Just one more card for today - I don't wanna overwor my rustiness :P
I have been rarely doing swaps for a long while now, partly because I somehow find this whole swap thing has become too demanding and more like a business than something done for pleasure, plus cos of financial reasons too. But sometimes you just spot a card and you know you have to go for it, which was the case with this one.
Sent by Bernard from Malaysia, who says he used to take this train from Ipoh to Singapore, where the journey lasted for almost 8 hours, but now with the new flight services, it takes like an hour. Yep, the planes have ruined it all :D
However, taking the price into consideration too, I'd always prefer a cozy train ride to a flight (trains in Macedonia are exempted from this).
The stamp is from a set of 4, World Post Day stamps issued in 2017. The postcrossing community there even organized a Postcrossing Meeting for the World Post Day.
Thanks a lot to Bernard for this card, and to you all for dropping by.
Well, since we had the "Missent to Malaysia" above, let's show one from Malaysia now that I received just a few days ago...and that is absolutely fantastic!!
an awesome awesome train card showing the Diesel Multiple Unit Train (powered by on-board diesel engine) at the Beaufort Train Station in Sabah, Malaysia.
A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railbus/railmotor, depending on the country.
and this beautiful train card comes with a beautiful matching stamp!! ahh, im just in love with this!!
It comes from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2015, showing Trains in Sabah.
and for my last post today (yeah, sorry, but it would be only four posts despite so much time has passed - but better something than nothing ;-)
I have two cards showing the Railway Station in Kuala Lumpur.
this one came back in 2010, unless I had mixed up something, for the Surprise RR.
The back of the card says: the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station built at the turn of the 20th century, is a beautiful example of Moorish architecture with its bold minarets and elegant arches.
the stamp is from a set of 8 definitives issued in 2005
MY-132101
This one, as you can see, arrived as an official card...from someone who took the time to browse to my endless collections and tried to find something I do not have yet in there...and I am really thankful for that :)
The back of THIS card says: Designed by British Architect A.B.Hubback, the former Kuala Lumpur Railway Station has a profusion of minarets, spires and arched verandhas.
So here I got puzzled with the word 'former'....coz nothing about it is mentioned in the first card...but than taking into account the first card arrived in 2010...no wonder changes may have occurred...and from what I could google, now, only the commuter trains stop here, while all the intercity train services stop at the KL Central station, not so far away from this one...
So this is what happens when one doesn't post regular updates and lets cards pile and pile up...thank God for this second card, otherwise I would have probably remained ignorant...
and the thoughtful sender used train stamps as well :) the lovely train stamps issued in 2010.
Speaking of officials...Im going a bit nuts with how slow they have been travelling lately..I miss a more frequent Hurray! in my mailbox...and the anticipation of drawing new addresses.....
ok then, that would be all for today...have a great week ahead folks :)
Ive received a number of great cards from Malaysia lately, so it was a bit hard to pick just one for today...but after some eeny meeny miny mo, we'll go with this one
I was actually amazed to see such a grand building being a mosque...reminds me of the majority of cards ive seen from Brunei in way...
It is considered as one of the most outstanding pieces of architecture in Sabah and is a unique combination of prevailing Islamic architecture and contemporary design.
It was constructed in 1974 and can accommodate up to 5,000 worshippers at one time. There is also a special balcony exclusively allocated for Muslim women during prayer time, with room for up to 500.
In case you want to visit it, avoid doing that on Fridays, which is the day of prayer for Muslims.
andim in love with these new Malay stamps...they are just soo cute! The set has 3 stamps, issued this year, under the title 'Yes to life, no to drugs'. They are indeed a number of happy stamps :)
next is another official, this time coming from Malaysia...
MY-57478
the card is called 'Market Day - Malaysian Style'.
such a great variety of products....and organized in such a nice way, that you could just enjoy your time by walking around, satisfying your visual and smelling senses....having difficulties in deciding what to actually buy ...an absolutely stunning place for me!
and a fantastic matching stamp...with a lovely cancellation too! these two se-tenant stamps are a part of 8 issued in 2010, showing local markets. Here on these two, you can see the Pasar Siti Khadijah in Kelantan.
The cancellation corresponds to the stamp and actually shows the date when this set was issued! Im pretty amazed that the sender could have done this, since I got this card this year, not in 2010. And it is frustrating that such cancellations are not really available here :(
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
My next card for today was sent by dear Lyan from the recent postcrossing meeting in Kuala Lumpur, held on 19.12.2010.
Have I told you that I LOVE getting meeting cards? Yeah, I have, I know...but I just wanted to say it again...they really feel special :)
And the card is just lovely....the image feels soo realistic and so vibrant!
These cards were published during the stamps week (at the time of the meeting), and they were inspired from local popular children TV show Upin & Ipin and friends, and each card has a matching stamp, representing the characters playing a traditional game (there are 6 different sets of cards and stamps altogether).
Ive never heard of Upin and Ipin, but here is a chance to learn something new.
And I got the card where they are playing Congkak, which is a mancala game played in the island of Borneo, Singapore, and Peninsular Malaysia. As the congkak board is shaped like a boat it is believed that it is based on the legend of a fisherman unable to go to the sea during rainy season who lost his income during this time. To prevent boredom he created this game which is similar to his boat. However, on the island of Java, the board often has a dragon head at each end and the sides of the board (which is made of wood) are carved to look like reptile scales.
The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven, plus an additional store for each player. Each player controls the seven holes on their side of the board, and their score is the number of seeds in their left-hand store. The pieces are 98 undifferentiated seeds and the objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.
Aaah, I LOVE board games....but it's been so long since I played one....seems like all the fun board games have gotten their computer counterpart, so everyone plays these games on the computers not on real boards and real friends....which is really a pity.
and here is the matching stamp....a self-adhesive one. Just lovely, isnt it???
Thanks a lot again to Lyan for thinking of me during this meeting and sending such a lovely card!!
Ive realized that one can learn a rather lot through these cards representing traditional clothes and/or dances.
This one coming from Malaysia shows a Portrait of Sabandar Cultural Dancers in Malay costume worn to perform Joget, the Malay traditional dance
Joget is also performed at official functions as it is the National Dance.
Joget is a great example how elements from various culture can merge together into one single form. The dance of the Portuguese roots is accompanied by an ensemble consisting of; a violin of Western world, a knobbed gong of Asia, a flute (optional) and at least two rebana or gendang of Malay world. The tempo of Joget music is fairly quick with the feeling of teasing and playing between the partners. The music emphasizes duple- and triple-beat division, both in alternation and simultaneously, and sung in the northeast Malaysia style[2][3].
One of the most popular type of Joget is called "Joget Lambak" and usually performed by a large crowd together in social functions.
And here is what YouTube has got to say about Joget Lambak...uhmm....i feel im being mislead...
This stamp was issued this year in a flower stamps set, and also, each stamp of that set, as i understood, represents one state in Malaysia.
The closure for today will be with another fantastic map card which came as a lovely surprise from dear Caroline.
The card shows the Sabah state, and the colours distinguish places where you have Parks, Wildlife Reserves, Virgin Jungle Reserves, Protection Forest Reserves and a Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.
Ive been trying to count my cards lately, and ive come to a conclusion that so far i have acquired 293 map cards, and a rough estimation of over 2600 cards in total....which aint bad, aint bad at all...I just have a feeling that the postman has been avoiding me lately...or at least doesnt come as often as he used to...something should be done about it :)
Well, without the real intention to make this update as such, here comes another great card I received as a surprise, this time from dear Sissel...uhmm, i sometimes wonder why i unconsciously end up making some sort of pattern when picking cards for an update
The back of the card says: The dynamic skyline of Kuala Lumpur affirms its position as the national capital of Malaysia.
And probably one of the most famous landmark of Kuala Lumpur, if not the most famous one, the Petronas Twin towers. Wrote about it here once which was my first ever card from Malaysia.
I dont know about then, but Petronas reminds me more of Sauber Petronas, than twin towers...I wonder if the name of the towers does come from the Malaysian Petronas indeed, since Petronas is actually a Malaysian-owned oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974, wholly owned by the Government
If you take a closer look on this card, you will notice something which to me looks like a park and which i find amazing...offers hours and hours of fun and exploring.
again something to confuse me in the stamp part, more precisely the big cancellation....i have received it on several cards coming from Malaysia and still havent figured out its right purpose.
As for the stamp, it is a definitive issued in 2005 in a set of 8 stamps, depicting birds.
Thank you Sissel for all the times youve brightened up my mailbox!
The last card for today came as a surprise from dear Lyan.
Its a card different from all the others i have from Malaysia, coz its actually a humourous one. Or in a way it tells you how you will be welcomed if you decide to visit the country.
This is what the back of the card says:
"You will be greeted with a cheerful "Apa Khabar?" (the local equivalent of "How are you?") everywhere you go in Malaysia.
The sight of fish dying in the sun is a cool cat's idea of gastronomic heaven"
:))))))
The stamps are just fantastic! They were issued in 2007 in a set of 5 stamps showing insects.
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.
I didnt really intentionally pick up such a high percentage of UNESCO cards for today...unless doing something thematically, i always pick up my cards spontaneously (from the countries allowed)....and for some reason i often make unconscious correlations among them, or with some events happening....odd.
Malacca is the third smallest Malaysian state. t is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula on the Straits of Malacca. The state's capital is Malacca Town. This historical city centre has been listed as a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 7 July 2008.
Although Malacca was once one of the oldest Malay sultanates, the state has no Sultan today.
The Fortress you can actually see on the card is called "A Famosa" and was built in 1511 by the Portuguese. The site had suffered damages during the Dutch invasion, leaving only its gateway as the hallmark of Malacca today.
the stamp is just GREAT! I totally love it...and khm, sort of can relate to it...not in an identical situation, but just from a teacher's point of view :)
Its from a set of 6 issued in 2008 regarding Malaysian Cartoon series.
ok...i need to go and take care of some stuff regarding Haris now...for those that know what im talking about ;)
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.
Huh, i dont know about you...but whenever the school semester is approaching to its end, im becoming more and more impatient for it to be over, longing for some break, wanting to get away from everything and everyone...wouldnt mind if i end up at a place like this one...
this is one of those places which you can call, the paradise of Earth...or thats how the image of paradise is portrayed through the travel agents'. But it is indeed amazing, and i have it thanks to my dear Lyan :) And thats just coz i had it on my wishlist ;)
Hmm, well, ok, some education time...since i missed it with some of my students (coz they were just in some chatty mood) i guess i will still need to fulfill my required dosage of teaching and you happen to be the victims..yeah, i can be cruel and mean sometimes :)
Tioman is a small island in the state of Pahang. Its beaches were depicted in the 1958 movie,"South Pacific" as Bali Hai. Well, i havent heard of this nor i know this tune (im not very movie-wise since I rarely watch TV honestly, but Bali Hai reminded me of another song, i thought is worth sharing:
i think that the song does indeed create an atmosphere of being on a beautiful tropical island...and i have a great respect for Charlotte and her voice, too bad i hadnt found a reason to share her with you before...
According to legend, Tioman Island is the resting place of a beautiful dragon princess. Whilst flying from China to visit her prince in Singapore this beautiful maiden stopped to seek solace in the crystal-clear waters of the South China Sea.Enraptured by the charms of the place, she decided to discontinue her journey. By taking the form of an island, she pledged to offer shelter and comfort to passing travelers.
Hmm, i wonder if her prince wasnt killed from worries while waiting for her :)
Btw, while we are at the educating point...Lyan, i need your help with some stuff...my blog diagnosis ended up with 697 urls restricted by robots...i have no idea why...i used to have a few but they always decreased and increased and never went over 40 or so...sooooo, i was wondering if i could get some insight on this coz its annoying me, esp. since i have no idea where did the problem arise all of a sudden and its getting worse every day...rapidly =|
I like the unusual stamp format. Its from a 2008 issue, belonging to the Cultural Instruments and Artefacts, Series II. This one here represents a Coconut Grater or "Kukur Kelapa" (I suppose thats how you call it in Malaysian....)
The coconut grater was once a very important tool in every Malay household as coconut milk is an essential ingredient in Malay cooking. Although its usage by the city folk have reduced due to the preference of electric tools, this tool is still much in use in the outskirts.
Some myths about "kukur" is that it is either male or female. Women are not allowed to use male "kukur" especially during major feasts.
Lyan...thank you!!!!! :)
An interesting Malaysian card...a bit different from what i already have from there....
The card shows a climber on summit plateau of Mt. Kinabalu (13.000 ft)...i know its a shame, but im totally hopeless at calculus and stuff so i cant really transfer feet into metres, miles into kilometres...galons into litres and so on and so on...i have a whole list of those metric systems, since i need it for work...but i never learnt it by heart....
I think that mountain climbing is really amazing and thrilling but as well dangerous...while looking at this man on the picture, i wonder, how much does all his equipment weigh...more than himself maybe? Isnt it a hard task to actually be able to climb up a mountain, carrying ALL that load on you? Doesnt all that weight actually cause difficulties, makes you lose balance?
There is a lesson we do at work every year with the upper-intermediate students...its called "I will survive" and it actually deals with climbers...the first story is about Joe and Simon, who were climbing a mountain, with a rope between them...then Simon accidentaly lowers Joe over a cliff and Joe's whole weight goes over Simon...and there comes the moral issue...should Simon cut the rope and let Joe die...or should he try and rescue him, with a great chance for both of them to die........he decides to cut the rope....what would YOU do if you had been Simon?
then the second part is about Captain Robert Scott and his men who wanted to reach the South Pole...the Norwegian explorer Amundsen was also trying to reach there first....this is a story which always gives me the goose bumps when we do it in class...its sad, and just makes you think about life in general...
In case you are intersted, you can read more about their lives and their expeditions here: Scott - Amundsen
Well, here is something else to distract your thoughts from the winter temperatures (even though in practice winter hadnt arrived yet)
This is Pulau Redang in Terengganu, in Malaysia....as the back of the card describes it, it is an underwater paradise with its aquamarine clear water and powdery white sandy beaches.
It is also commonly known just as Redang, and is one of the largest islands off the east coast of Malaysia and a popular holiday island for Malaysians. The waters around Pulau Redang also contain two historic shipwrecks. H.M.S Prince of Wales and H.M.S Repulse were sunk here at the start of World War II, setting the stage for the Japanese occupation of Malaya.
Well, i wouldnt want to be shipwrecked here, but id definitely want to at least once in my life visit a paradise island like this...anyone wanna join me? :)
It shows a night scene of the Kek Lok Si Temple during the Chinese New Year. Since 1891, Kek Lok Si Temple is known as the jewel in the crown of heritage temples in Malaysia and has been identified as one of the largest and finest temple complexes in South-east Asia.
Ive always found it odd that not everyone celebrates New Year as we do....mainly coz of the concept that the New Year (which btw, i DONT like at all) signifies the beginning of something new...so its always been a bit hard to grasp that while we celebrate that, some people dont...and that actually they do it once ive completely forgotten of the New Year's Eve left behind us and all....thats whats amazing with this big big world....we are so much alike yet so differeent...
And i love the small flag in the bottom right corner...well, there always can be some small tiny details about a card which can make it simply great! :)
"Rising to a height of 451.9 metres above sea level, The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur is the tallest building in the world"
huh....thats high....equal to approximately 270 Ana-s :)
and pardon the grammar, but i copied it from the back of the card....me thinks that to say "the Twin TowerS ARE the tallest" would be correct....but then again, it refers to it as a building, not buildings...even though there are two towers, its one building indeed (they are connected).....funny how semantics and syntax can make my blood boil when i come across things like this...but ill leave it as it is, in singular...since it is one building consisting of two towers....it could consist of seven towers as well, would have probably counted as ONE building....well, take it as furniture....you have 5 chairs, 2 tables, 6 drawers....but they all count as ONE set of furniture :D
