That's what friends are for!

I received these last week but I am still in philatelist's heaven!

Mailed straight from the Johannesburg's Oliver R. Tambo International Airport Post Office were two stamped South African postcards and two envelopes containing (one) a map of Botswana and (two) assorted South African mint stamp sheets!

Baie dankie to my very good friend, Fe. It pays to have friends you can bribe -- errrrr -- scratch that! It pays to have friends, period. Sadly, she and her family have left Africa to be based somewhere in... China! Well, well, well... Chinese stamps are also amazing and there's this one particular issue that I want to get for my collection... *wink-wink*

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Do you know where Middle Earth is?

I don't... but if this spectacular scenery is IT, then I'll probably traverse mountains and jungles just to be there! 

Where else could this be but New Zealand!?!? 

The postcard features the Mitre Peak in Milford Sound.

Milford Sound is a very popular tourist area with lots of beautiful sceneries, such as above. Does it look familiar? Of course, it does! It was one of the locations where the epic movie-trilogy Lord of the Rings was filmed. It was once quiet and peaceful but, after the filming of the Lord of the Rings around there, many tourists are visiting every single day, and most of the local residents are not happy.

I'm sure many of you would agree if I say that New Zealand is in the top ten of the most beautiful countries in the world. I have never been to New Zealand, true, but after watching all the Lord of the Rings movies, I felt that the movie has taken me on a journey inside this amazing country. Since I do not have the means to go there (I so want to!!) yet I think I'll just have to watch the movies all over again, that is, and let the movies take me once more to these awesome places. Which reminds me, it is best seen on a plasma tv. I wonder when will the appliance stores here go on sale? And oh, I also better keep an eye on plasma tv stands on ex-pat garage sales. What's a flat-screen tv if not mounted on a stand for maximum viewing pleasure, eh?

The stamp is a part of a 6-set international postage set issued in 2006, featuring NZ's popular tourist destinations. The one used below shows  Lake Wanaka and a historical vineyard that sit as foreground to a dramatic scenery.

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Viva, Espana!

This may be a bit late -- but hey, better late than never. So here goes...

¡Las felicitaciones para ganar el futbol Copa Mundial! Y para mi amor, Rafael Nadal, para empaquetar el "clay slam" de tenis y Wimbledon. ¡Esto es el año de los deporte Españoles! 

I hope it sounded right. If not, my dear Spanish friends, you are welcome to correct me.

As I mentioned above, this year proves to be a great year for Spanish sports -- at least where football and tennis are concerned. This year, I witnessed how Rafa dominated his opponents in both clay and grass courts,  showing everyone why he is the best defensive and offensive player in tennis! As to the World Cup finals, the Netherlands played a roughshod game but the Spanish squad showed them how it should be done - playing aggressively but staying true to the spirit of sportsmanship. The roughness and toughness of football was terrifying to watch but I bet these professional players each have a disability insurance to fall back on.  I read over a sports site that Rafa, fresh from a quick holiday after winning the Wimbledon, flew to South Africa to watch the finals. With such a show of support from Rafa, he may have indirectly inspired the Spanish team... who knows? 

I'd like to bask in the festive atmosphere as I, too, rooted for Spain. Today, albeit late, I selected a postcard from Spain from among my collection that are waiting to be posted here. The view is not exactly related to sports mentioned above, but it is a greeting card. The message says Happy Festivals... for sure the whole entire country of Spain is in a fiesta-mode and has every reason to celebrate this triumphant feat and to last for as long as they want to!

Sent by Cristina

Postmarked Valladolid

18 - July - 2008

This is the Castillo Palacio de Cuéllar, or the Castle of the Dukes of Albuquerque, the most prominent landmark in the province of Segovia, in the autonomous region of Castilla y León. It is a very impressive castle, built between 13th and 14 century with a mixture of gothic and renaissance architectural styles, that sits on top of hills of Cuéllar. The fortified wall itself is impressive and is currently undergoing rehabilitation.  Categorised as a Cultural through the Spanish  Historical Heritage's Law 16/1985 of 25 June, it is a protected cultural interest owing to its historical and artistic values reflecting traditional heritage and marked value of antiquity. 

The castle was once a military building but in the 16th century it was converted and became a castle-palace owned by the Duke of Albuquerque and their descendants for centuries. In the 19th century, during the War of Independence, the French troops stormed and looted the castle and was used as barracks. At present, the  castle is housing a school facility and a museum that attracts thousands of tourists every year.

The stamps are definitive and shows the same castle, Castillo Palacio de Cuéllar. The stamps are from a 3-stamp series issued in 2003 depicting Castles in Spain under the theme of Architecture.

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Geronimo and the Mystery Men

Does anyone know who this native American is?

There was no information provided on the postcard so if you know something about this, please help me out. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this picture was Geronimo, the main character of the movie with the same title back in the 90s. Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader who, according to the Wikipedia, for several years during the Apache Wars fought against Mexico and the United States against their expansion into Apache lands. His bravery, daring exploits, and numerous escapes from the hands of Mexican and American troops were legendary it is no surprise his character is popular in many Hollywood films and television. 

In the 1993 version, Geronimo was played by Wes Studi, one of my favorite albeit underrated stars of Hollywood. Wes himself is an American Cherokee who played several notable performances in his roles as an American Indian. Among the films he starred in were Dances with the Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and of course, Geronimo: The American Legend. Recently he played the role of Eytukan in the monster blockbuster hit Avatar. I don't know if anybody remembers, but Wes also played the Sphinx in the 1999 comedy film the Mystery Men. Oh my, you should watch this movie  - it has the coolest cast in my opinion!!! 

Wes Studi took the role of the masked and mysterious Sphinx and has the power to cut guns in half with his mind. He was sought by a team of misfits ( I hate to use the word "losers") with "superpowers" who needed to save the day - played convincingly and hilariously by Ben Stiller (as Mr. Furious), Hank Azaria (as The Blue Raja), William H. Macy (as The Shoveler; surprisingly good comedic actor, too!), and my favorite Janeane Garofalo (as The Bowler). The lines are funny and most were improvised by the cast.

Rounding up the amateur team of inept superheroes were: 

• Kel Mitchell,  as the Invisible Boy: he only becomes invisible when no one is looking, including himself;
• Paul Reubens, as the Spleen: he talks with a lisp and has a zit-ridden face, obviously needing  acne medications; he aims his super-smelly-fart power to anyone with such ferocity;
• Tom Waits, as Dr. A. Heller, an eccentric weapons designer who invented the "blame-thrower", "the shrinker", and the "canned tornado".

Of course, the anti-heroes are equally awesome and hilarious, too:

• Geoffrey Rush, as the loony Casanova Frankenstein and the main antagonist. 
• Eddie Izzard, as Tony P, Casanova's right-hand man;  and Prak Michel as Tony C., Tony P's second-in-command; they are two of Casanova's henchmen who sow terror to the tune of disco classics and other dance hits. 
• Lena Olin, as the Dr. Anabel Leek, Casanova's associate... hehehe.

I don't know why this movie flopped in the US but this move is one of my favorites. I so agree with Philippine writer/columnist/blogger Jessica Zafra -- the Mystery Men is hysterically funny, witty, ironic, inventive, and so smart, the American audience didn't get it.

Photo Sources:
Geronimo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo:_An_American_Legend;
Mystery Men: http://vinnierattolle.blogspot.com/2009/05/mystery-men.html

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Singapore Airlines postcard

This is another hand-me-down postcard and it features Singapore Airlines, the national carrier of Singapore, and the two flight stewardesses.

The ladies really look nice in their uniform and I wonder if they have considered use of any adipex diet pills to maintain such figures. I know a lot of my classmates from university have become flight attendants for our own Philippine Airlines and I know of a few others who worked in international airlines as well. It sure does look like a fun job for others -- having to go to your office up in the air, that's how my niece puts it -- and you look pretty and made-up all the time, poised and composed, but for them flight attendants it is a stressful and exhausting job having to deal with different people. Imagine forcing yourself to smile when the situation is not exactly worth smiling about? Gah.

I've never been on a Singapore Airlines flight yet but most of my colleagues who do could attest at the quality of the airline's service. And the airport, wow, it's one of the best and modern airports in the region, if not in the world. However, due to an unpleasant experience, I do not have any particular itch to go there any time soon.

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Gadget-crazy

I'm waiting for the husband to finish using the desktop computer so I could scan a couple or more postcards for publishing this week. We have two computers at home, one desktop (his) and one laptop (mine). However, our three-in-one machine (printer-photocopier-scanner) is connected solely to his desktop. I have no other choice but to wait, surf the net, till he is done. 

While browsing through Facebook, I noticed a lot of my Cambodian friends, and their friends and friends of their friends are going crazy over the latest iPhone. Yes, this craze has reached this third-world country! It is not even available yet here in Phnom Penh but most of these friends of mine have relatives in the USA and so I'm not surprised anymore when I saw a couple of them toting the newly-released iPhnone4 the other week. Not only that, they have the complete iphone accessories that are so cool. 

On the other hand (and in an unrelated note), in the rural areas, especially in two provinces where I used to work (in a rural ICT project funded by a Canadian organisation), schoolchildren are getting their hands on computers (XO laptops) for the first time as part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Program in Cambodia. How cool is that? This is great news especially that schoolchildren in Cambodia have little or no access to computers, let alone the Internet, for learning and creative purposes. The OLPC is attempting to change this, and will definitely open the rural schoolchildren to the global village.

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Where are the frogs?

I woke up today feeling better than the past two weeks sinceI started dieting. Although I was past the painstaking part where my body is craving for sugar and the headaches, drowsiness and lethargic feeling are now gone, I still have a long way to go. I need to get back to my ideal weight to achieve a healthy BMI, and that means 5kgs more to lose. Dieting can only work if I have enough self-control and discipline. Period. Oh, but if you prefer a faster way to lose weight, be very careful. Read and search for product feedbacks, like hydroxycut reviews, before plunging into a quick method to lose weight. 

Anyways, I am sharing this cute postcard from Finland:

The card shows a picture of one of Finland's well-loved story books, Little Frogs by Pienet Sammakot. I could not find any other information about this story book but I found out that Pienet Sammakot is also a music artist. Apparently there is a strong link between frogs and Finnish culture, as I've seen so many frog postcards and frog mentions in many stories, children's nursery rhymes, poems and songs. If any of you have information about this, I would appreciate your help :)

Don't you just love the cheery bright colors (mostly yellow) and the cute animal drawings? The animals' eyes are all so expressive you could somehow tell what they are thinking...  I notice though that there is no frog in it at all, which is funny because the postcard is culled from the pages of the Little Frogs storybooks.

This is a SUOMI Finland stamp issued in 2009 for first class mail, from a set of 5 in the greetings series. It shows a cup of tea or coffee and I assume a just-finished letter. This is how I want my afternoons to be, postcards/letter writing  with a cup of warm  beverage,  perfect on a rainy weather like we are having now on this side of the planet. 

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Calendar postcard

I have another postcard from Germany, this time it's from the southern city of Stuttgart.

Sent by Stefanie

Postmarked Briefzentrum 70

Dated 12 - 10 - 09

This is probably my first calendar-postcard, if I am not mistaken. Stefanie bought this postcard while holidaying on the eastern part of Germany at the side of the Baltic sea. I love the sights, Stef, und vielin, vielan dank!

Stefanie is well-traveled and she has already visited Cambodia and Vietnam some four years ago. Before sending me a postcard, she back-read some of my blog posts at Sreisaat Adventures. There she also saw my pictures of Khmer food and it instantly reminded her of the fantastic Khmer food she ate while in Cambodia. Of course she visited Angkor Wat and had a great experience temple-hopping there! At the back of the postcard she wrote about her one complaint while on holiday here -- hothothot and humid weather... she said in a joking manner that if only she could bring along a dehumidifier, she would have! But seeing the ancient temples with her own eyes more than made up for the unbearable heat of the Cambodian sun. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit here. Good luck in your next travel adventure in Asia  :)

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Peniscola - a jewel in Costa del Azahar

A quick glance at this postcard gave me the impression that I was looking at a view of the famous holiday town of Santorini in Greece. What do you think?

Sent by Eva

Postmarked Castellon de la Plana

Dated 10 - 07 - 09

Fantastic view, isn't it?

Well, it is actually not in Santorini but, as the name in the postcard says, it is the Spanish town of Peñíscola, a little peninsula in Costa del Azahar about 90kms north of Valencia. It is a fortified seaport with a lighthouse built on a rocky headland about 220m high and connected to the mainland only via a narrow strip of land. According to the Wikipedia, it was built by the Knights of Templar between 1294-1307. At the top of the town (middle, topmost of the postcard) is the castle of Pope Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna), called El Castillo Templario,  looking over the entire Mediterranean sea and, apart from the beautiful aquamarine beaches, it is the most popular tourist attraction in Peñíscola. Perhaps the town owes its popularity to the fact that the town and the castle was the main locations for the filming of the movie "El Cid".

Eva says that Peñíscola is on top of her most favorite places in the world. And I could only agree. Not only because this is where she was born and she had her wedding in the castle (must have been a beautiful wedding!)... but because the whole town in itself is amazing! Just by looking at the pictures of Peñíscola over the Internet makes me want to pack my bags and settle there, too. It is a perfect blend of the old and new; the old quarter is characterized by  a line of quaint white-walled houses amidst a maze of narrow and winding streets and alleys. We can't see that in this postcard but, looking at it, you can almost picture it in your mind. Eva said that when she was younger, she and her friends would play and chase each other in the winding cobble-stoned streets, going uphill and downhill.  I would have enjoyed walking around Peñíscola - it's an awesome way to lose unwanted fats without using any fitness equipment!Anyways, I will post later on another postcard that Eva sent to me -- it shows the street where she was born.

The stamp used features one of the four main Energías Renovables (renewable energy technologies), la energía geotérmica (geothermal energy). The other three of the four featured by the Correo de España are energía hidráulica (hydropower), energía eólica (wind power), y energía solar (solar energy). 

Muchas gracias por la hermosa tarjeta postal, Eva. Escribirá a usted pronto. 

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Problematic ISP

Aaaaah! 

Darn this ISP technical support. Or the lack thereof.

If they continue to provide a lousy service we will surely get another ISP. Yes, this explains why I was "absent" from the blogosphere since Friday night.  Gah, let's talk about something else, otherwise I would be so effing mad I would be needing wrinkle creams so soon *knocks on wood*.

So last weekend my husband and I went about our regular routine - groceries, post office (I have a small packet from Croatia and two beautiful postcards from Indonesia!!!), and brunch at one of our favorite places, the Green Vespa. Back home we just spent the weekend chillaxing, with some oldies music in the background and wine and cheese in the evening. I just love weekends, it allows my husband and I to go to places and do things together... you know, some R and R after a hectic work-week. Well, I hope you had a lovely weekend, too, and I wish you'll have another great week ahead. 

Nina, terimah kasih!

Tomi, puno hvala!

In the meantime, I'll run along now and I have some scanning duties to do. Please come back later on to see my new posts. Toodles.

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