Kampong Ayer, Brunei Darussalam

Last time it was Bahrain, now it is Brunei, another "B" country gets ticked off the list :)

I was lucky enough to enter the Brunei group in the Vacations RR..and here is what I got, an AWESOME card (I think actually that all of the Brunei cards ive seen are not less fantastic). Plus it didnt take to travel long, like two weeks....
The card here says to be showing Kampong Ayer, the largest water village...and at the front you can also spot a water taxi.
This water village is actually an area of the Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. All of the Water Village buildings are constructed on stilts above the Brunei River.
Although it is classified as one village, it is actually a cluster of 42 smaller villages, interconnected by 18 miles of foot bridges.
In the background you can also see the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque whose most recognizable feature, the main dome, is covered in pure gold. Well, with the Bruneian golden era, this comes as no surprise.

boy, stamps with no year printed on them give me a real headache...as if I didnt already have one...I dont know if it is coz of the weather or something else, but ive been enduring headaches two days in a row now...
Luckily, I managed to locate this one...a definitive from a set of 12 issued in 1985....im often surprised to see such stamps still being in circulation.

Thanks a million to Kate from Russia for enriching my collection!

Oma, Norway

Here is something EXTREMELY beautiful!

and so soothing...as the card says, "the island of calm".....and who could oppose to that?
This small beauty with just several houses is the island of Oma situated in the Norwegian Hardangerfjorden, which is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway (Sognefjorden is the largest...)
This is like an ideal place to live...as long as I have a boat for transport from and to the island...so far away from the every day stress and chaos...so much fresh air...and I would be able to grow my own fruits and vegetables....ok, depending how much this soil and weather conditions would  be supportive but something must be able to be harvested here.

as the cancellation says, a card I had received in 2009. the large stamp was issued in 2008 representing the New Opera House in Oslo...wow! To me it appeared more like an observatory in the Antarctic region!
The small stamp is a definitive but I cant tell from which year exactly it would be.

thanks a million to Sissel for this beauty of a card!

The First Postcrossing Meeting in Belgrade

well, ok...you should all know by now about the first postcrossing meeting that was held in Belgrade on 29 October 2011...if you dont know about it, you should probably blame your postman :)

It came too spontaneously, but turned out great...the only remark would be the lack of time :)
And one of the most special things about this meeting was the special postcard design we had, done by Renato. A really unique card, representing all the participants (by their usernames) and all that nicely arranged according to the country they were coming from! Can you spot me? :P
Personally I addressed way too many cards...and I have no idea how many we signed in total, but it was a LOT LOT LOT!!! Well, after all, it was the first meeting :)
Unfortunately, I didnt manage to send as many cards as I had originally planned...the time simply didnt allow it, and funny but after the postcard shopping, I ended up writing out ALL of the cards, even though I planned to bring back some home...so do the math :)
If you hadnt gotten a card from this meeting and you are sure your postman is the most reliable guy on Earth, then let us know for next time :)

and somehow this post was perfect to present this fantastic map card of Yugoslavia...it was sent to me by Renato as well, a few months before the meeting. Here all the former republics of Yugoslavia can be seen with their respective flags...and this is somewhat what our meeting was about...postcrossers from different parts of  former Yugoslavia...unfortunately, Montenegro, BiH and Slovenia were missing, but we wholeheartedly hope that on the next meeting, at least one representative from each republic would be present. Ill do my best to fill in the Macedonian spot :)

Renato used a really nice definitive from a set of 8 issued in 2007 with this one representing Kopaonik.

A big hug to all my PC meeting friends, and of course, to the ones who couldnt make it this time :)

Route 66

wow, been so long since Ive posted a Route 66 card here! (actually ive realized that ive been overlooking some particular countries too even though i have a good number of postcards from there, so I should be working on those too..)

Anyways, this is definitely the most fantastic Route 66 Ive received! It is actually like a real metal licence plate!! Fantastic!! And it arrived undamaged and in perfect condition!
The huge thank you for this goes to dear Goran. Once he surprised me with a Route 66 magnet and now this great card/licence plate!
What I especially love about this one is how the US states through which this Route ran are represented on the both sides, with the US flag in between. And I cant forget the old-timers too...perfectly fitting in the image :)
Hvala ti puno puno puno Gorane!!


well, unless you've forgotten, since it's been a long long while, Route 66 cards are accompanied with a Depeche Mode song....this time it is one of the songs from Exciter which I constantly used to skip until I heard the live version of it on the One Night In Paris DVD...it became one of my all time favourites ever since and i got totally hooked on it...the genius called Martin L. Gore strikes once again...

...indeed =/

The Old KhamisMosque, Bahrain

4th December....the date of my last post....uhmm...could have sworn, I made an update just yesterday :)
Well, without further ado, let's see what do we have for today...and I cant help it but start with something I received recently...a new w/s country...:D :D :D

when someone from Bahrain asks you for a swap, you certainly can't say no, right? I mean, it would be silly to refuse such a proposal :P  So here it is, my first card from the Kingdom of Bahrain!! Yippie!!! :D

And it is a really great card, since the Khamis mosque is believed to have been the first mosque in Bahrain, built during the era of the Umayyad caliph Umar II, some say around 692 AD; some mention the 11th century as the time when its foundation has been established. The mosque has two identical minarets in the front and is also considered as one of the oldest relics of Islam in the region.

there are two stamps on the card...the right one is from a set of 16 stamps issued in 2002 portraying the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The other stamp is said to be a charity stamp...Im not really sure what falls under 'charity' here...if someone's familiar with these Bahrain stamps, please tell me a bit more about them

Calgary, Canada

Here is something pulled out from the 2009 box...2010 is not so bad, but 2011 is as big as both of them, yet, has not enough room for all the cards, so there is a pile that needs to be stored separately...that is an indicator that ive been pretty lousy with updates here since I had allowed such thing to happen...should I make a New Year resolution about it? :)

the card was sent by Glenn  who wanted to share with me this Tower in Calgary. A pretty impressive structure I must say...completed in 1968, it rises nearly 191 metres in the air.
My first thought regard such buildings is always related to the view from above....and this one must be offering a great view over the city and further beyond (just make sure you are not caught up there during an earthquake :))
Personally, would love to have a cup of coffee up there, and a slice of cheesecake (hopefully they have them on the menu)
Did you know that here you also have the highest 360° observation deck in the world??? Cool, no?

Glenn used a whole set of stamps here issued in 2009 featuring the Canadian Recording Artists. What can I do, I only know of Bryan Adams *blush*

thank you Glenn! Though you might have forgotten you had ever sent me this one :)

Texas, USA

so, if you have started feeling like a couch potato during these cold winter days, here is something to get you moving....just make sure you have good running skills :p

Bryon sent me this great card....which is like a refreshment to my overall collection...I cant say I have a lot of cowboy cards in my collection or cards related to people/animals in general when it comes to the USA.

The back of the card says: Cowboys roping Texas longhorn cattle. Uhmm, seems like they haven't heard of animal welfare :) Though I highly doubt there is any sort of inspection or control out here in the field....pardon my professional damage here, please, but I cant help it :)

On the side note...I have never been able to get into the Western movies....but I liked this Lucky Luke cartoon...

and Im pretty sure you've watched Tom the Cowboy Texan :)

Great stamps from Bryon as usual...this time, we have two ship stamps from a set of 4 Forever stamps issued this year honouring the US Merchant Marine, while the other 22c stamp is from a set of, erm, 50 fauna stamps issued in 1987. The stamp represents the Monarch Butterfly and is perhaps best known of all the North American butterflies.

thank you very much again Bryon!! :)))

Malokarpatská vínna cesta, Slovakia

A card Janek sent me from his trip to Bratislava....

which got me to realize that I have no card from Bratislava in my collection...uhmm, so I am working on changing that....hopefully it will work out :)

This cute map card here says to be showing the Wine Route of the Small Carpathians....so a really nice card for all the wine lovers out there....you know who you are ;)
This route has been established to promote the small and medium size wineries from Bratislava to Trnava, which actually covers the southwestern wine region of the country.

Twice a year, in November and May, all winemakers along the route open their cellar doors to members of the public, who can learn more about the craft and sample the best wines from the previous season. (The May event gets its name from St. Urban, the patron of vineyard workers, whose feast day is May 25.) There are around 80 wineries participating in the wine route.

That is a lot of wine on the overall :) I am no wine expert but I like wine festivals....the last one I attended to some months ago was really fun...but of course, not only coz of the wine, but also coz of the fantastic company I had :)

Janek used the 2009 Europa stamp regarding astronomy.

thanks a lot Janek!

And wishing you all a great week ahead! Hopefully will see you again in a few days :)

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

so, it's been a rather silent week...just felt on the down side in general....actually the entire of November was rather low...so I hope December will bring me something nicer on the overall...i wasnt that busy as usual, but somehow time flew away....and when i think of the fact that another year has almost gone by, i simply shudder at it....

My first Puerto Vallarta card was posted like over two years ago. This one here I received several months ago by Erin who spent some time here.
The card shows a sculpture called "The lovers". Having in regard the country it is coming from, I find this pretty ironic and sad at the same time....
this is one of the several sculptures that  decorate the 'malecón', which is a word used in Spanish-speaking countries for a stone-built embankment or esplanade along a waterfront.

there are three stamps on the card actually, but until i realized i had scanned it all wrong, it was too late and im honestly rather lazy to be doing it all over again :) anyways the third stamp is at the bottom and is the same as the reddish one. Both are definitives issued in 2010.

Cumbres & Toltec Railroad, USA

A really great card coming from New Mexico!

as the back of the card says: Built in 1880 and little changed since, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is the fine example of steam era mountain railroading in North America. Its equipment, structures and vast landscape exist today as if frozen in the first half of the 20th century.

It is considered as a precious artifact of the American West. According to the card, it definitely offers a great scenery to be seen during the ride....plus the 'steam locomotive' adds a lot to the charm of it :)

of course :)

Formula 1

sooo....it's been a while since I had posted a card related to Formula 1....but time to change that.

FI- 1212021

Mainly, it is coz i havent been following it for a long while so I couldnt really post something about it when i didnt really know what was going on....lost the interest since Raikkonen left (the races were already boring, yet i had someone to cheer for, so I watched it).
But...just this past week, it was announced that Ice-man had signed a contract with Lotus Renault GP and is coming back to F1 the following season!!! Yippie!! Yippie yippie yay yay!! Must be one of the greatest news ive heard in a long long while!! I can hardly wait!! I dont care in which team he is and if the season is not as fun as it should be...I really missed the F1 adrenaline and now i have the reason to get my dosage...I miss the waking up at 5 am to watch the Australian Grand Prix...cheering and biting my nails.
I know there have been quite some changes in the F1 so it's gonna take me a while to get a hold of it all, but im in no hurry :)

btw, i cant tell the exact driver this card represents, however, it came in handy :)

and speaking of good sports' news....Spain won the Davis Cup today...after a nail-biting match between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro. I really like Del Boy, so i felt sorry for him in the end, but Rafa is Rafa and after a crappy season, this was like the perfect closure :P  Yay yay yay!!

Lighthouses, New Zealand

As for my closure today, I picked some NZ lighthouses...beautiful as always!

the first one shows the Waipapa Point - the lighthouse is located at the southern end of the Catlins region and marks the scene of New Zealand's worst civilian shipwreck. On 29 April 1881, 131 people were drowned when the passenger steamer Tararua was wrecked on a reef off the point. Tararua was on one of its regular trips between Otago and Melbourne, via Bluff.

The first lit was in 1884 and the lighthouse was automated and demanned in 1974. It is 13 metres high.

the backside is rather gorgeous and happy with the stamps and the stickers. The two big colourful stamps are from a fantastic sheet  of 25 stamps issued in 2010, called Slice of heaven. The small stamps at the left side come from a set of 6 definitives issued in 2009, while the 10c one, at the bottom right is from a set of  7 definitives issued in 2007.

the second card here shows three different lighthouses so i wont go into details about each one, just name them....and if one day i receive a single view of any of these, id be happy to share their stories :)

From left to right you have: Cape Campbell, Akaroa Harbour and Taiaroa Head. Im pretty confused about the middle one, coz it looks the same as the Waipapa Point one, though the surroundings may be different, but still...I keep wondering if this might be the same lighthouse actually, and if there is some mistake in the explanations or these are indeed two different lighthouses and Akaroa Harbour has nothing to do with Waipapa.....

the cute stamp was issued this year in a set of 4 "year of the rabbit" stamps.

Have a fab week ahead everyone! :)