Double Falls, USA

back in 2008 I received a bunch of Montana cards...and if im not mistaken, this is the last one of that batch...

....showing the Double Falls...or as the back of the card would say, inside the Glacier National Park are one of the many spectacular scenes that visitors might find when hiking the trails from the Logan Pass visitor centre on the Going to the Sun Highway (n.b: it is the only road through the heart of the Park)

ive said it before and ill say it again...Montana has some really fantastic places!.

Orlík nad Vltavou, Czech Republic

a card I received back in 2008...huh, what a long time ago..

the card shows the Orlík Castle, near the Orlík nad Vltavou village (meaning, Orlík upon the river Vltava). The castle is surrounded by a huge castle park and a game preserve. It belongs to the house of Schwarzenberg, but normally during the summer it is open to public.

looks like a really lovely scene, and probably one of the most perfect views to greet you in the morning when you open your eyes and look out the window...

Sapi Island, Malaysia

I received this card back in 2008 from dear Caroline...yeah, embarrassing on how many older cards there are that I have never posted...

This lovely card shows the Sapi Island...one of th five islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park...it is one of those paradise-looking places on Earth. Picturesque place with white sands and crystal clear water.

Have you started making holiday plans? Any particular places youd love to visit this summer? I have no idea about my summer schedule so I cant be making any plans holiday wise...though I really want + need to get away from here.... preferably somewhere rather solitary and isolated, yet, a place which would offer plenty of things to see and visit...you know, the Ibiza kind of holidays are not really for me :) So take me somewhere nice and peaceful please! And make sure there are postcards to buy and a Post Office to mail them at :)

Caroline used two stamps...maybe the bird stamp is something you are familiar with...it is from a set of 8 definitives issued in 2005...the other stamp however, is not something I usually see on cards from Malaysia, and it is a really nice one, so im happy to have it...it was issued in 2008 and comes from a set of 5 stamps regarding the National Angkasawan Programme...this programme is an initiative by the Malaysian government to send a Malay to the International Space Station on board Soyuz TMA-11   

Charminar, India

Another 2008 card, this time coming from India.

on the card you can see Charminar (in English 'Four Towers'). It is a massive arch built by Mohammed Quli Qutab Shah, in 1591 to commemorate the end of the plague in the city. The symbol of the city is an impressive square monument with four minarets. The monument is a magnificent square edifice of granite, built upon four grand arches facing North, South, East and West. These arches support two floors of rooms and gallery of archways. At each corner of the square structure is a minaret rising to a height of 24 meters, making the building nearly 54 meters tall. It is these four minarets that give the building, its name 'Charminar'. Each minar stands on a lotus-leaf base, a special recurrent motif in Qutub Shahi buildings.

There was this talk of going to India this summer...but I dont think it will really happen...at least not this summer...and we were also advised that the best time to visit the country is actually February/March...so we'll see. The whole idea was to go to Sri Lanka first and from there go to India...a really great way to use the route and see Sri Lanka too...but I guess we'll need to wait for some better times...

Driny, Slovakia

Well, as I had promised at the beginning of this year, that I would try to cover older postcards as well, after the 2009 Mexican one, here we have one from Slovakia, received in 2008.

the card shows the Driny limestone cave in West Slovakia in the Little Carpathians Mountains. Its entrance altitude is 399 m. The first attempt to enter the cave was made by Prussian soldiers, who were camping nearby during the Austro-Prussian War. It was finally explored in 1929, and in 1934 the first 175 meter route was opened. In 1950 other parts of the cave were explored and in 1959, the cave was reopened. The cave was declared a nature monument in 1968 and became part of the newly designated Little Carpathians Protected Landscape Area in 1976.
Today, from the total explored length of 636 m, 550 m are open to the public.

Rather interesting place....and ive been having this desire for a long while to visit Bratislava....so I guess I should try and embed this in my route too, coz it definitely seems as more than worth seeing it.

Well, thank you all for reading again and I would like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all celebrating it this weekend....here we had Mother's Day on 8 March....

Serbia

Well, my next card is one sent to me by dear Ana back in 2008....yes, you know that im VERY behind with some of my cards *blush blush blush*....but im trying to cover cards from all years now, so slowly, im catching up..in a way...

and this card is part of a great series of Serbian cards...I have already posted the Old Mountain card, the North, the Monasteries,  the West and the South-Southeast...and this time it is time for the East :)
Ive said it before and ill say it again...it is such a pity that Macedonia hasnt issued cards like this...they are so beautiful and also they are a sublime of certain regions...in Macedonia, the cards usually show just one place, whether it be single or multi-view...but you cant really find cards that summarize several Macedonian places for example....

Here, the upper picture shows a Fallow Deer in Vratna while the bottom, Natural Gates in Vratna River Gorge.
The picture on the right shows the 'Prskalo' Waterfall in the Južni Kučaj Mountain.

There are three large gates (natural stone bridges) over the Vratna river...they are a unique phenomenon, a specific phase in the evolution of tunnel caves and river meanders.  
It is always interesting to see and learn about unique phenomena in the world.

and a great card goes with a great stamp! being a huge tennis fan, i always appreciate tennis stamps (even ones with Roger Federer...when the collector in me starts to speak, the fan in me goes silent :P)
For those who are not familiar with tennis, this stamp shows Jelena Janković, one of the best female tennis player Serbia has produced. The set was issued in 2008, consisting of 5 stamps in total, which actually represented the Serbian Olympic tennis team.

hvala ti još jednom Anči...da ne misliš slučajno da sam zabatalila ove starije razglednice :)

São Marcelo's Fortress, Brazil

My last card for today is one again received back in 2008...told ya Im catching up ;-P

This card shows the São Marcelo's Fortress at night.

Under IPHAN’s protection, this fort was built with stones, in triangular shape, in the beginning of the XVII century, on the reefs in Salvador’s port entrance. Reconstructed with stones, after the Dutch invasion, in 1624, it got a circular shape and the mission of protecting the city from the foreign attacks.
If I had figured it out right, IPHAN stands for "Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional."

Seems like an interesting place, though from this perspective (plus being a night view) not much can be seen, but still, it is a nice card :)

Well, thanks for reading...and I hope you have a nice week ahead (in case you had this Monday off, like me)...and if not, I hope you are managing pretty well so far.

Until next time....
  

Osijek, Croatia

A very nice card from Osijek received in....*cough cough*....2008.....yeah, I know, im awful!

I already wrote something about Osijek here. This card was also sent by Goran, I just wonder if he remembers at all he had sent this to me since it was so long ago :)

This card shows the Church of St Peter and St Paul, the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek. The church was built in 1898 and is one of the city's landmarks.
Wikipedia gives some trivia about this church which are as follows:

- This is the tallest building in Croatia outside of Zagreb.
- Capacity of the church during the mass is over 3000 people.
- The church is built of three and a half million bricks, and has a colored stone altars.
- The four tower bells weigh 2665 kg, 1552 kg, 740 kg. and 331 kg

If some of this info is wrong, I would like to ask Goran to kindly correct me, since as we all know, Wikipedia aint always the 100% reliable source out there.

The stamp on the card was issued in 2008, presenting the General Conference of International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 in Cavtat 

Montana, USA

Believe it or not this card is from 2008.

No, I havent forgotten it...but i was just somehow so focused on the latest cards, that I totally neglected these ones....but I promised you that since the beginning of this year I will fix that and will treat them all equally....so dont be surprised if you see a card you had sent me that you had totally forgotten about...well, I have cards from before 2008, but they are not postcrossing cards....however I will try to put some of those too every now and then

And this card on its back says "Lost lake found in Northwest Montana". This structure of words just makes me laugh....the lost lake vs found in :P
It is considered as one of Montana's most unique bodies of water, hidden below the surrounding prairie north of the Highwood Mountains, about 30 miles east-northeast of Great Falls

It makes a lovely scenery definitely...from the Montana cards I had received so far, I can conclude that it definitely has beautiful nature

Yellowstone, USA

This is my third Yellowstone Postcard...you can read about the other two, here and here.

And a card with some text on the back...just as I love it....when I need a saviour :)

Lower Falls, at 308 feet is Yellowstone National Park's highest waterfall. The green colour of the water that extends part-way down the falls is caused by a notch in the riverbed at the top of the falls which allows the river to retain some of its natural green colour instead of immediately breaking into spray.

Well, Im off to read something or watch a move, or anything....ive overslept most of the day either way =/

Pantanal, Brazil

Not the kind of surrounding Id like to be trapped in...

I know that some people would keep this as a pet....but personally I cant imagine even touching such a creature...I have already posted about Pantanal, so you can read more about it there, instead of me repeating myself with the same data.
Today ill show you one cartoon about an alligator....one of those cartoons I watched when I was little...and which nowadays just bring nostalgic feelings to me of some better times...
Now THIS is a cute alligator..he he :)  The Walli Gator...with the unforgettable Macedonian synchronization....I miss these voices....

Montana, USA

And a nice Montana view for the end....

This is the Absoraka Mountain range in Montana, which is located near the Beartooth mountain range. This range forms a natural border between Montana and Wyoming. The highest peak, Frances Peak, rises to 13, 153  above sea level.

so long :)

Kihnu Island, Estonia

This card is from 2008, but just now got to see the light of day...actually, i realized its the only Estonian card left from that year, so i thought it would be nice to post it and move on to 2009 and of course 2010, and not get too much behind...

the card shows the Kihnu Lighthouse on the Kihnu Island, Gulf of Riga, in Estonia, of course.
The lighthouse composed of parts constructed in England, was installed in 1865. Its height from bottom is 28m, light altitude is 29m - from the back of the card.

Thanks a lot Janek for another great card with great stamps as well :)

the stamp on the left is from 1997, representing the Wastne Testament,the New Testament’s translation into the South-Estonian dialect,  published in Riga in 1686. And I dont know whats wrong with me today, but i dont know anything about the other stamp, except that it was issued in 2007

Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand's capital....and as the card says "A bird eye view over Bangkok in the evening"....looks really nice.

Did you know that the full ceremonial name of the city given by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, and later edited by King Mongkut, is:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

It is a combination of two ancient Indian languages, Sanskrit and Pali, and can be translated as: The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reins the reincarnated God, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarm.

Errrm.....I'll stick to Bangkok....

Malaysia

Well, we started off with lovely landscapes, so i guess we'll finish like that...

And these beauties came as a direct surprise from Malaysia from my dear dear Lyan....who by the way just launched her perfume selling webpage, so please, click here in order to see what's she offering :)
I dont really know which are the places shown on the card...on the back of it, it says: Exotic beaches, sun, sea and the natural beauty of Malaysia.
It is all very beautiful indeed...however, Malaysia has no snow, so i dont know if id ever trade my weather for this...even though im always complaining about it, i still prefer to have all the 4 seasons (even though spring and autumn have become sort of non-existent).

I think the stamp is quite appropriate to the card, representing a summer motif. Its from a set of 5 stamps issued in 2008, simply representing Seashells of Malaysia....this one is called Triton's Trumpet.

Jakarta, Indonesia

Here is the country which is like a magnet for my cards, since for some reason they feel sooo appealed to it, that they first need to take a stop in Indonesia and then come to me....

Im going thru an Windows fiasco at the moment...or actually for 3 days now...first my Windows crashed...due to a virus probably...had it re-installed, and than God my files were saved....i always tell myself that as i get new files (music, movies, programs, documents...) i will also make a back up copy, just in case....and i never do it until its way too late..and i was freaked out that all my files will be lost but they lived....well, i had to deal with a basic XP installation since i planned to just save all my data and then do a complete format....and that was a good plan, but you know how it goes..it never goes as you had planned something...so at first it seemed to have only some minor problems...i transferred some of the data...and then...and then...and its then when i couldnt access my files anymore...not just my files but the entire partition....it kept asking me if i want to Format it since it hasnt been formatted...i was devastated...mainly for not being quicker in transferring my files coz they WERE there and all i had to do was just copy them to a cd or usb....but no, i had to procrastinate as usual and of course, had to pay the price....this time seemed like there is no solution....corrupt HD...eventually, i learned that the whole drive had gone into RAW format, and this is the first time i had heard about such a problem and what the hell could i do about it.... but i couldnt give up....had to save my docs (the way im talking about this, someone would think that im hiding documents of CIA importance).... well, found some programs which seemed to work really fine...coz they actually could scan the drive and show me my files...which meant that they ARE there indeed, except that i couldnt get to them...coz i had to pay for that...do you know ow painful it feels, to have the chance to see your OWN files and yet they are not giving them to you....arrghhhhh....and then i found one which also requires money, but at least it does give you the chance to recover your stuff...little by little....which is much better than nothing....so im slowly recovering my stuff...and it feels such a relief to have the chance to see them...its just that i havent really slept for two nights...but i had to get the job done...and had to figure out the problem...and had to find the solution...and this is one of those times when i really love myself for being stubborn and persistent, even though i could barely hold my eyes open...but while waiting for my files, see, i can even make an update....even though it said NOTHING about the card actually....yeah, i know you dont mind it :P

two really nice stamps, both dating back from 2001

Mala Fatra, Slovakia

Seems like a beautiful Slovakian National Park...

National Park of Malá Fatra is situated in the westernmost Slovak high mountains Malá Fatra. Gorges rock peaks and an attractive ridge tour are among its attractions.The Krivánska part of the Malá Fatra Mts. was designated the Protected Landscape Area in 1967 for unusual abundance of its natural assets and the plant and animal species it contains. It was re-classified in 1988 to National Park Malá Fatra. It spreads on an area of 226 square kilometres. The area of its protective zone is 233 square kilometres.

The main subject of protection is the territory with varied geological history and dissected relief forms, rare and precious biocenoses, flora and fauna, and the exceptional value of forest and mountain compounds with precious dwarf pinewoods,Verdrapacious animals such as the wolf, lynx or bear.

nice....reminds me i want to get out of here...

Hong Kong

Im not sure what Hong Kong is celebrating here...but surely looks nice :)

This is the Victoria Harbour....sometimes i have a feeling that all my HK cards show one or two places only... hopefully ill get two more different HK places soon...or not so soon :) And maybe a magnet too....which is something like my latest discovered new passion for stuff...as if i dont already have NO room to place stuff.
The Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour situated between HK Island and the Kowloon Peninsula.The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on the South China Sea was instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony and its subsequent development as a trading centre.

Long famous for its spectacular views, the harbour is a major tourist attraction of Hong Kong. Lying in the middle of the territory's dense urban region, the harbour is the site of annual fireworks displays and its promenades are popular gathering places for tourists and residents.

I feel like what i wrote is a deja vu of some previous post....

Tun Sakaran Park, Malaysia

Isnt this view just B-R-E-A-T-H-T-A-K-I-N-G??? Well, that was my initial thought when i saw this card....an absolutely amazing piece of nature...situated in the distant Malaysia...well, distant for me at least...

the back of the card says: An aerial view of the islands of Tun Sakaran Park, north of Semporna. The hills of Bodgaya and Bohey Dulang islands are all that remains from the rim of an ancient volcano.
Mmmmm...it does leave the impression that a volcano used to be here...
It is located off the east coast of the state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo. It encompasses 35,000 hectares, by far the largest marine park in Malaysia.
Its just lovely...and i got it thanks to Caroline!
I wish i could just snap my fingers and be there...

the stamp is a really great one too...issued in 2008, in a set of 4 stamps called Premiere Schools. These are schools that are over 100 years old which have been selected and awarded as cluster schools due to their achievements in the academic and co-curriculum fields. These schools have produced many national leaders, corporate figures, professionals, sportsman and scholars who have contributed significantly to the growth of Malaysia in this era of globalisation.
Here you can see the SMK Convent Bukit Nanas which is a well-known premier girl’s school in Kuala Lumpur. Built in 1899, this school with its English Gothic architecture is situated on a two-acre site near the peak of Bukit nanas Forest Reserve.
SMK Bukit Nanas consistently excelled in the academic and co-curriculum fields. In 2007, this school was selected as a cluster school.

Phuket, Thailand

And some summer-related-view coming from Thailand....looks lovely!

Phuket is Thailand’s largest island, approximately the size of Singapore. It is connected to mainland Thailand by a bridge.The name Phuket is apparently derived from the word bukit in Malay which means hill, as this is what the island appears like from a distance. (i hope i used the word "Malay" right...)
On this card in particular you can see a view of Kata Noi, Kata Yai and Karon Bays at Phuket view Point. It is said to be one of the island's best views.
well, no need to dispute that i think....