Liechtenstein: Year of the Horse

On Tuesday I got the nice maximum card of the Year of the Horse stamp of Liechtenstein as Christmas present.
Stamp:
Year of the Horse 2014 (issued 11-11-2013)

The stamp is made with modernest laser technology and looks like a traditional Chinese paper-cut.
I also got a mint sheet.

Japan: UNESCO World Heritage Sites

On Monday I got two postcards: a really great card from Japan and one from Germany.

The card from Japan shows different UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan.

The Himeji-jo Castle (left up) in the Hyogo Prefecture is the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture. Since 1993 it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The picture shows also blooming cherry trees.

The Itsukushima Shinto Shrine (left down) is in front of the island of Itsukushima in the Seto inland sea in the Hiroshima Prefecture. The Island of Itsukushima has been a holy place of Shintoism since the earliest times and is one of the Three Views of Japan. The Itsukushima Shinto Shrine illustrates the Japanese concept of scenic beauty and is since 1996 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Aoi-matsuri Festival (centre up) is one of the three main annual festivals held in Kyoto. It is held on 15th May of each year.

The Tō-ji pagoda (centre down) and Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion (right up) are Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto in the Kyoto prefecture. Kyoto was built in A.D. 794 and was the imperial capital of Japan from its foundation until the middle of the 19th century.
Tō-ji pagoda is the highest wooden pagoda in Japan.
The upper floors of the Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion are covered with gold foil.
The Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto are since 1994 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Mount Fuji (right down) is a sacred place and source of artistic inspiration. The top of Mount Fuji is often snowcapped and Mount Fuji is an internationally recognised icon of Japan. Since 2013 is the Mount Fuji a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the picture it is seen from the Shizuoka prefecture.

The picture shows also a Shinkansen train. Shinkansen is the name of the route network of Japanese high-speed train and also of the trains. The Shinkansen connect the Japanese big towns with a top speed of 300 km/h.

Stamps:
Year of the Horse 2014 (issued 25-11-2013)
Year of the Horse 1978 (issued 01-12-1977)
with a special postmark of the stamp for the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Japan and Kenya

They are a nice start for my collection of Year of the Horse stamps!

Thank You very much Ai!

Germany: St. Nikolaus

On Monday I got two postcards: one from Germany and a really great card from Japan.

The card from Germany is a Christmas card I sent to Weiden to get a special Christmas postmark. The location of the postmark is St. Nikolaus. St.Nikolaus is a district of Großrosseln in the Saarland. The special post office exists since 1966. The special postmark of this year celebrates not only Christmas but also the 50th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty.

Stamp:
Winter Holidays (issued 02-01-2012)
with the nice special postmark

Indonesia: Jakarta's Major Road

On Thursday I got two postcards: one from Indonesia and one from Slovenia.

The card from Indonesia shows a fountain at the major road of Jakarta. The major road is called Jalan Thamrin and runs through the Central Business District. The street closes every Sunday from 6:00 to 11:00 because of the Car Free Days held in Jakarta. At the street are many buildings, for example the Deutsche Bank and the Bank Indonesia.

Jakarta is located at the northwest coast of Java. Jakarta has more the 10 million inhabitants and thus it is the largest city in Indonesia and Southeast Asia and the thirteenth largest city in the world. Jakarta is a Global City and the seat of the ASEAN Secretariat. Jakarta was de facto the capital of the Dutch East Indies and is still the capital of Indonesia.

With nice stamps:
40 years Diplomatic Relations with South Korea (whole set) (issued 17-09-2013)
(It is a joint issue with South Korea)

Thank You very much Shinta!

Slovenia: Ljubljana

On Thursday I got two postcards: one from Slovenia and one from Indonesia.

The card from Slovenia shows Ljubljana. Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia.

Stamp:
Christmas (from set of two) (issued 16-11-2009)

Thank You very much Mateja!

Russia: Virgin Komi Forests

On Wednesday I got a postcard from Russia.

The card shows the Virgin Komi Forests. The Virgin Komi Forests are located in the north-western region of the Komi Republic and cover 3.28 million ha of tundra and mountain tundra in the Urals. European and Asian animals live there, thus there are some 43 mammal, 204 bird and 16 fish species recorded. Some of them are the Beaver, the Wolverine and the Brown Bear. Since 1995 are the Virgin Komi Forests a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stamps:
Russian Kremlins-Novgorod and Kazan (two from set of twelve) (issued 01-10-2009)
Weapons of the Victory (from set of four) (issued 16-04-2012)

Thank You very much Anastasia!

Austria: Christmas FDC

On Thursday I got a nice First Day Cover from Austria.

Stamps:

Christmas-Silent Night (issued 29-11-2013)

Christmas-Shepherds at the Crib (issued 29-11-2013)

Christmas-St. Georgenberg (issued 15-11-2013)

Thank You very much Marco!

Singapore: Buddha Tooth Temple

On Monday I received a postcard from Singapore.

The card shows the Buddha Tooth (Relic) Temple in Singapore's Chinatown. The ground breaking ceremony was in 2005 and the Temple cost S$62 million. It was opened on Vesak Day 2007. The Temple want to be the best Buddhist cultural complex in the region. If you want to learn more about the Temple, you should visit the website.

Stamps:
50 Years of TV Broadcast (whole set) (issued 22-11-2013)
with First Day Special Postmark

Thank You very much Jeremy!

Thailand: Prasart Hin Pimai

On Tuesday I got a postcard from Thailand.

The card shows the temple Prasart Hin Pimai. It is a part of "Phimai, its Cultural Route and the Associated Temples of Phanomroong and Muangtam" and so it is on the UNESCO Tentative List.

With great stamps:
Tai Sui God (whole set) (issued 07-02-2013)
(the stamps are covered with metals)

Thank You very much Ta!

Croatia: Dubrovnik

On Monday I got two postcards: my first card from Croatia and one from Austria.

Croatia is a country in Southeast Europe bordering on Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Croatia is a member of the EU, of the UN and of the NATO. The capital of Croatia is Zagreb.

The card shows the Old Town of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is situated at the Dalmatian Coast and is sometimes called the "Pearl of the Adriatic". In 1358 the city became through the Treaty of Zadar a part of the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom, but effectively it was a republican free state. In 1667 Dubrovnik was damaged by an earthquake and in the 1990s it was again damaged by an armed conflict. Since 1979 is Dubrovnik a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stamp:
Famous Croats-Milke Trnina (from set of four) (issued 16-04-2013)
Milka Trnina (1863-1941) is known in the history of world opera art as the „legendary Ternina“.

Thank You very much Antonella!

Austria: Historic Centre of Vienna

On Monday I got two postcards: one from Austria and my first card from Croatia.

The card from Austria is from Vienna, the capital of the country and shows many features of the Historic Centre of Vienna, such as the Neue Hofburg and the Schmetterlingshaus.

The Neue Hofburg was built from 1869 at the behest of Franz Joseph I by Gottfried Semper and Baron Karl of Hasenauer and is a part of the Hofburg Palace.

The Schmetterlingshaus being in the Palmenhaus was built in 1901 by Friedrich Ohmann. The first Schmetterlingshaus in Austria was opened in 1990 in the Sonnenuhrenhaus in Schönbrunn, but had to move in 1997 into the Palmenhaus. 

The postcard shows also Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth (Sisi).

The Historic Centre is since 2001 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With great stamp:
Christmas (issued 15-11-2013)
with First Day Special Postmark

Thank You very much Marco!

Singapore: Yen Yueh Lou and Pin Yun Ko

On Monday I received four postcards: two from Singapore and two from Thailand.

One of the cards from Singapore shows again the twin towers Yen Yueh Lou and Pin Yun Ko.

Stamps:
Fashion (whole set) (issued 08-11-2013)
(It is a joint issue with France)
with First Day Special Postmark

Thank You very much Jeremy!

Singapore: Orchid Garden

On Monday I received four postcards: two from Singapore and two from Thailand.

One of the cards from Singapore shows the Orchid Garden. In the Orchid Garden is the largest display of orchids in the world. The national flower of Singapore is the orchid Vanda Miss Joaquim.
The Orchid Garden is a part of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The Singapore Botanic Gardens are circa 74ha large and have more than 4 million visits per annum. The history of botanic gardens in Singapore began in 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles (the founder of Singapore and a keen naturalist) founded a botanic garden on Government Hill. This first botanic garden had to close in 1829, but the British government and trading companies initiated the development of botanic gardens for the research, cultivation and preservation of native plants. Today’s Botanic Gardens were established in 1859 by a agri-horticultural society on a 23ha large area. In 1866 the Garden was extended and the Swan Lake was dredged. In 1874 the society got financial problems and gave the Botanic Garden to the government. In 1875 James Murton recommended by the director of the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew (Joseph Hooker) became the Superintendent. He set up a library and a herbarium. In 1963 the Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew started a tree planting programme. Since 2012 are the Botanic Gardens on the UNESCO Tentative List.

Today there are 8300 taxa in cultivation in the Botanic Garden, 650000 specimens in the herbarium and 30000 books and 41000 rare books in the library.

EDIT:

The Singapore Botanical Gardens were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on the 4th July 2015.

Stamps:
Definitives (whole set) (issued 16-10-2013)

Thank You very much Jeremy!

Thailand: Wat Arun

On Monday I received four postcards: two from Thailand and two from Singapore.

One of the cards from Thailand shows Wat Arun. Wat Arun is a Buddhist temple in the Grand Palace.
The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings in Bangkok. Construction of the Palace began in 1782 and it sits on the east bank of The Chao Phraya River.

With matching stamps:
Flag (from set of two) (issued 12-08-2010, reissued 2012)
Temples-Wat Arun (from set of four) (issued 17-06-2002)
World Stamp Exhibition (from set of eight) (issued 02-08-2013)
50th anniversary of the Tourism Authority-Wat Arun (from set of four) (issued 01-06-2010)

Thank You very much Ta!

Thailand: Temple of the Emerald Buddha

On Monday I received four postcards: two from Thailand and two from Singapore.

One of the cards from Thailand shows the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew). The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is a temple in Bangkok housing the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha (Thai: พระแก้วมรกต - Phra Kaeo Morakot) is a 66cm high Buddha statue made of Jade and the national sanctuary of Thailand.

With great large stamps:
National Children’s Day (issued 12-01-2013)
10th anniversary of Thailand Post Company (issued 14-08-2013)

Thank You very much Ta!