The Ancient Watertown Xitang, China

 

This is, without hesitation, one of the most beautiful views cards I have ever received - one of the oldest towns in China, Xitang is situated in the Zhejiang Province in eastern China, a watertown crisscrossed by nine (!) rivers, stretched across eight sections that are linked by old-fashioned stone bridges. When I visit China this will surely be on my itinerary...Many thanks to Cynthia, also for the great selection of stamps! I love it when I see the back of the card covered with stamps :))

As today's theme for Sunday Stamps is Stamps From China Or Taiwan, this seemed like a perfect choice...Some have no year printed on it, but the middle and the top-right one do:

The left one is (poeticly) titled Footprints In The Snow, is from a set issued in 2007 showing Shiwan ceramics. The right one from 2010 from the series Chinese Idiom, and now I see I have posted here about a different stamp from this series before..! I just can't figure out how I managed to find the story behind it :/

More beautiful stamps here:

 

Hundertwasser Village, Vienna

Oh my this seems like centuries ago...one of my first trips was to Vienna, but I have spent too little time there...Stumbling into Hundertwasser art/architecture with no real plan was the most exciting experience of my stay there :)

The University Of Oxford

I have decided that its a better idea to post older scans and be patient with the new postcards (instead of taking photos of them...I may make a few exceptions). I will now post some cards from my older trips, no big explanations just short impressions :) And the impression of Oxford was - very fine and classy! Looks like a perpetual movie set :)

 

Fidel Castro En La Sierra Maestra, Cuba

Last week there was a hint of Cuban postcards finally arriving to their destinations...those were sent later than mine, so I was curious to see if mine will arrive...and surely they did, yesterday :) The cancellation shows they were sent a full week after I've put them in the mailbox, and took them further 11 weeks of travelling, but they are here and in a good shape so all is well :)

I couldn't resist sending one with Fidel - he sure is a controversial figure, but a very interesting one.

Market in Guadeloupe

I am loving the market scenes more and more...and this one may very well be my favourite :) Many thanks to Olga for this swap :) I find the stamp farthest on the right curious - with the expression Être serrés comme des sardines which means 'being packed together like sardines' i.e. in a very small space, and the appropriate illustration...I just wonder what is the inspiration to put this on a stamp..:)

Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia

 

Amazing archipelago situated in Indonesia's West Papua province, just off the northwest tip of Bird's Head peninsula on the island of New Guinea...Also called Four Kings, it comprises over 1500 islets surrounding the four main islands. Must be a diver's paradise? It sure does look like paradise from birds' view :) Thank you very much Veronica ;)

P.S. - loving the flower stamp for its colour
 

Breiflabb/Angler, Norway

 

This is a very peculiar postcard...the kind of peculiar that I like :) I thought it must be a northern-sea monster fish that I've never heard of, but what a surprise, its actually a very familiar fellow and the tastiest fish for my palate! We call it grdobina, but also 'vrazja mater' which means 'devil's mother'. And the British, beside the nice name angler, use the not-so-nice 'sea-devil'...poor thing, it is not the prettiest creature on earth...it had to adjust to the harsh sea depths...

Man And Donkey From Prilep

What a wonderful surprise in my mailbox today!! Reprint of a vintage postcard showing a street scene in Macedonian town Prilep from the last century's 20's. Loving everything about this card...hvala bossita! :)))

Absolute Pepper Of Hungary

While in Budapest last month (what a beautiful city!) I've discovered a series of postcards 'Absolute...' which represent all the best things Hungarian - here the world-famous red peppers. As the Hungarian cousine influenced Croatia we quite regularly use red pepper powder in the kitchen, yum. The stamps round up the theme :)

Burro En La Playa

...con coctel, probablemente mojito :) I was wondering if I'd find any donkey cards in Holland; in fact I even stopped thinking about it when I spotted this one, and it was a good sign before flying to Cuba..! Interesting fact written on the back: the card is printed using vegetable inks on board from 100% recycled chlorine-free pulp. 

 

A Ride In Algarve

 

Very nice recent addition to the donkeys collection comes from Portugal, its a bit vintage, thanks Joana :) I sure hope there is no heavy stuff in that sizeable burden...very interesting national apparel :)

 

GEO - Wildcat Snoozing

 

Awww I've almost melted upon this sight...Who could guess that this kittie cannot be tamed..?!

GEO - Polar Fox

 

Time for recent additions to my GEO collection :) Polar fox is a master of survival in the cold (minus 50, brr) Arctic, and is changing the colour of its fur according to the season - brown in the summer, white or bluish in the winter. Kuchi kuchi kuuu, sweet stuff :)

Mount St. Helens, USA

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano in the US state Washington, 96 miles south of Seattle. It is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring Of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. This volcano is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption in may of 1980, the most destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States - 57 casualties, 250 homes and 185 miles of highways destroyed.

Great stamps including classic cars, thank you Bryon :))