Year of the Rabbit, Singapore Philatelic Museum

I guess you could call this a private swap of sorts. Every year the Singapore Philatelic Museum has an exhibit based on the lunar new year symbol, and they invite people to send them postcards showing that year's symbol to display in the exhibit. For every postcard they receive during the month of February, they will send a postcard in return. Last year I didn't have any tiger postcards, but this year I had a rabbit card. I have a few other cards from Singapore but I had a terrible time getting a STAMPED card from there. I had two postage-paid ad cards as officials (and those kind of annoy me), and then I had a private swap with someone, and honestly, my only request was that the card be written and STAMPED, and then it came with a postage label instead of a stamp. Grr. I started to wonder if Singapore even issued stamps. Well, they do!

Nice ones:
Like this stork-billed kingfisher issued in 2007 as a 'flora and fauna definitive'.
And it even has a lovely Singapore Philatelic Museum postmark! ^_^

Minnesota, USA

I got this card from my aunt almost exactly a year ago. It shows tulips in the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The Arboretum consists of more than 1000 acres of gardens and natural landscapes and more than 5000 different kinds of plants. "Everything was well-watered by the rainstorm, including us," my aunt wrote. April showers bring May flowers, right??? Well it's still raining here.

Three definitives - one puma and two Tiffany Lamps. Now the postcard rate is 29¢...

Iguaçu Falls, Brazil

The 2,700-meter Iguaçu Falls are located in Iguaçu National Park on the border between Brazil and Argentina, dividing the Iguaçu River into its upper and lower portions. It was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1986.

BR-95850


BR-122892


BR-86180

The park is home to a multitude of animal and plant species, including giant otter, ocelot, American tapir, and capybara. Capybara are true R.O.U.S. However, there is no recorded Fire Swamp in the park.

Gratuitous capybara picture:




This stamp was issued in 2008 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese royal family to the shores of Brazil. Apparently there was a feast...?


This polar bear comes from a set of two on Protection of the Poles and Glaciers, issued in March 2009.


Two stamps from the series Professions, manicurist and seamstress, issed 2006 and 2005, respectively.

Alpabfahrt

From Masito for one of my vacation RR groups. He writes that the Alpabfahrt "is a traditional celebration at the end of summer, when it becomes too cold for the cows to stay in the mountains." So they get all dressed up and come down to their stalls in the flatlands. Apparently this tradition is still well practiced today. Here is a video from last summer's Alpabfahrt:



A stamp of a red kite (Milvus milvus) from a set of two birds of prey issued in 2009.
Switzerland has really nice cancellations.

Swallow's Nest, Ukraine

The Swallow's Nest is a "decorative castle" on the Crimean coast of Ukraine. The Baltic German Baron von Steingel had it constructed in 1911. It served various purposes over the next several years, including housing a restaurant, a reading club, and simply being a tourist attraction. Then in 1927, the cliff it stands on was seriously damaged in an earthquake, and the Swallow's Nest was closed for the next forty years. In 1968 the cliff was reinforced with concrete and the castle was renovated and reopened.

I got this card from helen_orlova for one of my vacation RR groups.

The stamp is a 2007 definitive showing an inkpot.

Kotovasiya In Space

I used to not like cats; now I do. I used to not like cat cards; then I discovered Kotovasiya.
I love this as much as Krtek!

Awesome stamps!!

The little one on the left is second in a set of two on Coats of Arms issued in 2010, this one being that of the Yaroslavl region: a bear rampant with a halberd on his shoulder. Legend has it that the original inhabitants loosed a bear on Yaroslavl the Wise, trying to drive him away. Instead, he killed the bear and founded the city.

Top right is, of course, Belka and Strelka, the Russian canine cosmonauts, the first living creatures to come back from outer space alive. This stamp was issued last October to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their voyage.

Bottom right is a stamp from 2000. This predates the info on the UPU website, but I think this is from the series "International Co-operation in Space," here the "sea take-off point" international space project. Judging by the flags on the top of the stamp, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Japan, Norway, USA, Netherlands, France, UK, Russia, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Sweden, and Germany were the countries involved.


This card and stamps totally made my day. Actually, my week. Huge thanks to Peregrina on the forum, for the favorites tag. :D

Pura Besakih, Indonesia

I got this from a friend traveling to Indonesia. Thank you Caitlin! It shows Bali's largest Hindu temple, Pura Besakih, on Mt. Agung, which is the principal volcano of Bali. Mt. Agung erupted in 1963, killing over 1500 people, but missing this temple by meters. This was taken as a signal from the gods that they wanted to demonstrate their power, but not destroy the monument the faithful Balinese had erected. It was nominated as a UNESCO site in 1995 but hasn't been given world heritage status. Whoever decides these things ought to read this guy, who's been there:

By then, I had enough of Pura Besakih. Divine intervention had me that I was not up for it. When the guide offered to bring me to a pura devoted to Dewa Iswara (or God of Lightning), I politely refused and insisted on returning down to the parking lot. Enraged the God of Lightning probably was that it rained cats and dogs as soon as I stepped out of the Besakih complex. I got myself drenched and had only my indifference to blame.


"Ucapan Selamat" means "greetings," but I can't find any information on this particular stamp. Unfortunately Indonesian cancellations always seem to be so hard that they often damage the card on the other side! It's not too bad on this card - but even though you can see the imprint of the cancellation on the picture side of the card, you can't really see the ink of the cancellation on the stamp!