Kota Bharu, Malaysia

An early morning market scene in Kota Bharu. This is an official card, MY-50925 from Ethen.

Why did I choose this card for today, you may ask. Well, I have been hungry all day and no matter how much I eat, I get hungry again an hour later. Among the things I've eaten so far are two bananas, an apple, a pear, and some Japanese sweet potato, so it seemed appropriate to post a fruit market. :)

Kota Bharu is a city and its surrounding area, located in Kelanten, Malaysia, near the border with Thailand. In the city, you can visit the old royal palace to view its unique architecture -- but only from the outside, as the inside is still occupied by the sultan and sultanah. You can also go diving to the IJN Awazisan Maru, a Japanese transport vessel sunk in WWII, and mingle with giant barracudas, a mere 40 minutes from the city center. Just thinking about it makes me hungry again.

When researching this stamp, I discovered that Malaysia issued a large set of stamps depicting "traditional festive food" from many cultures in the same year as this stamp.


 If I can drag myself away from those, I can tell you that this stamp, issued in 2010, is from a set of Old Post-Offices! This is particularly fitting since today is World Post Day! This one is Seremban General Post Office.



Even though it's inactive, here is another post for Our Wonderful World Tuesday.

Stingray City, Grand Cayman

Another vacation RR card, this time TeamBearCat sent me a card from their trip to the Cayman Islands.

Stingray City is a series of shallow sandbars in the North Sound of Grand Cayman. Tourists can get up close and personal with stingrays. The name "stingray" comes from the venomous mucus-covered tail barb sported by this species. According to Wikipedia, their mouths have about as much suction as a powerful vacuum cleaner. So, snorkelers beware!

 The stamp is from the Cayman Islands Cultural Series Part 3: Catboats. Also known as cat-rigged sailboats, catboats are single-masted vessels, often painted blue to minimize glare. They were originally made for the activity depicted on this stamp: turtle fishing.

This is a post for Our Wonderful World Tuesday. Click the image to join in.

 

Portuguese Fisherman

I received this card as an official last October... I love it when I get official cards that are this beautiful. :)
The sender writes that you can find traditional boats like this in northern Portugal, and, as in this picture, sometimes they still use animals to transport boats to and from the sea. I am not sure, but I think the boat is called a moliceiro, and can be recognized by its bright colors, flat bottom, and curved prow.

The stamp features Amália Rodrigues, a Portuguese singer and actress famous for popularizing the fado genre of music. Fado is actually listed as an intangible cultural heritage "site" by UNESCO.



This is my first meme post... for Our Wonderful World Tuesday, hosted by Jocelyn.