Another Christmas Card

Here's the Christmas card I received from the Matsumoto Family last year.  I've been good friends with them since I met Haruka in 2009.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The postcard came with these stamps:

70 yen to send a postcard abroad

Christmas Card

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a postcard my good Australian friend, Erin, sent me for the holidays last year. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This was my first official card from the Netherlands.  Sent on May 9, 2011, Ingrid writes, "this card is our capital, Amsterdam, famous for the channels, houses, and flowers, amongst others the tulips."

And the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997

The card came with:

Part of the 2010 Grenzeloos Nederland series, featuring relations with Suriname, a former colony

Cinnamon Buns

Tuula sent me this delicious-looking postcard last October.  It was autumn in Finland when she wrote this (October 3, 2011).  The temperature was slowly decreasing (6 C that time) and it was raining often.

Cinnamon buns

The postcard came with this stamp:

1 of the 5 Onnenhyppy stamps designed by  Tuomo Savolainen

Split, Croatia

One of the most interesting Round Robins I've joined was the Themed Messages RR - Group 140B (What would you tell your 12-year-old self?) I got this postcard from Jelena, who told me what she would've told her 12-year old self.  Actually a very therapeutic RR.

Split is Croatia's 2nd largest city.  With a 1700-year old harbor, Split remains to be one of the Adriatic's most fascinating seaports.  Diocletian's Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, can be found in this city.

"Hello, is this Croatia?"

The card came with this stamp:

Valpovo Castle

Wulingyuan Scenery, China

Sent by Peter Shaw from China.  He writes, "The Wulingyuan Scenery was included in the World Heritage list by UNESCO in 1992."  The card was dated September 11, 2011.

No. 1 Bridge under Heaven

 It came with these stamps:

"Modern yellow-green" and a pre-printed stamp of the postcard, cute!

Taal Volcano, Tagaytay

Here's a local postcard my calculating business friend, Jescia, sent me while I was in Japan last May.

The Taal Volcano, with a 406-meter-high crater, is the world's smallest volcano located in Tagaytay City.

Located about 50 km south of the capital, Manila, Tagaytay is a popular weekend hangout and vacation destination for many who want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city life.  I've been to Tagaytay many times to chill out with friends, ride horses, have lunch overlooking the Taal Lake, but I've never been inside the crater.  I know that there are tours that take you boating in the lake and hiking near the crater since Taal is a volcano island.  Definitely going inside the crater before I die.

A great-tasting freshwater fish, Sardinella tawilis, can be found exclusively in Taal Lake

Jescia was kind enough to pay 2.5x the price of a normal postcard for an express delivery.  Here are the stamps she used:

3 Manta Ray stamps and a Chambered Nautilus

Algarve, Portugal

This card was from Laura of the Netherlands.  In her Murder Mystery RR Group 11 card, she told me that she got this postcard during a vacation trip to Portugal this summer.

Many Europeans flock to Portugal's premiere holiday destination, The Algarve, in the summer for the wide, golden sands and the breath-taking cliff-islands that surround the coastline.  The Algarve is the perfect destination for families, couples, backpackers, photography enthusiasts, outdoor trekkers, and anyone who would like to admire the beauty that Portugal has to offer together with several thousand other tourists.

Ponta da Piedade, Lagos, Algarve

Coming, after all, from the Netherlands, the card came with this stamp: 

Created in 2008, Grenzeloos Nederland (Boundless Netherlands) features the relations between the Netherlands and Suriname

Insel Rügen

I received this winter view postcard from Nordbaer, one of the more active members in the Postcrossing Forum.  Got this through the Water RR Group 195.

Insel Rügen (Rügen Island) is Germany's biggest and most beautiful island located in the Baltic Sea.  The island offers something to tickle every fancy.  It doesn't matter if you're looking for a classic beach vacation or a more flexible getaway, Rügen has something for you!

60 km of sandy beach, white shorelines, sophisticated sea bathers, old fishing villages, romantic manors or phantasmagoric countrysides--Rügen Island offers a once-in-a-lifetime variety of attractions.

Yet another try at translation.  This description sounds better in German, I swear.  Haha.  It just seemed a like a good idea to translate a German description into English since I'm no good at ripping off English descriptions anyway. 

Yet another beautiful card intentionally ruined by the Philippine post office

Read more about Rügen here:
http://www.ruegeninsel.de (German)
http://www.ruegen-mv.de/ruegen_erleben/the_island_ruegen (English)

A Swan From Finland

This picture of a swan sent to me by Sointu was my first postcard from Finland.  

Photo by Frans Lemmens

It came with this stamp:

A stamp of the Torronsuo National Park issued in 2010

A Pause in Work by Lewis Hine

Dovilė from Lithuania sent me this postcard.

Lewis Hine (1874-1940) was an American photographer who used his camera as both a research tool and an instrument of social reform.  He traveled extensively to photograph child labor practices.

A Pause in Work is part of his 1930 work, The Empire State Building Photographs.

Taken in America, printed in Korea, sent from Lithuania

The postcard came with this stamp:

Lithuania issued this (and another) stamp for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Read more about Hine:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/portfolios/port_hine.html

http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/lewishine/lewishine.shtml

A Bridge in Beijing

The text on the postcard reads: 

In 1978, the first overpass of Beijing, Fuxingmen Bridge, was established.  Till now, there are more than 100 overpasses in Beijing, one [of] the cities owning most overpasses.  The hanging bridges, in different styles and types, are playing a significant role in the 3-D transportation network of Beijing, opening out the mien of a cosmopolitan.

Right.  So Jery sent me this postcard through the NDC RR - Group 120.  Interestingly, Jery and his partner, Julia are planning to open up a cafe and they want to post their received postcards on the wall of their soon-to-be eatery.

Chinese highway at nighttime

Fuxingmen sounds funny.  Fuxingmen Bridge.

The Ancient House in Ipswich, UK

David from Felixstowe writes, "I live near . . .  Ipswich.  This is the largest town in the area with a population of 130,000.  The Ancient House was built in 1578 for a rich merchant.  It used to be my favorite bookshop, but now it sells kitchen goods."

Also known as the Sparrowes House 

The card came with this stamp:

Peony by Kate Faulkner, 1877

Saint-Victor-sur-Loire

I received my first postcard from France from Méline in May.  She writes, "Greetings from France, where spring looks like summer!"  She had just harvested her first strawberries the afternoon that she wrote me this postcard (May 5, 2011).

This postcard shows an eleventh-century church in Saint-Victor-sur-Loire, which is geographically separate from, yet is considered to be a neighborhood in the city of Saint-Étienne.  The medieval village is home to about 850 inhabitants so not much about it has been written in English.

This unnamed church has Romanesque-styled columns dating back to 1070.  Inside this ancient chapel are the statues of St. Victor, St. Antony, St. Roch, St. Eustachius, the Virgin in bronzed wood, as well as an altar of Louis XIII.

Saint-Victor-sur-Loire, la place de l'église

It came with this stamp:

In 2010, France issued a this stamp in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the independence of  Latin America and the Caribbean

Read more about Saint-Victor-sur-Loire in French here:
http://tresordesregions.mgm.fr/Mdir.php?p=cant.php&cl=SaintEtienne&region=82
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Victor-sur-Loire

Avocado-Birnen-Carpaccio

My first recipe card was from Michael from Germany.

Here's the recipe to make avocado-peach carpaccio.  Too lazy to translate to English.  No one cares anyway.  Haha.

Scanner got fuzzy again

The card came with these stamps:

Crocus, Sweet William, and the lighthouse in Warnemünde

Opus the Penguin

Haven't updated this blog and sent postcards in a while.  I think I just hit rock bottom, but the good news is that there's nowhere to go but up.  So I'm sending my first batch of November postcards tomorrow.   

I received this card from Kelsey, a college graduate from Nevada through the Mystery RR Group 11.

Haven't heard of Opus the Penguin before this postcard, but apparently, he was a very popular comic strip character in the 80s.  And he's from the Falkland Islands.  Awesome.

Opus T. Penguin

And my favorite parts of this postcard were the adorable Disney stamps that Kelsey used:

Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars and Dug and Carl Fredricksen from Up

Wuppertal, Germany

I received this postcard from Susanne.  In Wuppertal, where she is from, there is a special mode of transportation called the Schwebebahn (or floating train in English) as seen below.

Built in 1901 and having its first recorded fatal accident only in 1999, the Schwebebahn is the oldest and safest monorail system in the world.  It has survived both World Wars, various accidents, and turbulent events.

Looks extreme, but not as extreme as the German Autobahns with no blanket speed limit

The card came with this stamp:

St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006

The Taj Mahal, India

 My good Australian friend, Erin, sent me this postcard when she was touring India with her mom.

The Taj Mahal (meaning Crown Palace) was built in 22 years (1631-1653) with the orders of Muslim emperor Shah Jahan.  It is a white marble mausoleum that houses the grave of former Queen Mumtaz Mahal, wife of the emperor.

The mausoleum is part of a vast complex, which includes a main gateway, an elaborate garden, a mosque, a guesthouse, and several other palatial buildings.  The Taj is at the farthest end of this complex with the Jamuna River behind it.

It is said that Shah Jahan had the hands of his sculptors and architects cut off so that they would not be able to build anything as magnificent and beautiful as the Taj Mahal, and even got their eyes pulled out so that they would not be able to see anything bigger and more beautiful than the monument they built.

Scanner got weird scanning the Taj Mahal

The postcard came with these 2 stamps:

Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1990 and Indira Gandhi became India's Prime Minister for 3 consecutive terms (1966-1977) and a fourth term (1980-1984)

Read more about the Taj Mahal here:
http://www.tajmahal.com/
http://www.islamicity.com/culture/taj/default.htm

Aukštaitija National Park, Latvia

This was from a direct swap with Gintare.  It was summertime there when she sent this (05/24/2011) and I was still away from the country then.

The beauty of the Aukštaitija National Park cannot be captured even by the greatest of writers.  One has to see and experience the deep, whispering forests and the bewitching blue lakes firsthand to enjoy one of Latvia's best-kept secrets.  But then again this national park is open to the public.  70% of the area is covered with forests, home to over 50 different bird species, 663 kinds of mushrooms, and other awesome stuff like an 800-year old Tranaiškis Oak tree.

126 lakes flow through the Aukštaitija National Park

The postcard came with this stamp:

The Great Snipe migrates to Africa in the winter

St. Petersburg, Russia

I was surprised to receive this card from Laura of Finland through the Mystery RR Group 11.

This postcard shows the Palace Bridge and the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

Between 1901 and 1911, over 50 proposed designs for a bridge to cross the Neva River were rejected.  In 1912, Andrey Pshenitsky's designs were used to start the construction of the Palace Bridge, but because of WWI, the work was delayed.  The bridge was open to the public in 1916, but was fully completed 23 years later, in 1939, when the last decorative elements (such as iron-cast railings and street lamps) were installed.

And behind the bridge is the Winter Palace, home to Russian royalty since the 1760s.  Anyway this palace deserves its own blog entry so I'll write about it next time.

A year after its inauguration, it was called the "Republican Bridge", and restored to "Palace Bridge" in 1944

Like I said, this postcard came from Finland.  Here's the stamp to prove it:

The Rose Blossom stamp issued in 2009

A Monkey in Malaysia

This postcard was from Khor from Ipoh, Malaysia.  This photo was probably taken in one of the zoos in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city.  Not much was written on the postcard and by the sender.

A monkey sipping coconut juice leftover from a tourist 

The postcard came with these 4 stamps from 4 out of the 16 regions in Malaysia:

(L-R, T-B) Pulau Pinang, Sarawak, Johor, and Kelantan

Aveiro, Portugal

I got this postcard from Maria through the NDC RR Group 120 (symbols on your country's flag).  She writes that this card shows some views from Aveiro, called the Portuguese Venice because of several canals crossing the city.

Aveiro was originally known as "Aviarium" meaning a preserve for birds

This beautiful multiview card came with this multi-cultural stamp:

The Postal Union of the Americas, Spain, and Portugal (UPAEP) was founded in 1911

Barbecue in Finland

Hilkka sent me this delicious-looking postcard of a typical Finnish summer food, barbecue.  Looks good, especially now that I'm missing authentic yakitori from Japan. 

Barbecue: grilled skewered meat

The card came in with a mysterious stamp so I had to do an image search on Google.  Totally amazing.  Mind was blown.  Anyway the stamp was part of 8 postage stamps issued in 2007 under the 5 themes: raspberries, butterflies, the Finnish Olympic Committee, architecture, and design.

I'm guessing this is a chair

[RTS] Sat on MRT Floor

April 30, 2010.  It was a Friday night.  We just got paid.  Aly and Chica, my co-interns, had waffles for dinner at Flapjacks in Glorietta.  Throw in a couple of margaritas and say we had an awesome Friday night out.  We decided to call it a night around 9 PM so we could still get home using the train.

Ayala MRT station.  Past 9 o'clock.  The crowds have gone home and we didn't have to wait for 600 trains to arrive before we could board.  We were far from bored.  Just a little bit tired from work, I guess.  We got in the first train compartment that arrived in the station.  Most seats were already occupied, but the compartment wasn't as crowded as it was a few hours ago.  In fact, it wasn't crowded at all.  And we took advantage of that when we decided to sit down on the floor.  But we got up after 4 stations when the compartment started accumulating more people.

My friends and I on the train floor

It was a great experience overall.  You don't get to sit on the seats of the MRT as often as you should, but when you do, you're usually alone.  It's hard to find space to accommodate more than 1 person.  But we did the impossible, my friends and I.  The 3 of us were able to sit on the MRT.  Just not on the chairs.

Manavgat Waterfalls, Turkey

My first postcard from Turkey was from Seda.  We were both in the Water RR Group 189, so she sent me a card of one of the most popular waterfalls in Turkey.  

3 kilometers from the village of Manavgat, one will find a beautiful body of water 2 meters high and 40 meters wide.  Yes, the Manavgat Waterfalls may not be high, but the powerful current causes the white foamy water to rush down the rocks and flow into the river and the trout-filled streams.

From 1968-1983, the image of the Managat Waterfalls adorned the reverse side of the 5 lira banknote

The postcard came with these stamps:

Mimar Sinan was the architect of over 360 Ottoman structures; the other stamp shows ancient Turkish art dated back to the Hittite period

Moscow, Russia

I got this multiview through a direct swap with Svietlana in May.

The top image features The Kremlin at night.  In the Russian language, кремль means fortress.  Though there are many other kremlins in Russia, the word is usually used when referring to the most popular one found in Moscow.

The administration of the Russian President (currently Dmitry Medvedev, but I'm pretty sure is once again going to be Vladimir Putin next year) is located in the Moscow Kremlin.

In the bottom image, we can see the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, and once again, the Moscow Kremlin.

The Cathedral of the Assumption is the oldest and the most important church in the Kremlin.  In 1326, the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church was transferred from Vladimir to here, making it the center of the state of Muscovy, the most powerful of the Russian principalities.  Here, tsars, Grand Dukes, and more importantly, emperors, were crowned.  Patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops were also consecrated here.  Read more about the Cathedral's history here.

The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, standing at 81 meters, was the tallest building in Russia for almost 400 years.  There are 21 bells in the tower and the belfry.  The largest is the Assumption Bell weighing 70 tons, and is the first bell to ring during church holidays.  Read more about the Bell Tower here.

Moscow is Russia's capital city

And what better way to send this postcard than together with a stamp of a kremlin?

The Ryazan Kremlin was founded in the year 800

National Palace Museum, Taiwan

Here's a postcard I got from my good friend Berns, who started Postcrossing just about the same time that I did.  She had an internship in Taiwan last year and so she has a lot of postcards from there.  She sent me this one for my birthday while I was in Japan a few months back.

The National Palace Museum (NPM) inaugurated on 10 October 1921, is an art museum located inside the Forbidden City.  The NPM shares the same roots with the Palace Musuem, but split as a result of the Chinese Civil War.

The NPM has a permanent collection of over 600,000 ancient Chinese artifacts and artwork from over 8000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic Age to the Qing Dynasty.

The main gate of the National Palace Museum

Verzasca River, Switzerland

I keep forgetting that this postcard is from Switzerland.  Without googling any of the place names on the postcard, only a gray square containing a white cross would suggest that it came from Switzerland.  Of course, I didn't notice the Swiss flag in its grayscale mode so I had to google Ticino.

I received this postcard from Andy through the Water RR Group 189.  He says that the Verzasca River is quite "wild" but there are some parts (like the one shown on this postcard) that are calm.  Some people go bathing here in the summer despite the danger.

Italian is the sole language in Ticino, the southernmost canton in Switzerland

The postcard came with this stamp:

The Red Kite is a rare species endemic to the Western Palearctic region in Europe