Laos

Postcard from the Town of Luang Prabang World Heritage site showing Wat Xieng Thong (Temple of the Golden City). The temple was built in 1559 and is one of the most important in Laos. It was traditionally the site where Laotian kings were crowned. Many thanks and khawp jai to friend Dani who visited Laos.

Stamp on the left is from a 2005 set of three commemorating Laos' 50th anniversary of  its accession to the United Nations. Stamp on the right is from a 2007 set of three featuring the Boun That Luang festival, a three-day religious festival help at Pha That Luang, the country's most important temple.

Angola II

There didn't seem to be any information given about this card, but I eventually noticed in tiny print in the vertical centre line on the back "Morro, Huíla". "Huíla" is a province in southern Angola and "morro" means "hill" in Portuguese. I don't know if that means they only have one hill of note in Huíla and don't need a more precise name for it, but muito obrigado nonetheless to Ricardo for helping scratch this hard egg to crack off the list.

Stamp from a 1994 set of four featuring traditional ceramics, in this case an earthenware water jug.

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.