UNESCO - Fanjingshan, China

Located within the Wuling mountain range in Guizhou Province in southwest China, Fanjingshan ranges in altitude between 500 - 2570 metres above sea level, favouring highly diverse types of vegetation and relief. It is an island of metamorphic rock in a sea of karst, home to many plant and animal species that originated in the Tertiary period.

Also Fanjingshan is considered a sacred mountain of Chinese Buddhism, ranking just behind The Four Sacred Mountains. During the Ming Dynasty 48 Buddhist temples were built on the mountain, many of which have since been destroyed; the ones that remain are now significant pilgrimage sites. This postcard shows the New Golden Summit, or the Red Clouds Golden Summit.

Again thanks to Tianyi :)

UNESCO - Mount Sanqingshan National Park, China

Mount Sanqingshan National Park, located in the west of the Huyaiyu mountain range in the northeast of Jiangxi Province, has been inscribed for its exceptional scenic quality, marked by the concentration of fantastically shaped pillars and peaks, many of which resemble human or animal silhouettes.

Which could this one be, perhaps an eagle sitting on a branch..? 

Thank you Tyanyi :)

Jbeil / Byblos, Lebanon

The coastal town of Byblos is located on a cliff of sandstone 40 km north of Beirut. Continuously inhabited since Neolithic times, it bears outstanding witness to the beginnings of the Phoenician civilization. This postcard shows the harbour ruins.

I started this post thinking it was UNESCO, but I have researched some maps and couldn't find this, or a more specific name for it. However, I am still thrilled to receive a postcard from Lebanon, my 2nd overall and 1st through a swap, thanks to Hadi :)

UNESCO - Royal Exhibition Building In Melbourne, Australia

The Royal Exhibition Building and its surrounding Carlton Gardens were designed by Joseph Reed for the great international exhibitions of 1880 and 1888 in Melbourne. The building combines elements from the Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance styles. This site is a surviving manifestation of the international exhibition movement which blossomed in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.

I cannot believe that I lived in Melbourne for three months and didn't visit this place, how frustrating. Moreover I was there in 2004, the year it was designated a whs site. All this prompted me to think of all the places I've visited in Australia and make a list - and then onwards to all the other places visited. Its a great task! I figured it would be a good list to use in future swaps, to get postcards of all the places I travelled to so far.

UNESCO - Purnululu National Park, Australia

Purnululu National Park is located in the state of Western Australia, containing the deeply dissected Bungle Bungle Range, composed of Devonian-age quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into a series of beehive-shaped towers or cones, whose steeply sloping surfaces are disctinctly marked by regular horizontal bands of dark-grey cyanobacterial crust. The spectacularly incised landscape of these sculpted rocks rises 250 meters above the surrounding semi-arid savannah grasslands.

Amazing view, thanks to Helen :)

Land Of Contrasts, South Africa

I have received this great card at the end of last year, it was like: wait, I don't remember swapping with anyone from South Africa....and then I read the date, March 2016. A nice surprise when you forget about a card and then it suddenly arrives..! A year and a half is a mighty long time. Great stamps too, thank you Santie and George :)

I Love Stamps

Including this one of a Common Cuckoo from Belarus, thanks to Yana :)

Actually I have started collecting stamps way before postcards, not sure about the age but def before my teens. Perhaps because they were more accessible to me...not in the 'right' philatelic way of course (I am still not a proper philatelist, and I suspect I'll never be!) but as my dad was working in Germany we'd sometimes visit, and I was able to buy  unassorted lots - oh the joy of going through it all discovering what I've gotten..! I still have 6-7 stamp albums on my shelf and love going through them from time to time. Of course these days I leave the stamps intact on postcards and covers...but as I was little I used to maul the letters I received, shame...Anyhoo, it's all very well, stuff that brought or bring joy :))