Postcards for the weekend 87: Festivals

Masskara Festival is an annual celebration in Bacolod City, Philippines. The place is dubbed as the "City of Smiles" hence the masks all come with smiling faces.

The festival is celebrated every October and held in as a fusion of a Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest fashion.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 84: Anything you wish

In my home country, the Philippines, summer months are starting in May. The temperature and humidity rise and most daytimes feel like living in a microwave oven. If I recall correctly, the warmest and most humid month here in Singapore happens to be in May as well. We still get rain, but it's warm rain.

Hence, the mind often thinks of cooling down. And of course, the best destination always is the beach. As such, for our theme of anything you wish, here are a few sandy postcards from the Philippines.

The WOW Philippines was a tourism marketing campaign that started back in 2002. On this postcard, it focuses on Boracay, one of the Philippines' major beach destinations.  

Plenty of local and foreign tourists flock to Boracay, regardless of the season. Recently, the Philippine government has announced the closure of the island starting 26 April 2018 for 6 months. This is to give way for environmental rehabilitation. 

I've never been to Boracay myself. So now, I'm planning to head there as soon as it re-opens.

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 80: Anything you wish

FI-1918321, Sent from Jyvaskala
Traveled 8,847 km in 9 days

Our theme this weekend is anything you wish. I'm pleased that it's a free and easy theme and I can select postcards that fit my mood at the moment. It's an end at least for now for a series of overseas trips. I yearn to just stay put; to be at home and see familiar pieces and parts of the same place for every waking hour and coming back at the end of the day.

Souvenir postcard from my trip to Sampaguita Gardens, Aklan, Philippines

What are your favorite pieces, parts, or sections of your home? What do you love to do the most when you're at home? Tomorrow I'm flying back to Singapore, my second home. I am impatient to lounge on the soft brown sofa while binge-watching Netflix series. 

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 48: Philippines

I'm finally back in Singapore after a 3-week outstation work. I'm happy to end this Saturday with a dinner together with a friend from the Philippines. He's here for a business trip and since there are no Filipino restaurants in Beijing (where he's based now), we decided to eat at a Filipino restaurant. Talking in Filipino and about the Philippines made me miss home even more. Hence, this weekend, I'm sharing scans of postcards that I sent out in the past while I was still based in Manila.

There are three main island clusters for the Philippine archipelago. Luzon in the north, Visayas in the middle, and Mindanao in the south. Let's start from the north -- 

Vigan is a city on the northwest coast of Luzon. It's a popular tourist destination due to its well-preserved colonial Spanish narrow streets and buildings. On this postcard is Vigan Cathedral, a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site declaration for the City of Vigan.

The capital city of Manila is on the same mainland Luzon as Vigan. Luzon is a long stretch of land mass and the distance from Vigan to the nation's capital, Manila is approximately 405 km. On this muti-view postcard, we have a glimpse of old and new buildings in Manila. And oh, there's the monument of our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

An island to the southwest of Manila is Palawan. Here's a subterranean river national park postcard from Palawan's capital of Puerto Princesa. 

From the center of the Philippine archipelago: Visayas, there's the beautiful city of Cebu. Here's a postcard of a grand Taoist Temple, that is open both for worshipers and non-worshipers. I had a great time exploring the place back in the year 2012.

And from the south -- here's a dance called dugso. 

Its origin is the mountainous province of Bukidnon in Mindanao. It's a dance of thanksgiving and invocation of protection. The dancers wear colorful costumes in local patterns, wear equally colorful headdresses, and bell anklets to which they dance with the rhythm.

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you enjoyed these postcards from my home country.

~maria

P.S. We will have no linky party for the first 2 weekends of August as I will be on a holiday. We will resume on the 3rd weekend of August. Ciao everyone!

Postcards for the weekend 46: Places of worship

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Helsinki
Sent 28 December 2016, Traveled 5,757 km

I had my first ever hail storm experience on my way to this cathedral back in April. My friend Tuija who sent me this postcard and who was with on that same day of the hail storm, wrote: This stunningly beautiful church is Helsinki Cathedral and most probably the most beautiful in Finland. I was only able to look at it in awe both outside and inside!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Bulacan, Metro Manila
Sent 21 June 2012, Traveled 35 km

This is probably one of my postcards that took the shortest distance to reach me (see caption). It's a Postcrossing Meet-up Postcard featuring the Basilica of St. Martin de Tours. It is considered the largest church in the Philippines and in Asia.

Postcard sent for swap

In my opinion, this is the best building in Kampong Glam, a historic Malay area in Singapore. I always love sitting at a cafe at night and just marveling at the beauty of this mosque. The website YourSingapore describes this mosque as the focal point of Islamic faith in the country.

Postcard sent for swap

Will you believe that this Hindu temple is located in Chinatown? It is indeed! Sri Mariamman is the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. The number of sculptures & figurines at its entrance is just awe-inspiring. More so, is the social role this temple plays in the life of South Indian Tamil Hindus. I read that this temple provides them shelter until they find work and a more permanent accommodation in Singapore.

Postcard sent to self, Sent from Ho Chi Minh
Sent 23 Oct 2016, Traveled 2,679 km

This card is from my solo weekend trip to Ho Chi Minh last year. It was such a traumatic trip though and I vowed that I will never go back to Vietnam on my own again. I am sad to give this bad impression of Ho Chi Minh but my experience was pretty terrible. Oddly enough, I'm writing this blog post while here in Vietnam at the moment. Only at a different city though, Hanoi.

I'm sorry for disappointing my blogging friends for my tortoise-ness with the linky. It's been really insane at work. I've just finished organizing and hosting a regional distributors sales meeting. I went back to Singapore for one night and back on the road again today. I'm away for another 2 more weeks for this series of business trips. I hope the rest of you are able to enjoy less demanding days.

~maria 

Postcards for the weekend 45: City views (night time)

For the night time city views theme, I'm sharing cities in Asia. 

Postcard sent to self, Sent from Taipei, Taiwan
Traveled 3,248 km

The Taipei 101 skyscraper clearly towers above any other building in the city on this scenery. The temperature of the print on the translucent material on this screen postcard offers a somewhat close to reality view of the city of Taipei. This first postcard is the fanciest I own to date. 

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent by Renz & Raqz
Sent 14 July 2013, Traveled 2,994 km in 5 days

This is Ginza Street in Tokyo at night. The entire street with its neon lights was just magnificent and breathtaking when I saw it for real back in November 2016. 

Postcard sent for swap

Singapore Chinatown is recognized as one of the cleanest Chinatown all over the world. Seen here in the foreground is the Tooth Buddha Relic Temple and behind are the tall buildings in the cental building district of the city.

Postcard sent for swap

Behind those buildings on the Singapore Chinatown is the iconic Singapore Merlion. It's always very nice to visit Merlion Park in the evening as the area is full of lights.

Postcard sent for swap

And for this fifth postcard, here's one from Metro Manila -- a city where I lived for 11 years before moving to Singapore. This is a skyline of Makati, the central business district area. I worked for 5 years on the 29th floor of the leftmost building called RCBC Plaza. 

I'm sorry everyone for the late posting this weekend. I'm organizing a regional sales meeting at work, happening this Tuesday to Thursday (wish me luck!)

Happy weekend folks,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 39: Traditional street scene

Speaking of traditional street scenes, I think nothing can be more traditional than this postcard of "bayanihan". Strictly speaking, it isn't a street, but since in the province where I grew up, cleared up pathways throughout grasslands were what we considered streets for passage of people and carriages pulled by either water buffalo, horse, or cow. Since traditional Filipino houses were built on stilts during earlier days, it's quite common to see men from the community gathering and helping a house owner who wants to move the property. These men weren't paid a cent but they're served a sumptuous meal and local alcoholic beverages after the heavy task.

A horse-pulled carriage or kalesa. Nowadays, this kind of transportation is more of a touristy thing in many historical places of interest in the Philippines. This is one of the earlier forms of transportation, I reckon not just in my country but in many other countries as well.

Now onto more modern street scene, on the above postcard is our version in the Philippines of a tricycle or trishaw. This transportation is normally overloaded with passengers as there isn't a lot of tricycles to transport people from villages to the town. This overloading happens mostly during when there are festivities in the town center.

For traditional street scenes. Happy weekend everyone!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 35: Any waterform

Postcard sent out for swaps

Back in Feb 2014, I visited the beautiful island and islets of Coron, Palawan. I didn't make it to Big Lagoon though and has always wanted to go back to this part of the province. It gives me something to look forward into for the next trip.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: AJ
Sent 21 May 2015, Traveled 14,842 km

AJ, my not so little anymore "boy"friend sent me this card when he traveled with his mom to his dad's hometown. I think he's 5 years old during the trip when he sent me this card and he wrote to me, " I learned to paddle in a canoe. I saw some snow, too!" 

The falls featured on this card is the Upper Falls of the Tahquamenon Falls. I reckon AJ had his canoe adventure near this place.

UA-936361, Sent from Ukraine
Sent 28 Jan 2014, Traveled 8,188 km in 33 days

I'm in Sweden at the moment, a country with 97,500 lakes but what a pity! I haven't had the chance to find a postcard with a lake and I'm leaving very soon. Here's one instead from the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Ken Carlson
Sent 30 July 2012, Traveled 10,916 km

This is a scene along the coast of California. The wild waves and rugged terrains make this postcard powerful in a way.

For water forms theme this weekend, I hope these cards are enjoyable!

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Dia Del Galeon Festival 2010 Commemorative Stamps

The theme this weekend for the Sunday Stamps is maps. I'm stretching out the theme a bit with this sheet since only a portion of the land mass outlines are actually within the perforations of the stamps.

This commemorative sheet was issued by the Philippine Postal Corporation on 8 October 2010. Galleon is a Spanish word that means a sailing ship. Originally the purpose of these ships are for war but later on these were used for trade. Dia means day. The entire phrase translated to English is Day of the Galleon.On these stamps are images of the Manila galleons. In October 2009, UNESCO recognized the unique part played by the Manila galleons in conducting trade and cultural exchange between the Philippines and Europe. 

More information about the galleon trade can be found here and here.

Hop over to See it on a postcard for more stamps featuring maps this weekend.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 27: Philippines

For this month of March is pretty much theme inclusive. However, the objective is to give a focus for a specific country of your origin, previous destination, and dream destinations. Given the possibility that there's a wish to split the postcards from your own country into two weekends' postings, this is possible for the weekend of March 4 and 11.

As some of you may know, I visited my home country last weekend -- Philippines: 

My hometown is in the turtle-shaped island, south of the mainland Luzon. If you look closely, you will see marked on the island of Mindoro is a coastal town of Puerto Galera. I spent the weekend there with my family hoping to enjoy the sea, the sun, and the beach. I was looking forward into visiting nearby islets for snorkeling as the area is known to be among the best coral snorkeling sites in the country. Alas! The weather was uncooperative.

I really longed for a similar experience from Feb 2013 in another island, Palawan. It is an island that resembles the shape of a closed umbrella, southwest of Mindoro.

It's a great destination for island-hopping ...

... and I really missed a good ride with the waves on a small boat (banca) like this:

I'm very curious on what postcards each of the participants for our Postcards for the Weekend linky party are sharing this weekend. Let's please take a moment to appreciate one another's effort to pick and share postcards by leaving even just a short comment when we view the pages of each of the participants. 

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 20: SE Asian land transpo

PH-61397, Sent to Pella, Greece
Traveled 9,664 km in 14 days

Here's a horse-drawn wooden carriage that's been widely used in the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. The local term is calesa. I remember when I was a child, my grandparents would bring me to the church or to the town market in a calesa. Nowadays, it's mostly found at tourist attraction sites and is no longer used as a means of every day public transportation.

Sent from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Traveled 350 km, sent 12 June 2015

This is called a trishaw. Similar to the calesa, tourists are the ones seen enjoying a ride. The back of this postcard says that this is static image was taken in Malacca. I've never been there but I've seen for several times a row of trishaws carrying tourists around Chinatown (Singapore).  

Friendship gift postcard, Sent from Jakarta
Sent 23 July 2012, Traveled 2,787 km

Trishaw in Indonesia is called becak. I've never seen a trishaw for the couple of visits I've had to 2 different cities in Indonesia. I reckon that it has been widely replaced by motorbikes. As far as I know, at least in Jakarta, there's an app for motorbikes which works like an Uber/Grab where you can order a motorbike for a pick up / drop off service.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Ho Chi Minh, Vietman
Sent: 20 November 2013, Traveled 1,611 km in 6 days

I've been to Ho Chi Minh several times and I've seen few people still riding this type of tall bicycles. Although nowadays, as most of you may know, the city's streets are full of motorized bicycles. Perhaps for originality or to attract attention, some street vendors could also be seen like the man with his items for sale on the postcard below:

Sent from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Traveled 2,698 km

I hope you enjoyed these postcards from my part of Asia. I'm currently traveling for work and facilitating workshops even on Saturdays for this weekend and the next. It's been really busy on my end lately and I hope you all would forgive my delayed visits on the pages you share for our weekly linky party.

I hope you're all having a more relaxing weekend as compared with me!

Cheers,

~maria

Taal Volcano, Philippines

Sent to Mircea in Romania

I am just back here in Singapore from a 10-day vacation in my home country, Philippines. I did a Manila-Ilocos-Manila-Tagaytay-Manila tour; basically north of the country. In Ilocos, I visited the old Spanish town in Vigan, "rollercoaster-ed" and surfed on the sand in Paoay. I wanted to share a Vigan postcard but I realized that the one I had was posted here in my blog, 3 years ago.

In Tagaytay, for the third time - I climbed to the crater of Taal Volcano. The trail wasn't that difficult and there's a majestic view on top. I highly recommend this trip to anyone who wants to get out of Manila just for a day. It's 2-hour away by bus and the entire boat ride on the lake and trek up to the rim of the crater takes a total of just 3 hours.

~maria

Sampaguita Gardens

I got this postcard back in early June I believe, as 'pasalubong' or souvenir for me from a friend who visited the Sampaguita Gardens in New Washington, Aklan. This place is the home in the Philippines of the famous Precious Romance dolls, created by Mr. Sam Butcher. More information about the place can be found here.

I am here in Aklan for work since Monday until Saturday. Today, I had the chance to see Sampaguita Gardens: the place where it's always Christmas! Yes, you read it right. That's the tagline of Sampaguita Garden -- the place where everyday is Christmas. They have a Christmas Cottage that I have on another postcard but I'll share that one around December. For now, I'm sharing this card which features some really 'authentic Pinoy culture' on the drawing -- like the tricycle for transportation and the hanging native chicken (to be prepared into a delicious dish for sure!)

My visit at the gardens was a bit sad because I see the place is no longer well-maintained. I really hope they will do something about it. I heart to go back there one day in the future, and hopefully I can say 100%, "We all had a wonderful time!" Speaking of "heart", can you count how many hearts are in this postcard?

~maria

Bird Watch

         Here are some birds postcards to complement the stamps to be posted on Sunday:

LT-174535, Sender: Lindenfir
Sent: 27 Dec 2011 from Vilnius, Lithuania
Received 24 Jan 2012, Traveled 9,052 km in 28 days

I wish I can read the scientific name of this bird at the back of the card, but it's in Cyrillic

characters. It looks so regal with its flamboyant crown.

NO-56120, Sender: Julcos
Sent: 6 Dec 2011, Sent from Lillehammer, Norway
Received: 16 Dec 2011, Traveled 9,652 km in 10 days

I believe the name of this bird is chaffinch. Julia, the sender said that

this bird is very popular and there's many of them in Norway.

Card from my own stack.

This is the Philippine cuckoo-dove. I got it from a booklet of migratory birds
published by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines.  According to the site,

the Philippines is home to 600 species of resident and migratory birds.

~maria

Oriental Birds

Arriving back in Manila today, I'm greeted with two postcards on top of my study table. At the back of one card are really bright and beautiful stamps:

Issued by SingPost, the green stamp is from the "Pond Life" definitive collection, issued in 13 April 2011. It features the most common and beautiful specie of damselfly -- Ceriagrion cerinorubellum, commonly known as ornate coraltail. Another stamp from this set, can be found here.

The red stamp is from the "Flora and Fauna" set issued 6 June 2007. For the Aethopyga siparaja, the males have the bright crimson belly and greenish black tail. The females are olive green with hints of pale yellow. To read more about other commemorative stamps from this series, click here.

Drawing inspiration from these two stamps, I found similar ones to share for Sunday Stamps. It's perfect 'cause the theme this week is 'anything you wish'.

Issued in 2005 by Pos Malaysia, the stamp shows tekukur or the spotted dove, Streptopilia chinensis. The Malay name was derived from its soft te-croo-croo call. More information about this bird can be found here.

These 4 stamps are from a PhilPost special issue on 7 March 2008. I have the entire souvenir sheet and very happy to have it. It was for the Philippine participation at the 2008 Taipei 21st Asian International Stamp Exhibition. The first stamp (upper left) is the Philippine Eagle or Pithecophaga jefferyi -- our national bird. To read about these stamps and other stamps from the issue, click here.

These 2 stamps are from the bird definitive stamps issued by the HongKong Post on 31 December 2006. I have here the Greater Painted-Snipe or Rostratula benghalensis and the Red-whiskered Bulbul or Pycnonotus jocosus. The souvenir sheet features 12 birds (including these 2), and there were 4 high-value stamps, that can be found here. The complete set can be found here.

I'm happy to come up with many related stamps to the Singaporean stamps. Also, it's nice to know that despite most places are highly urbanized, there are still tangible efforts to raise awareness for the protection of our ecosystem, like printing beautiful birds on stamps. I think my challenge is to check out whether I have bird stamps from the west in my collection...Well, we'll see to that, until the next 'anything you wish' theme for Sunday Stamps.

~maria