Japan II

Postcard of Tokyo's Haneda Airport with Mount Fuji in the background. Tokyo has two airports; Haneda, Tokyo's original airport a short train-ride from the city centre, and Narita, built two hours away in the middle of nowhere when Haneda became too crowded after the growth of air travel in the 1970s. When I lived in Japan, Haneda was the domestic airport and Narita the international one; not a terribly convenient situation if you needed to transfer from one to the other. A new runway and terminal building were added to Haneda in 2010 and international services returned. I flew home to Singapore through Haneda last Christmas and preferred it immensely to somewhat dreary and utilitarian Narita airport. I look forward to using it again in the future.

Stamp from 1997 definitive series, still going strong! The series features Japanese fauna, and pictured here is the Japanese tit, Parus minor, a common songbird found throughout Japan and East Asia.

Kuwait

Postcard of "Donkey cart with enjoyment of the Children". Surely, one of the fugliest postcards in my collection. Out of all of the things one could photograph in Kuwait, a sickly donkey pulling a mobile child-prison past a death trap-slash-funfair can't possibly be very high on the list. Even just some sand dunes or a traffic intersection would be better.

I am nevertheless very grateful to my friend Jennifer who sent this to me while on a long layover in Kuwait Airport. Shukran!

Stamp from 2003 commemorating the 42nd anniversary of independence from the United Kingdom in 1961. 

Ecuador

Postcard from the city of Cotacachi in northern Ecuador. Cotacachi has one of the highest concentrations of indigenous people in the country. Every year in June local people celebrate Inti Raymi, the traditional Inca New Year's festival honouring the sun god Inti.

Thanks and gracias to my Mum for sending this card while on holiday in South America.

Two stamps, both issued in 2010. Stamp on the left is from a set of four on Ecuadorian diversity. It features the "Monument to the Middle of the World" straddling the Equator. Postcard on the right commemorates 50 years of CitiBank in Ecuador.

China II

Another China postcard from the archives, this time showing the Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿) in the Forbidden City in Beijing, part of the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang UNESCO World Heritage site. The Hall was the site of public ceremonies such as enthronements and weddings. It is the largest wooden building in China and was originally built in 1406, although rebuilt following fires several times thereafter.

Stamp on the left is from a 1994 set of six featuring famous scenic places in China. Pictured here is Goddess Peak (神女峰), which is where the goddess Yao Ji is believed to be immortalized in stone, watching over the Yangtze River below. Stamp on the right is from the 1989 definitive series featuring folk architecture. Pictured here are traditional houses from Jiangsu Province in eastern China.

Bangladesh

Postcard showing a woman from the Mande minority who live in the hills and forests of eastern Bangladesh. The Mande, or Goro, people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. Many thanks to friends Jennifer and Preetom for sending this to me during their holiday in Bangladesh together! ধন্যবাদ ! 

Stamp on the left, issued in 2003, features an orangefin labeo, Labeo calbasu, a member of the carp family common to freshwater rivers and lakes in South and Southeast Asia. Stamps on the right are from 2004 to commemorate the Bangladeshi Olympic Committee.

Vatican City II

Postcard of the Vatican City's famous Swiss Guards, who have been defending the country for over 500 years. The Swiss Guard is known for its elaborate ceremonial uniforms, pictured here, which hark back to the Guards' Renaissance origins.

Stamp from a 2007 set of four depicting Pope Benedict XVI on his travels around the world, in this case, Germany, and features the famous towers of the Munich Frauenkirche.

China

I was a bit surprised to notice recently that, although I have piles of postcard from China in my collection, I've never gotten around to putting one up here yet! – A situation now rectified with a favourite showing a group of people doing taichi on a famous stretch of Shanghai riverfront known as the Bund. The skyscrapers of Pudong, on the opposite side of river are in the background. When I first visited Shanghai, none of the skyscrapers existed and the view was mostly of farmers' fields and rice paddies. 

Stamp from current definitive series featuring Chinese birds. Pictured is the yellow-bellied tit – a snicker-inducing name if ever there was one – (Periparus venustulus), a common bird in temperate and subtropical forests.

Burma

Card showing Shwedagon Pagoda (ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်) in the Burmese city of Rangoon. The pagoda rises 99 metres and is covered in more than 60 tonnes of gold. It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Burma with four Buddha relics enshrined within.

Stamp on the left from the 1974 (!) definitive set featuring ethnic groups in Burma, pictured here a man and woman in traditional Burmese dress. Stamp in the centre from a groovy pop-art-esque 1992 set on musical instruments. Two stamps on the right from a 2010 commemorative set for the 62nd anniversary of Burmese independence showing the national parliament buildings in Naypyidaw.

Libya

Postcard from the ancient site of Cyrene, one of the oldest and most important ancient Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times. It was founded in 630 BC, becoming an important centre for philosophy and learning. Cyrene's chief local export through much of its early history was the valuable medicinal herb, silphium, which was in such demand that it was harvested to extinction. This, in conjunction with commercial competition from Carthage and Alexandria, and a series of earthquakes led to the city's decline and abandonment by 400 CE. Many thanks and shukran to friend Shadin who toured Libya on holiday.

Stamp on the right from a set of three about Boy Scouts in Libya. Stamp on the right from a 2001 set of six featuring traditional silver horse harnesses from the Tripoli International Fair.

Cayman Islands

Postcard from Hell. This town in the Cayman Islands is thought to be named after the barren limestone rock formations that elicited the reaction, "This is what Hell must look like", when the area was first settled. The area is now a popular tourist spot with Hell-themed souvenirs.

Although the Caribbean is a fairly common winter holiday destination for Canadians, I've actually had quite a difficult time getting Caribbean countries crossed off my list. My many thanks, in this case, to friend Neil for sending this card while in the Cayman Islands for a work project.

Stamp from a 2001 set of three featuring Cayman Brac, the second-largest of the Cayman Islands three main islands. While the other two islands are mostly flat, Cayman Brac features a large limestone escarpment that runs the length of the island that has a number of caves, including Peter's Cave, pictured in this stamp. Also featuring a postmark from Hell.