Siem Reap, Cambodia

North Gate of Angkor Thom

I bought this card on my trip to Cambodia in January 2012. Angkor Thom is one of the temples of the Angkor complex, surrounded by four gates, one facing each of the cardinal directions. Each one is crowned by four faces of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

I have been having a very hard time lately and tonight is no exception. So, I decided to post a few cards that remind me of happy things, and this is one of them.

Here is my favorite photo of one of the gates of Angkor Thom.  That's my tuktuk driver and tour guide, Pheng, in the picture. He took good care of me and I know I would not have had as good a time without him.

Gomel, Belarus

Gomel

Blurry photo of an ugly building. Quite honestly, I don't know why someone would even produce a card like this, let alone purchase it. One of the things I have on my wishlist is the sender's favorite place in their country, and the sender of this card states that they chose this one because they like Gomel very much. I am sure they do, but I am still mystified why they would choose this ugly card to represent a place that has a number of nice places.

However, the sender did write me a nice message and used lots of stamps. :)

The green ones are a 2012 definitive from the series on architectural monuments, this particular one being Niasvizh Castle, a UNESCO site in the city of Niasvizh. The purple one in the middle is from the same set, this one showing the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle  in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi. The flower on the right is a lily from a 2008 set on garden flowers.

Dutch horse

NL-1628912

The sender of this card says "On the front a wild horse in a Dutch setting." Surprisingly, there are wild (well, feral) horses in the Netherlands, but the horse on this card does not really fit the phenotype. Nevertheless, a really nice card. :) Thanks Yoyce for checking my wishlist.

The stamp is from 2011, a definitive on "environmentally conscious life."

Vancouver, Canada

Stanley Park

Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC, more than 10% larger than New York's Central Park, is ranked 6th best park in North America (and 16th best in the world!)*. Historically, the area of the park was the territory of the Squamish First Nations tribe. The British took it for a military installation in the 1860s, but agreed to let the Vancouver city council turn it into a park in 1888. It was named for Governor General of Canada Lord Stanley, who visited the park to dedicate it "to the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time," notwithstanding the First Nations people who were still living there.

These totem poles now stand at Brockton Point, a site of a former First Nations settlement.


*Read the list of the world's best and worst parks here.

I sent this card to myself when I was in Vancouver in 2011 for the folk festival, so I made sure to get some nice stamps. :)

These are both commemoratives from 2011. The left one features the Year of the Rabbit, and the right one is on Canadian national parks.

Talk Like A South African

Private swap with Lori.

Lori reports that at least 4 languages are represented here: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, and Xhosa. South Africa has a total of eleven official languages. (The others are Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, and Venda.)

As some of you know, I am studying speech-language pathology and yesterday I had my first session as a primary clinician. It took me 3.5 hours to write up the results in my SOAP note. It was not a good night.

Today I am better. It only took me 1 hour to write my lesson plan for the next session tomorrow. So I can relax and think about postcards for a little bit. Even language-related ones.

Mowgli and Baloo

Mowgli and Baloo

Who could imagine a jungle as jazzy as in The Jungle Book -- or a more free-wheeling, upbeat buddy than Baloo? His lighthearted relationship with Mowgli reminds us that friendship and laughter really are among the "bare necessities of life." (from the back of the card)

I haven't watched The Jungle Book in a very long time. I remember being very frightened of Shere Khan, and bewildered by the orangutans. I love this card. I could use a hug like that.

This is a USPS-issued stamped card from the 2008 issue of The Art of Disney: Friendship. Can I just say, that 2008 was a fabulous year for USPS stamps? Of course I started postcrossing in 2009, when the stamps were NOT as nice.

From VAgirl for the USPS card tag.

The 27-cent is preprinted on the card. The 2-cent definitive was added to make up the additional postage since the card was mailed in 2011.

St. Petersburg, Russia

"St. Petersburg hallway"

From daarhan for the June 2010 RR.

The stamps on the left are definitives. On the right is a 2007 stamp of Sergey Korolev, from a set of 3 on "50th anniversary of the space epoque of Mankind."