2008 regarding the Centenary of Birth of Fray Francisco Valdes Subercaseaux, while the other stamp is from 2009, and is a Christmas stamp from a set of 4.

Moscow, Russia

I think that this is one of the most famous and most favourited Russian postcards....and with a reason!

It simply looks more like coming from a fairy tale book than something real...thumbs up to N.H.Rahmanova who is signed as the photographer of this.
The card shows the St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, (also known as Cathedral of Intercession of Theotokos on the Moat) which is the city's main cathedral. It is a Russian Orthodox cathedral erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–1561. Built on the order of Ivan IV of Russia to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century.It was the tallest building of Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.
The building's design, shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, has no analogues in Russian architecture: "It is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to fifteenth century... a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design." The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century but has never been reproduced directly.
The cathedral has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was completely secularized in 1929 and, as of 2009, remains a federal property of the Russian Federation. The cathedral has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990

Russia is one of my top countries when it comes to stamps....they simply have fantastic issues!
The big yellow one in the middle one is from a set of 4 issued in 2004 representing an amber room and this one shows an engraved head....why this stamp is special to me is coz the head is really engraved and if you put your fingers over it you can actually feel the shape...something like when you read the Braille's alphabet...the stamp on the very left is also from 2004 from a set of 4, issued under the name "We glorify the Homeland" - this stamp in particular shows Marshal Zhukov. The stamp on the right is from a set of 5 issued in 2005, representing History of Russian State - Emperor Alexander II. The bottom stamp is a well known definitive from 2008, issued in a set of 15, representing a fox.

Jiu Zhai Gully, China

A beautiful postcard I got from my friend Dani.....

....and this post is dedicated to her as well, in order to wish her a safe trip to China and lots of luck and happy moments in the following 300 and something days. Ahhh China....such a vast place...worth to be seen....hopefully one day...if we get the chance to visit Dani :)
The card shows the Nuorilang waterfall. It is a marvellous scene in Jiu Zhai Gully, about 100 metres in width, the widest waterfall in China.
Few months ago at one of the cultural events here, I watched this documentary film, called "The last train home", which had won among else, the Best Documentary Feature at 2009 IDFA. While the majority of the people I was with were bored, I was fascinated with the movie...first of all it featured travels by train which lasted several days...and not one of those comfy ones. Second, it brought into perspective some fascinating views in China, presented their culture, their people and their struggle to make ends meet...a really sad and touching movie, which brings you the reality of THIS China and it makes you both angry and full of admiration

Here is the trailer, for whomever might be interested....personally, I highly recommend it




Have a safe trip Dani...you will be missed....and keep in touch! <3

Cape Reinga, New Zealand

I dont have many NZ cards...esp. not officials, but this is one of them, and I was really happy that it came from a dear lady, Adrienne...

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And she has taken care to absolutely fulfill my wishlist, since this card contains both a map and a lighthouse!
In order not to repeat myself a lot, you can read about Cape Reinga more at this post here.
And I love the Signs on this one...these always make me wonder which road should I take....and I always realize, as long as I can take one and get the chance to travel, I really should take it...I love being on the move all the time, going here and there and seeing anything this world can offer me.

the stamp is from a set of 5 issued in 2010, representing the Expo Shanghai.

Romania

Do you know that Romania is my hard-to-get country? I dont have the chance to receive cards from there often, but this time i was very lucky and got to receive an official! It brightened up my day I think :)

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The card is said to depict a phenomenon known as "Muddy volcanoes", one of the best known geological reserves in the country, located in the Berca commune in the Buzău County.
As the gasses erupt from 3000 meters-deep towards the surface, through the underground layers of clay and water, they push up underground salty water and mud, so that they overflow through the mouths of the volcanoes, while the gas emerges as bubbles. The mud dries off at the surface, creating a relatively solid conical structure, resembling a real volcano. The mud expelled by them is cold, as it comes from inside the Earth's continental crust layers, and not from the mantle.
The reservation is unique in Romania. Elsewhere in Europe, similar phenomena can be observed in Italy (northern Apennines and Sicily), Ukraine (in the Kerch Peninsula), as well as Azerbaijan.
The mud volcanoes create a strange lunar landscape, due to the absence of vegetation around the cones. Vegetation is scarce because the soil is very salty, an environmental condition in which few plants can survive. However, this kind of environment is good for some rare species of plants.

There are three stamps on the card, where the middle one was issued in 2007 in a set of 4, representing:Romanian Pottery - Peasant Dishes III, and here is shown Luncavita-Tulcea. The other two stamps were issued in 2005 in a set of 7, again representing Romanian Pottery, where the left stamp shows a wedding pitcher from Curtea de Arges, Arges while the right one comes from the region Leheceni, Bihor.

Santander, Spain + Contest

A Fantastic card sent from my dear Beatriz.

And I would like to use this opportunity to present you a contest she is organizing at her blog. So if you are interested into penpalling, like cute/nice stationary for your letters and you enjoy decorating it with stickers maybe then this contest is for you. What you need to do? Well for starters you have to visit Penpalling and Letters, and read the contest article, right HERE. All the rules and how you need to proceed afterwards is given there. The contest is supported by TheCutestStickers.com and LetterSets.com. During the contest, you can also get a 10% discount, but to find out how, you will need to read the above mentioned article. Deadline is 21st September, so less than a month left to enter....better hurry :)

Well, personally I use plain papers for my letters since we barely have any nice stationery here and those sold are insanely expensive or are sold one small sheet per envelope....having in mind that my letters usually take 4 pages A4 format, what's sold here is simply ridiculous....so I need to use plain envelopes as well..but I LOVE decorating those with stickers...and when I put a nice stamp and use a colour pen to write the address, it looks nice eventually and not plain at all :)
So this contest seems to be like a jackpot for me, and Im surely gonna enter...I just hope that with my slowness I wont miss the deadline in the end :P

Sooooo. what are you waiting for?? Go go go!!!

Mysore, India

A card  I received from India from a nice lady who was supposed to be my penpal, but when i was about to write her back and ask to confirm her address, she had just disappeared...strange really, and apart from interpals, i dont have any other way to contact her =/

And she was really nice...and with her first letter included this postcard too which shows the Brindavan Gardens in Mysore. This garden located in the state of Karnataka in India. It lies adjoining the Krishnarajasagara dam which is built across the river Kaveri. The work on laying out this garden was started in the year 1927 and completed in 1932. Visited by close to 2 million tourists per year, the garden is one of the major attractions near the city of Mysore.

The Krishnarajasagara dam was constructed under the guidance of Sir Mirza Ismail, the Dewan (chief financial officer) of Mysore. As a part of beautification of the dam site, Sir Mirza Ismail conceived a plan of developing a garden in Mughal style with a design similar to that of Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir.The work on this garden was started in 1927. It was constructed in a terraced fashion and named Krishnarajendra Terrace Garden.

I had a look at some pictures at night and I must say that the fountains at that time of the day look amazing!

Washington, USA

A lovely map card I received from Maggie who has been very kind to help me each time I got stuck with those Japanese stamps :)

The card is really lovely in colours...well you know...dominant blue, and you have seduced me :)

Here some nice info from the back of the card:

Columbia River System Dams

Installed Generation Capacity (in megawatts)

Grand Coulee   6,494 F                                  Priest Rapids   789
Chief Joseph     2,069 F                                  McNary          980 F      
Wells                774                                        John Day         2,160 F
*Rocky Reach  1,280                                     Dalles              1,807 F
*Rock Island    624                                        Bonneville        1,062 F
Wanapum         831

* - Owned by Chelan County Public Utility District
F - Federally Owned

Hope you got it all right :)

The two stamps on the right come from a set of 10 issued in 2008, called "the flags of our nation". The top left stamp is a definitive from 2004 representing a Chippendale Chair, while the one underneath is another definitive from 2003 showing the American Clock

Thank you Maggie for the great card! :)  

Cambodia

Well, here is a nice start of the day....though it's 1pm...but being that i got up like an hour ago, and still having my coffee, it is yet a start of the day for me indeed...ive never been a morning person....esp. not on weekends...

Oh yeah, another map card :))) A fantastic one, from the faraway Cambodia! And from what I can see, at each place that is shown on this card, you can see the typical housings or what people do for living (fishing, crops, rice etc...) On the very right you can see 3 people, which according to me (meaning I dont guarantee it's right) are dressed in some traditional Cambodian clothing...and a few elephants walking around, and from what I read, this is supposed to be The Indian Elephant is the main type of Asian elephant found in Cambodia.
The famous Angkor Wat is on the very left top part....

When I once was mailing an envelope to Cambodia, the postal clerk who was working there, first stared at it for a bit, and then in a victorious but yet uncertain way said "Canada!"....I guess she was hoping to figure out whats written on the envelope without seeming as if she was clueless (and to make it clear, my handwriting may get sloppy in letters or the text on the cards but when it comes to addresses i always write them as clearly as possible in order to avoid misplacement or missending of mail). Anyway, there was another postal clerk who came and put on her glasses and then they BOTH stared at the letter trying to decipher it, me just standing there, sort of laughing, but refusing to solve their riddle...I am mean, I know, but I really have fun with clueless postal clerks....and eventually the second lady who came, said, 'ooohh Cambodia'....yeeeeyy!! she got it!
I still can bet they werent sure if they knew where that exactly was...I wonder what would happen if I hand them in an envelope going to Guernsey and Alderney or Akrotiri and Dhekelia for example....that would be an alarming state...even though they both are in Europe...

Id love to dedicate this post to my dear Zarah, whose delicious coffee im having right now, and thank her for it once again, and thank her for being there for me when ive been having those 'nervous breakdowns' during the tennis matches :)

The stamp is from a set of 7 definitives issued in 1998, dedicated to archaeology.

Mulo, Croatia

Dear Agi sent me this lovely lighthouse

From all my visits to Croatia back in time, unfortunately I cant recall if I had seen their lighthouses...I know ive seen lighthouses for real SOMEWHERE, but no way I could remember where it was...
This one shows the Mulo island and lighthouse...situated near Rogoznica and Planka promontory. Mulo is one of the oldest Croatian lighthouse, which was built by the navy Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1873, just near Rogoznica's sea surface. It was equipped by cranes for lifting wooden fishing boats which saught the rescue during storms. During one thunderstorm in the last century, early 70's, a cargo ship, chock full of tropical fruits ran aground the lighthouse Mulo. Eye witnesses claim that marketplaces in Rogoznica, Šibenik and Split have been settled with oranges for months ! But along with Mulo's garrison the legends about it also vanished.

a few lovely colourful stamps...the first two come from a set of 5 issued in 2008, representing Croatian Ethnographic Heritage (the one on the left shows a Folk costume from Sunja, while the other one shows a Folk costume from Bistra)..the stamp next to it (along with the tab) is also from 2008, it is a commercial stamp regarding the 20 Years of the Healthy Cities Movement in Europe.

Bali, Indonesia

One fantastic card sent by Nina in Indonesia...

The colours of this card are just soo beautiful and captivating! I love it!
It shows a Temple Procession on the Bali islands. I doubt I would be able to explain this well without making a mistake and saying some nonsense, so here is something I found on youtube instead...and came the most close to what I saw on the card

The stamp is from a set of 8 flower (greeting) stamps issued in 2001

Samaná, Dominican Republic

Starting with a small treasure for my collection (and as you see, I had some mercy towards you and this aint a map card :P)

My second ever card from the Dominican Republic (here is numero uno, received two years ago), but this is my first written and stamped one! Wohoooo!
I guess this is sort of a typical scenic view for these exotic places...endless ocean views, sunsets, beaches, palms..but it is a really nice one. It shows a late afternoon in Samaná, which is a city and municipality in northeastern Dominican Republic and is the capital of Samaná Province.
The city was founded in 1756 as Santa Bárbara de Samaná during the colonial period by the Spanish governor Francisco Rubio y Peñaranda. Families from the Canary Islands were brought to live in this city and Sabana de la Mar.
It was named Santa Bárbara after the Queen Bárbara de Braganza, wife of King Ferdinand VI of Spain.

and here comes the stamp...or the stamp-sticker...Im not sure how is this one classified....it is not one of those ugly postal stickers, it does have its own purpose, however, i cant figure out the date of issue or anything related to it.
Funny thing, the card was sent around the 20th May....reached me just this week....3 months of a longish cruise somewhere...along the Caribbean probably....

Kyiv, Ukraine

After two clumsy confusions and by mistake putting cards from Russia and Belarus, third luck charm and I get the intended Ukrainian postcard here....

As the back of the card says, here you can see the Nunnery of St. Mary the Protectress and the Monasterial Hospital. I am really not sure about the word 'hospital here, coz it doesnt occur in the German explanation on the card nor in the Russian and Ukrainian ones....in all the other explanations i see the word 'church' not 'hospital'...I am starting to wonder when did the explanations on the cards become so confusing and not so reliable...grrr....this is getting frustrating :@

the flower stamp is a definitive from a set of 18 issued in 2006

Coffee love

Recently through my friend Dani I discovered the Random Hearts and the Guest Heart Thursday...

So I thought it would be nice to share a bit of my love with them and spread the warmth.....and today it comes in a great combination of love and coffee....coffee addicts know what I mean, and I dont know if it's just me, or the world often seems a better place after a nice cup of coffee, esp. in the morning :)

Be generous and kind and if you have some hearts to share, give your love at Clyte's blog...you will be amazed how many hearts have been gathered there at one place!

Lofoten, Norway

There was this song, Save the best for last.....ahh, my beloved Norway!

And look at this fantastic view....as if Norway could offer a bad view at all :)
The card shows the Revsvik cave with cave painting in Moskenesøy, Lofoten. (Moskenesøy is an island while Lofoten refers to the district/region if im not mistaken...)
Sometimes i just feel that my entire Norwegian collection of postcards is so surreal....so much beauty at one place. I may have said this before but, out of all my postcards, the Norwegian collection is the one im most proud of...I really have to go there one day....it would be such a pity if i dont after so much talking and so many sighs and amdiration...

there are two stamps on the card, both from 2010. The left one was issued in a set of 6 stamps representing National Tourist Routes, where on this one you can see Gamle Strynefjellsveien. While the other stamp is dedicated to Eurovision and shows Alexander Rybak!! Ahhh, the sweet adorable Rybak! Such a charming guy with so much charisma!
Uhmm, I know ive been sort of demanding lately, but it just happens spontaneously as I write about the cards....so if anyone happens to have a postcard with Rybak, can you please think of me? Thank you :)

Thats all folks!

Thailand

Believe it or not, but Thailand can be considered a rare country in my collection...I realized that just now and I think that it is Taiwan actually which is more popular postcard-wise.

I got this lovely map card from dear Sissel from her recent trips. You know, I think that the richest people in the world arent the one who have the most money but the ones who have actually travelled a lot and who get to speak many different languages. I think I am on the edge of survival on that scale just that I am not eligible to apply for any sort of social help :)

Apart from the map, the card shows several other places in Thailand and according to the numbers (they can be seen on each picture) this is what you have:

1. Phromthep Cape, Phuket.
2. The Big Buddha, Samui
3. Chicken Island, Krabi (The shape of this one reminds you of something, doesnt it?)
4. Pattaya Bay, Chomburi
5. Ko Chang National Park, Trat
6. James Bond Island, Phang Nga

A few of these places have really gotten my interest in them, and would love to talk more of each....so if anyone can send me a postcard of number 2, 3 and 6, I would be really happy :)

At times like this, my lack of movie knowledge expands a lot...I had no idea there was a James Bond island...in fact, I had never watched a James Bond movie....I know many of you are now in awe....sorry :)
Im more of a music addict and a book-worm....and movies a.k.a James Bond have never really fascinated me.

Sissel used a very nice stamp. It is from a set of 10 issued in 2008 representing Mountains as tourist attractions in Thailand, and here you can see the Phu Khao Hin Pakarang.

Takk Sissel!!!

San Francisco, USA

One of the loveliest views over the Golden Gate...

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It is called "Fog rolls into San Francisco Bay through the Golden Gate Bridge".

Here is one similar view of the Golden Gate, veiled in more fog, being more mysterious, hiding more secrets, but in both cards, the sun is the one which makes everything hopeful.

The Golden Gate hides more secrets than you could ever imagine, peoples' sad stories....it is the favourite place for people committing suicide, not just in USA but in the entire world as well.

I dont know whats so appealing about it, like it has some cortex that drags you in...I was reading some articles about this recently, and about many on-going debates of how to prevent people from committing the suicide...my favourite point in those articles was that, you may do something with the Golden Gate and reduce the number of suicides HERE...but that doesnt mean that people wont find another bridge....sad but true..

The well known stamp of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Taipei, Taiwan

Well, since we already mentioned Taiwan above, lets give him a whole post indeed...

The card shows the Jong-Shan Building in Taipei....and unfortunately thats the only info I could give you about it...when I search for it, google keeps asking me, 'but did you actually mean something else'....so I gave up :)
Still, the building is really nice, and I really love the style of the Asian ones.

Thats all for today....I had another card in mind, but I figured it out I had made some mix up with the countries, so I left it for another time.

Isle of Man

*cough cough cough* what a great map card, eh? :)))))

And from such a rare country...here is my first received Isle of Man postcard...but this second one is so special since it is actually written and stamped and mailed from Isle of Man itself! I feel so happy and proud :P

Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The island is not part of the United Kingdom, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the UK Government. The island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. It began to be influenced by Gaelic culture in the AD 400s and the Manx language, a branch of the Gaelic languages, gradually emerged. In the 800s, the Norse began to settle there. A Norse-Gaelic culture emerged and the island came under Norse control. In 1266, the island became part of Scotland. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the island came under the feudal overlordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested into the British Crown in 1764 but the island never became part of the United Kingdom and retained its status as an internally self-governing jurisdiction.
Mann is not a part of the European Union, but has a limited relationship concerning the free movement of goods.

for those who dont know exactly where Isle of Man is:

the stamp on the card is from a set of 6 issued this year, representing the Ford Model T. This is the 1923 7 cwt Van

Szeged, Hungary

For  change something different from the usual Budapest views coming from Hungary.

The card even has a small map with the colours of the Hungarian flag...but I dont really think I could label this as a map...uhmm...it's just too small :)

Szeged is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the capital of Csongrád county.
The name Szeged might come from an old Hungarian word for corner (szeg) because of the turn of the river Tisza there. Others say it derives from the Hungarian word sziget which means "island". Others still contend that szeg means "dark blond" (sötétszőkés) - a reference to the colour of the water where the rivers Tisza and Maros merge.

I didnt really know you could refer to the colour of the water as 'dark blond'...

Unfortunately, the card has no stamp, but this machine generated sticker...well, must admit that this one look better compared to the red-coloured machine cancellations....

Another day in paradise...

A small dose of some cynical humour...

I know many wouldnt agree with this statement or would deny it coz for one reason or the other...but I just love this sarcastic remark...
Frankly I got neither of these two...but you know, I rather post this card now instead when I have both things and then be totally misunderstood about my humour and risk all sort of problems arising from it :)

And really, apart from a career and a family to care for, what else could a woman need, eh?!!!



(just to make it clear....that's a sarcastic comment too...)

Belgrade, Serbia

My last card for today came as a surprise from not so far away....and I just love it!!

Even though this is a tram and not a train line, the card feels perfect and so nostalgic....and for some reason i think this shot was done on a Sunday afternoon....

The card shows Dorćol - one of the oldest parts of Belgrade. Narrow streets with the strong sense of past times are hiding many cultural and historical monuments and buildings. Skadarska street - the "Bohemian quarter" with traditional restaurants, and Strahinjica Bana street with modern cafes and restaurants, are symbols of the Belgrade night life.

Hvala ti još jednom Anči!

Mauritius

Oh yes, a fantastic map card! And you know just how much I love to brag with these :D

One of the numerous great surprises from Sissel.
I had this map card on my wishlist for a longish time and now I have it in my collection!

I think that the winning combination here that captured me is the deep-blue ocean colour...being my favourite colour, blue on cards often contributes for me liking them a lot....and if any of you here is well-acquainted with the personality stuff (like, since blue is my favourite, what does it say about me) feel free to give me an insight into it...just curious :)

The card also has a number of small pictures depicting some of the paradise-places in Mauritius.

Some of the interesting facts about this country are that the majority of the estimated 1,300,000 people are Indian, but there are also many people of African descent on the island. There are also European and Chinese minorities. It is the only African nation where the majority religion is Hinduism although Christianity and Islam also have significant populations.
This island is also renowned for having been the only known home of the dodo.

If anyone has a postcard with the dodo, I would be really happy to accommodate it in my collection!

Amerongen, The Netherlands

A few Dutch cards sent by Sietse, this time, showing some bits and pieces of Amerongen, which is a village in the central Netherlands on the border of the Utrecht Hill Ridge.

The first card shows the Little Houses on the Hugtje, where presumably, 'hugtje' stands for 'the elevated terrain they are built on'...but not 100% sure, so if anyone can confirm or deny, the right answer is more than welcome.

Here is the Amerongen Castle which was first established in 1286. Several times it was attacked, destroyed and rebuilt. In 1672 it was attacked by the French army and burned down. Shortly afterwards the castle was rebuilt in the classicist form it has hold until now.

The third card shows the Efratha church, about which I know nothing.

And this last card shows the Historical Museom of Amerongen. A very cute appearance from the outside... And from what I found, this museum gives the history of tobacco growing in the southeast Utrecht from 1640 to 1965, with drying shed, tools and carpenter's workshop. In summer, there is a demonstration in the tobacco field.

And a bunch of stamps, since each card was sent written and stamped....and they are ALL different :)
First we have a Christmas stamp (on the right) from a set of 10 issued in 2009, while the left stamp was issued in 2008 in a sheet of both 5 and 10 stamps under the title "Think Green".

Again, the same combination..one Christmas and one Think Green stamp.

Christmas + Think Green....

aaand, again, Christmas + Think Green combination from the same issues....and I just love it that they are all different and add to my stamps' collection!

Thank you Sietse :)

Rhode Island, USA

My last post for today brings another great map card, and this time it's Rhode Island...and this is my first ever Rhode Island post on this blog!

Rhode Island, or also known as "The Ocean State", may be the smallest state but it is packed with things to do and see.

Nickname: Little Rhody
Area in sq. miles: 1,248
Admission to Statehood: May 29, 1790.

Two nice, and for a change different US stamps. The one on the left is from 2006 from a set of 4 Christmas stamps, while the right one is from 2001, showing the Acadia National Park.

Quang Tri, Viet Nam

First it was Kazakhstan, and now it is Viet Nam, and I get to have cards from these two rare places thanks to dear Jo mainly!

And this time she chose a lovely card from my favourites, which shows a rainy day at the market in Quang Tri.
This is a city in central Vietnam, the major city of Quang Trí Province, which lies near the Demilitarized Zone, an area that separated North and South Vietnam after Vietnam was partitioned at the end of the First Indochina War in 1954. People living here are said to be poor unfortunately.

But this card is just too beautiful to me, with all these people wearing the same hats and with these different nice colourful clothes on , just creates some lovely and unique atmosphere.
Curious to know what exactly they are selling at this market...I am pretty much convinced that even though im rather picky when it comes to food, here I would love to try the most unusual stuff they might be selling...as long as its not bugs and crickets and such...

The stamp on the right is from a set of 4 issued in 2009, representing flowers, while the left one shows a carp and is from a set of 3 fish stamps issued in 2008.