Stay Safe, Stay Home; Singapore

 

Fast-forward  seven months, and here I am back in Croatia, surviving this transition time to full vaccination. While in Ireland I did swaps in one batch back in June, asking for postcards related to this unique situation that we deal with. Thanks to Adriana I received this special card from Singapore. I thought I'd be swapping more during my time in Ireland, but I never really got into a 'comfortable zone', always going through the questions: will I find a job/stay at a job/go home?  So I returned home about a month ago - at least I don't have to worry about the rent (which is scraping the skies in Ireland!) and I feel more at peace being with my (now quite old) parents to support them in any way I can through these (still) challenging times. Here's hoping things will finally start getting better for everyone so we can resume our normal...or something close to normal lives.

P.S. - I can see that I'm gonna struggle a bit with some novelties here on the blogger...But I do plan to post a bit more now, as I have noticed that there is still a batch of postcards  that I haven't even scanned yet, let alone posted. So yeah :)

Time For Breakfast

A nice continental breakfast coming all the way from Singapore, thank you Kay Jin :)

UNESCO - Singapore Botanical Gardens

Last year Singapore got its first Unesco WHS - how amazingly green it is! Thanks a lot Spencer :)

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is situated at the heart of the city of Singapore and demonstrates the evolution of a British tropical colonial botanic garden from a ‘Pleasure Garden’ in the English Landscape Style, to a colonial Economic Garden with facilities for horticultural and botanical research, to a modern and world-class botanic garden, scientific institution and place of conservation, recreation and education.

Monkeys And Primates, Singapore

This one is curious, as it sez at the back of the postcard 'endangered species found in tropical forests of Southeast Asia', and it took some research...to find out the first one is a Tarsier (which I have already posted a great postcard of) which is not endangered on The Philippines but highly so on Sulawesi and some tiny other Indonesian islands. Now the second one...if I'm not mistaken is a Roloway Monkey, found only in eastern Côte d'Ivoire and the forests of Ghana. The last one is also not-endangered Squirrel Monkey from South America. The creature bottom left I haven't yet managed to identify...maybe a type of lemur as it has a protruding snout. So hardly a well-depicted postcard!

Nevertheless, I am happy its in my collection, thank you Lilin :) Lovely stamps too.

 

Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore

 

This is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple and a National Monument; Heather was kind to send this view from her travel, thank you :)

The stamp shows the Stork-billed Kingfisher, native in south and southeast Asia. Awesome colours!

September Officials

Now here is my story with the official postcards...I haven't sent any for quite some time, almost a year I think. Then I've decided to remind myself what it was like...and sent four. Since they were registered I've received 12 postcards to register, and I have a +9 ratio. Still not sure how come! Here are the last five total-surprise postcards:

 SG-112436

 RU-1927060

 

BR-274187 

RU-1932664 

PL-749033

Overall impression? Its a nice selection of postcards from frequent countries, if I had more resources I would send more, but with lots of going on in private swaps arena I don't feel encouraged to expand my field of action! What I miss most is the element of surprise, which subsides with time...

Ad Card, Singapore

SG - 66042

Out of the 5 official cards that I've received last month this one I like the most :) Although it appears to be an ad or a free card, its colourful and cute and the stamps are lovely, so thumbs up!

YOTD Stamps - Singapore

Togyu Okumura 'Donkeys (study)' 1941

And now for all the other beautiful cards with YOTD stamps :) Like this donkey illustration by a Japanese artist sent from Singapore, many thanks to sybones!

A classic fiery dragon on the stamp, love it <3

Singapore At Night

SG-46603

I've been double-minded about official postcrossing cards for a while now...but i've started to miss the anticipation, even though i get mildly disappointed on many an occasion..! Cards like this Singapore night view would surely inspire me more to participate :) It doesnt always have to be a card for a collection or something stunning, but a nice view of one's home area is always appreciated. And the stamps are lovely too!

Betty Boop

Another great swap with Sybones :) Betty Boop is one of those characters you nostalgically think of because they were a part of your childhood...it would be great to find cards with all such characters, esp. Hanna-Barbera ones!

Betty Boop was created by Max Fleischer in 1930 in a series of cartoons. She has become one of the earliest sex symbols on the animated screen, and remains very popular to this day. Would be cool to see one of her 'movies' again :)

A View Of Singapore From The Top

I had a great swap with Sybones from Singapore - biiiiiig thanks for this spectacular view, and the stamps! :)

This is a view of the City of Singapore/the business district from The Singapore Flyer, the world's tallest observation wheel. I love the world's -ests :))) It was constructed in 2005-2008 and is 42 stories high - the whopping 165 meters!