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!

Thailand: Ang Thong Marine National Park

On Tuesday I got two postcards from Thailand.

One card shows the Ang Thong Marine National Park in Koh Samui.

Stamps:
Symbol of Love (two from set of four) (issued 07-02-2012)
UNESCO World Book Capital-Bangkok (issued 23-04-2013)

Thank You very much Ta!

Thailand: Krasae Cave Bridge

This is the 150th post in my blog! Thank You everybody for sending me so many nice postcards and covers with so many nice stamps!

On Tuesday I got two postcards from Thailand.

One card shows the Krasae Cave Bridge in Kanchanaburi. The Bridge was built for the Burma Railway which is also known as Death Railway. The railway line was built during the Second World War by forced labourers by command of the Imperial Japanese Army and connected Myanmar and Thailand which had been occupied by Japan. The railway is called Death Railway because 100000 people died during the construction.

With many nice stamps:
50th anniversary of the Asian-Pacific Postal Union (issued 01-04-2012)
Year of the Tiger (issued 01-01-2010)
Rotary International Convention (issued 06-05-2012)
National Children's Day (from set of four) (issued 09-01-2010)
International Letter Writing Week (from set of four) (issued 08-10-2012)

Thank You very much Ta!

China: Terracotta Army

On Monday I got two postcards: one from China and one from Lithuania.

The card from China shows the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. The Emperor was called Qin Shi Huang and was born in 259 BC in Handan. He arranged for his burial place long before his accession to the seat of supreme power. In 247 BC he became the king in Qin and his geomancers found a place for the mausoleum at the foot of Mount Li. After every success over his rivals the work was commenced and carried out more energetically and when the Empire of Ten Thousand Generations was proclaimed in 221 BC the work took an extraordinary dimension. About 700.000 workers from all provinces laboured at the Mausoleum in which is also a urban plane of the capital Xianyang. After the death of Qin Shi Huang in 210 BC the second emperor ordered that the principal craftsmen should be walled up. 

The postcard shows the Terracotta Army which was also found in the Mausoleum. There are three pits with 1087 warriors in the Pit 1, 1500 warriors, carts and horses in Pit 2 and 68 officers and dignitaries and a cart with four horses in Pit 3. Since 1987 the Mausoleum and the Terracotta Army are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With nice stamps:
Table Tennis (whole set) (issued 27-09-2013)
(It is a joint issue with Sweden)
Games of the XXX Olympiad (two from set of four) (issued 27-07-2012)

Thank You very much Kun!

Lithuania: Klaipėda

On Monday I got two postcards: one from Lithuania and one from China.

The card from Lithuania shows the port city Klaipėda. Klaipėda is the third largest city in Lithuania. In the last century Klaipėda was a part of the German Reich and was called Memel or Memelburg. Klaipėda is the centre of the Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland). In the Treaty of Versailles (1919) the Memelland was separated off Germany.

Stamp:
Year of the Snake (issued 09-02-2013)

Thank You very much Agneta!

Italy: Arco at the Lake Garda in Trentino-South Tirol

On Thursday I got one postcard from Italy.

The postcard shows the city of Arco at the Lake Garda in the Region of Trentino-South Tirol.

The Lake Garda (Italian: Lago di Garda; German: Gardasee) is the largest lake in Italy.

Trentino-South Tyrol (Italian: Trentino-Alto Adige; German: Trentino-Südtirol) is a autonomous region of Italy and is divided in two provinces, Trentino and South Tirol. The capital is Trento and the people speak mostly German and Italian.

Stamps:
Centenary of the Simplon Tunnel (issued 18-03-2006)
Stop the Desert (from set of four) (issued 21-04-2001)

Thank You very much Daniel and Kathrin!

Germany: Braunschweig

On Tuesday I got a postcard from Germany sent by me to Berlin to get a special postmark.

The card shows the Magniviertel in my hometown Braunschweig. The Magniviertel is one of the oldest quarters in Braunschweig. The church in the foreground is the Magnikirche in whose sanctification document the city of Braunschweig was first called. The sanctification was in 1031.

Stamp:
Janosch (from set of two) (issued 01-03-2013)
with special postmark on the occasion of the art exhibition of Nikolaus Hipp

Hong Kong: Country map

On Monday I got four postcards: one from Hong Kong, one from Taiwan and two from China.

The postcard from Hong Kong is a country map card of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong was since 1841 a British colony, but since 1997 it is part of China. Hong Kong is a important financial centre.

Stamp:
Air Mail Postage (from set of two) (issued 02-10-2013)
with not so clear special postmark

Thank You very much Bowie!

Taiwan: Country map

On Monday I got four postcards: one from Taiwan, two from China and one from Hong Kong. 

The postcard from Taiwan is a country map card of Taiwan. Taiwan (official: Republic of China) is a country in Asia which is because of the One-China policy of the People’s Republic of China not recognised by many countries. One country that recognises  Taiwan is the Vatican, when I visited Rome this year I saw the embassy of Taiwan in the Via della Conciliazione. The capital of Taiwan is Taipei. The Republic of China was founded in 1912 after the Fall of China’s last emperor Puyi. Taiwan was until 1945 a Japanese colony. After the victory of the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War the government of the Republic fled to Taiwan. The postcard was issued by the Taiwan Railway Company and shows the railway route on Taiwan.

Stamp:
Penguin (issued 25-03-2006)

Thank You very much Wanyao!

China: Temple of Heaven

On Monday I got four postcards: two from China, one from Taiwan and one from Hong Kong.

One postcard from China shows the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in China’s capital Beijing. It was founded in the first half of the 15th century. It symbolises the relationship between earth and heaven and also the important role that the emperor has within this relationship. Since 1998 it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stamps:
Hainan (from set of four) (issued 13-04-1998)
Chinese sturgeon (from set of ten) (issued 25-02-2000)
Diplomatic relations between China and Thailand (from set of two) (issued 07-01-1995)
(It is a joint issue with Thailand)

Thank You very much Lily!

China: Great Wall at Jinshanling

On Monday I got four postcards: two from China, one from Taiwan and one from Hong Kong.

One postcard from China shows the Great Wall. The construction of the Great Wall started circa 220 B.C. when earlier fortifications were connected to a united defence system against invasions from the North. The Great Wall became the largest military structure of the world during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It has a historic and strategic importance and a architectural significance. Since 1987 it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stamps:
Camels (from set of two) (issued 20-02-1993)
Hong Kong (from set of four) (issued 28-11-1995)

Thank You very much Lily!

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Tešanj

Yesterday I got a cover from Bosnia and Herzegovina and inside was my first postcard from ibidem.

Stamps:

Flowers (from set of ten) (issued 07-06-2012)

Cultural Heritage (from set of two) (issued 10-09-2006)

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in Southeast Europe Bordering on Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided in two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine) and the Republika Srpska, which are divided in 10 cantons. The capital of the country is Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina has three postal operators: BH Pošta (which issued the stamps on the cover), Hrvatske pošta Mostar (Croatian Post), Pošta Republike Srpske.

The postcard in the cover shows the small town Tešanj.

Thank You very much Sabina!