Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Jay Tio
Traveled 1,611 km

This card is a souvenir from a friend who went to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) back in 2011. The previous weekend, I flew to HCMC and had the pleasure to actually see this hotel in person and the other two that I was only seeing in postcards back in April.

Ho Chi Minh City has the busiest yet most fluid road traffic I've seen so far in my travels. It also has some of the best dishes I've tried in my Asian gastronomic trips. Curious? You may find some of these dishes that I had in my instagram posts, shared on the upper left corner of this page.

I definitely recommend this city to any traveler who wants to have a Southeast Asian adventure -- both on the palate and on the road!

~maria 

Say it with flowers

My penpal, Tuija from Finland is ever so sweet. She loves sending me matching stamps and envelopes since we started writing to each other back in 2011.

This envelope was received in 09 Sep 2011. The Lilac stamp on it was issued back in 1 March 2006. Lilac is a common garden plant; well-loved due to its attractive and fragrant flowers.

The flower featured on this envelope received in 22 June 2011 on the other hand is a rare plant. Mountain everlasting or pussytoes belongs to the sunflower family but thrives in cooler temperature. 

For more flowers seen on stamps, hover your mouse & click here.

~maria

Typical Houses in Aveiro

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Anacrobat
Sent: 8 June 2013 from Tabua, Portugal
Received: 25 June 2013, Traveled 11,947 km in 17 days

While enjoying the long weekend (just this most recent one!) in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam -- I had an interesting discussion about the adventures of traveling brought by differences in languages. My bestfriend / travel buddy and I have agreed to travel around South-east Asia first before going somewhere else farther.

For Europe though, I mentioned that Portugal and Spain are on the top of my list. Considering that I came from a country that was a Spanish colony for 300 plus years, I'm keen to see what cultural similarities we have with them. I am interested with Portugal because during my visit in Macau in 2009 -- the country being a former Portuguese colony, I saw a lot of striking similarities between Macau and my home country. 

I was digging for a postcard from Spain in my collection but couldn't get my hand on one right away ... so here's one from Portugal, instead. The label at the back of the card says that these are typical houses in Aveiro. I can't really pinpoint any similarity with the houses that we have back home and in Macau with these ones but the one in the middle is perfect for Sally's Blue Monday link-up. 

I hope at least you enjoyed the postcard ;-)

~maria

Wings from Finland

This stamp from Finland, issued on 4 May 2010 is entitled simply as "Wings". I like the artistic design with coiled ends of the curve on this stamp. The monochromatic theme is also very gentle to the eyes. 

I have been absent from Sunday Stamps for such a long time! It's now being hosted at See it on a Postcard.

~maria

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

Sent: 20 May 2015 from Yangon International Airport, Myanmar
Received: 9 July 2015, Traveled 2,563 km in 50 days

I thought this postcard would never arrive at all! I was in Myanmar prior to my Japan trip. My postcards from Japan came last month, way ahead of this one.

While in Myanmar, I had the pleasure of experiencing a quick tour of the Shwedagon Pagoda. The whole pagoda complex was fantastic! At night, the temples were literally glowing gold. My room window at the Best Western Green Hill Hotel had an excellent view of this Myanmar architectural treasure. I had lovely evenings just watching the glow from afar.

This is a post I'm sharing for Our World Tuesday. Through my bloghop for this link-up, I discovered the lovely blog -- A Hole in My Shoe -- by travel enthusiasts, Lyn and Steve. They're running a #TheWeeklyPostcard Link-up. I'm not very sure whether my posts would qualify since I'm not able to talk extensively about my travel details here, but well -- let's try :)

~maria

Minato Mirai 21 - Day & Night View

I was sorting out my recently received postcards last weekend and I had a pleasant surprise! I noticed the postcard that my colleague sent to me from her Yokohama trip back in April is the day time view: 

Sent from Yokohama, Japan, Traveled 5,291 km

...of the postcard I sent to myself when I went there in May:

Sent: 30 May 2015 from Yokohama, Japan
Traveled 5,291 km

One striking difference between the two postcards though is the presence of the Cosmo World Ferris Wheel on the night view postcard. It was for a time considered one of the biggest clocks in the world. It was mesmerizing to watch with all its magnificent changing bright lights!

I very much wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel as I haven't experienced this at all! We didn't have enough time so perhaps I'll try the one here in Singapore.

Have you experienced riding a Ferris Wheel? Was it fun?

~maria

A blogger friend from England

My postcards and blogging hobby have rewarded me with many friends from all over the world. From the recent April A-Z Blogging Challenge that I participated this year, I met a few more new friends. One of them is Hilary, author of the page Positive Letters ... Inspirational Stories.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Hilary
Sent from East Sussex, England

Hilary wrote about Aspects of British Cornish for the April challenge. We followed and cheered each other all throughout those 26 days and in the end -- we both survived! What I'm sharing for today is a well fitting contribution for Postcard Friendship Friday. I'm so pleased to receive from Hilary after we finished the challenge, a multi-view postcard that shows some of the places featured on her A-Z posts. For example, Z is for Zennor, with the view found on the upper left of the postcard.

Blame my memory lapse! I promised to send her a card from my Japan trip. I'm not sure if I actually was able to send her one or not. But then, I wish the Singapore Skyline that I sent her way and recently shared here in my blog made her smile :)

I wish we're all remembering our friends (both near and far) each step of the way and keeping the promises we made to them. We might have been delayed in fulfilling a promise, but better delayed than nothing at all! Have a nice weekend ahead, blogging folks!

~maria