Bembride Windmill

Bembridge Mill is a four-storey tower mill with a boat-shaped cap, which is winded by chain and wheel. It has four Common sails. The two pairs of millstones are driven underdrift.
Bembridge Mill was built c. 1700. It was painted by Turner in 1795. The mill was working by wind until 1913, having only been used for grinding animal feed after 1897. The mill was restored in 1935 and again in 1959, the latter restoration being funded by public subscription. In 1962 the mill was taken over by the National Trust. It has been restored and is open to the public.
Source: Wikipedia

Thanks to Tom for his holiday postcard and the special postmark of 

Bembridge Windmill :)

Sent: 11 June 2016   Received: 22 June 2016   Travelled: 11 days

Mottistone Gardens

Mottistone is a village on the Isle of Wight, located in the popular tourist area the Back of the Wight. It is located 8 Miles southwest of Newport in the southwest of the island, and is home to the National Trust's Mottistone Manor.

The Island’s only megalithic monument, the Longstone is situated nearby. The name Mottistone (the Speaker’s or pleader’s stone) almost certainly derives from the Longstone. 

Source: Wikipedia

Thanks very much to Tom who sent this lovely card from his holiday

in Isle of Wight and for the special stamp of Mottistone Manor too!

Sent: 10 June 2016   Received: 21 June 2016   Travelled: 11 days

Highest Postbox of Malaysia

Yippee! Another special postmarked card from Sabah, this time from the

top of Mt Kinabalu! Thanks very much to Anny for braving the long steep 

hike to Laban Rata and Pendant Hut :) On the stamps there's a special Mt Kinabalu

outline but it's a bit hidden by the flowers and not very clear, all the same very excited to

get this card!

Sent: 13 June 2016   Received: 14 June 2016   Travelled: 1 day

Vulcan, Canada

Vulcan is a town in the prairies of southern Alberta, Canada, within Vulcan County. It is located on Highway 23, midway between the cities of Calgary and Lethbridge. The population of the town was 1,836 in 2011.

Vulcan was named by a surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway after the Roman God of Fire – Vulcan. Originally, all the streets of Vulcan were named after gods and goddesses of the classical world such as Juno, Mars, and Jupiter. The community was incorporated as a village on December 23, 1912 and then as a town on June 15, 1921. In July 1927, a major tornado destroyed many homes and the new curling rink in the town. That tornado was made famous when a photograph of it approaching Vulcan was used for the "tornado" article in Encyclopædia Britannica.

The town's name has brought some attention that has helped it become a tourist attraction. In the Star Trek television and feature film series it is the name of the homeworld of Spock and his fellow Vulcans.

Capitalizing on this coincidence, the town has built a Star Trek–themed tourist station (the Tourism and Trek Station), which provides tourist information, displays Star Trek memorabilia, provides unique photo opportunities, and allows visitors to participate in The Vulcan Space Adventure virtual reality game. Nearby, a replica of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek V has been mounted on a pedestal which includes writing from Trek alien languages like Klingon. The town has also created space-themed murals and signs, and hosts an annual community-wide Star Trek convention known as "Spock Days". This convention attracts hundreds of Star Trek fans from around the world. In 2013, the TrekCetera Star Trek museum opened in Vulcan. A plaque commemorates a Star Trek postage stamp issued by Canada Post in 2016, which was unveiled in Vulcan and which features Spock.

Source: Wikipedia

Yippee! A card from Vulcan! Thanks very much to Rob and Anaik who made

a special trip to Vulcan for the Commemorative Star Trek issue and the

amazing Spock Vulcan Postmark!! 

Sent: 5 May 2016    Received: 25 May 2016  Travelled:  20 days

Pulau Layang Layang,Spratly Islands

Swallow Reef, known as Pulau Layang-Layang  in Malaysia, Danwan Jiao  in China, Celerio in the Philippines and Đá Hoa Lau in Vietnam, is an oceanic atoll of the Spratly Islands administered by Malaysia which is situated approximately 300 km northwest of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Swallow Reef had an original land area of approximately 6.2 hectares (15 acres), but with reclaimed land now covers 35 hectares (86 acres), measuring over 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long and 200 m (656 ft) wide.

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has maintained a presence on the reef since 1983, but as with all of the Spratly Islands, the ownership is disputed, and it is also claimed by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Vietnam. The Philippines does not lay claim to Swallow Reef.
Layang Layang is situated in very deep waters with the drop off outside the island's reef falling away to approximately 2000 metres. Given its location in the middle of nowhere, the ocean waters are clear and unpolluted. Deep water marine species such as Hammerhead sharks visit this location. Whale Sharks also frequent the atoll. The corals are in pristine condition and with no fishing permitted, the fish life is abundant.
Source: Wikipedia and Wikitravel

Special thanks to Arhnue for the special card sent from the deepest underwater

post office of Malaysia, (40metres deep!) You can see the Special Postmark

on the card above :D

Sent: 18 May 2016    Received: 23 May 2016   Travelled: 5 days

Christmas Island

Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean, comprising the island of the same name. It has a population of 2,072 residents, who live mainly in settlements on the northern tip of the island, including Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver City, Poon Saan, and Drumsite. Around two-thirds of the island's population are Malaysian Chinese, with smaller numbers of ethnic Malays and whites. Several languages are in use, including English, Malay, and various Chinese dialects, while Buddhism is the primary religion, followed by three-quarters of the population.

The island was discovered on Christmas Day (25 December) 1643, but only settled in the late 19th century. Its geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of interest to scientists and naturalists. 63% of its 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi) is an Australian national park. There exist large areas of primary monsoonal forest. Phosphate, deposited originally as guano, has been mined on the island for many years.

Source: Wikipedia

Yay! This card was a lottery I won from the Christmas Island Tourism page.

I was happy to get a card showing the famous Red Crabs and also with the great 

crabby postmark on the card :D

Sent: 18 Sept 2014   Received: 13 October 2014   Travelled: 25 days

Hogsmeade, Universal Studios

Thanks to Chaela,who sent this card from Hogsmeade, for the swap!

Look at the awesome postmark! 

Sent: 26 September 2014   Received: 15 October 2014  Travelled: 19 days

Four Nation Stamp issue meetup

Yippee! Thanks to Khor , Libby and the rest of the postcrossers for this

meetupp postcard :D The stamps feature the Traditional Costumes of

four nations - Singapore , Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Sent: 5 December 2015   Received: 10 December 2015   Travelled: 5 days

Snoopy from the Philatelic Museum

I was chatting with a friend from Singapore who had recently received

my Train postcard. He mentioned the beautiful Christmas cancellations and

I was really surprised that he sent me this XXXL Snoopy card with the

special postmark on Christmas day!! Snoopy is currently on

exhibition at the Philatelic Museum as mentioned previously on the 

Postcrossing blog. If you send a Snoopy card to them, you'll get 

a Snoopy in return. Unfortunately I do not have any Snoopy to send so

so this card is double joy for me.Xie Xie Jia Ming!

Sent: 25 December 2015   Received: 12 January 2016   Travelled 18 days

Laos postbox

Thanks to KKKhor for this beautiful postbox card and First Day Pictorial

mark for the Traditional Dance Stamp issue. 

Sent: 3 February 2016   Received: 10 February 2016   Travelled: 7 days

Hong Kong aerial view

Photography by Edmond Chan

Thank you Haley from PostcardUnited for this great view!

Sent: 28 Sept 2015   Received: 9 Oct 2015   Travelled: 11 days

Bremen meetup

Yay!! another meetup postcard for my collection, held on 19.09.15 in Bremen

Thank you Barbel for this nice card, hope you all had a nice time at the meetup.

Love the really clear Bremen postmark!

Sent: 21 September 2015   Received: 9 Oct    Travelled: 18 days

Ipoh Town Hall

The Old Town of Ipoh is west of the Kinta River. There is a vibrant commercial district with many historical 'shop-houses' centred around Leech Street. Other notable features include:

Ipoh railway station in neo-classical/Edwardian Baroque style nicknamed the "Taj Mahal of Ipoh".
Ipoh Town Hall, an Edwardian Baroque municipal building located across the road from the Railway Station.
Padang Ipoh or Ipoh Field is on Jalan S.P. Seenivasagam. The field is surrounded by historic buildings that feature classic colonial architecture, including the mock-Tudor style Ipoh Club, FMS Bar, HSBC Building and the St Michael's Institution secondary school.
The Anglo-Chinese School, Ipoh, officially named SMK Methodist (ACS), is located along Lahat Road.
Source: Wikipedia

Another big thank you to Jesse for this travelogue through postcards. This postcard has 

is rather special and has a rather cool story as he met the stamp and First Day Cover guru, 

Mr Khor , on the day of this new stamp issue hence the First Day Pictorial Postmark.

awesome!!

Sent: 15 September 2015   Received: 21 September 2015   Travelled: 6 days

Myanmar

YAY!!!! Finally a hot air balloon postcard from
Myanmar! I always knew there would be such a
card ever since I found out they had hot air balloon tourism :p
Thanks so much to Matthew for this awesome find and look at the cool postmark!
Sent:11 May 2015   Received: 19 May 2015
Travelled: 8 days

South Georgia

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 167.4 kilometres long and 1.4 to 37 km wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 520 kilometres southeast of South Georgia.The total land area of the territory is 3,903 square kilometres.

There is no native population on the islands; the present inhabitants are the British Government Officer, Deputy Postmaster, scientists, and support staff from the British Antarctic Survey who maintain scientific bases at Bird Island and at the capital, King Edward Point, as well as museum staff at nearby Grytviken.

Wow! Another surprise card from a remote corner of the world!

the 160th territory in my postcard collection. Super thanks to Ruben for this postcard!

Sent: 1 January 2015    Received: 26 February 2015   Travelled: 56 days

Unfair advantage

Erin Kelso - Unfair Advantage From: Fantasy Art:30 postcards

Excerpt: In her entry for the penultimate round of he Last Man Standing art competition

on ConceptArt.org, Erin is hinting at the beginning of a story, the start of a journey,

just part of a fairytale of a young girl and her dragon.

Yay thanks to Amanda for this neat postcard with a fancy postmark from 

Loveland,Colorado, note the hearts and mountain postmark. Although I wonder about the sticker on the card,wonder if I should leave it on or not >.>

Received: 26 February 2015

Panda post

Thanks to Darren for this card with Panda cancellation from Panda Post office in Chengdu.

Sent: 28 January 2015   Received: 24 February 2015   Travelled: 27 days

Tuk Tuk from Thailand

Tuk Tuk in Wat Phra Singh by Werachai Sookruay

Wat Phra Singh houses an important Buddha statue: the Phra Buddha Sihing which gives the temple its name. The origins of this statue are unknown but, according to legend, it was based on the lion of Shakya, a statue since lost which used to be housed in the Mahabodhi Temple of Bodh Gaya (India). The Phra Buddha Sihing statue is supposed to have been brought, via Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka), to Ligor (present day Nakhon Si Thammarat and from there, via Ayutthaya, to Chiang Mai. There are two more Buddha statues in Thailand which are claimed to be the Phra Buddha Sihing: one is housed in Wat Phra Mahathat in the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat and another in the Bangkok National Museum.

It is alleged that the head of the statue had been stolen in 1922. The possibility remains that the present statue (or maybe only the head) is a copy.

Every year, during the Songkran festival, the statue is taken from wihan Lai Kham and carried through the streets of Chiang Mai in a religious procession during which the spectators honour the statue by sprinkling water over it.

This beautiful postcard from Thailand, travelled internationally to Hong Kong 

before being posted from the USA by my travelling photographer friend Johnathan. 

The special postmark seen here is for the 2014 October Energy Action month. 

Sent: 11 October 2014   Received: 24 October 2014   Travelled: 13 days

Helgoland, Germany

Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.

In addition to German, the local population, who are ethnic Frisians, speak the Heligolandic dialect of the North Frisian language called Halunder. Heligoland was formerly called Heyligeland, or "holy land", possibly due to the island's long association with the god Forseti.

Heligoland is located 46 kilometres off the German coastline and consists of two islands: the populated triangular 1 km2 main island (Hauptinsel) to the west, and the Düne ("dune", Heligolandic: de Halem) to the east. The former is what the place name "Heligoland" normally is used to refer to. Düne is somewhat smaller at 0.7 km2, lower, and surrounded by sand beaches. It is not permanently inhabited, but is today the location of Heligoland's airstrip.

Thanks to Tom for this really pretty map card of Helgoland, which comes with an 

added bonus, a special postmark of Helgoland's famous landmark, Lange Anna!

Sent:15 December 2014   Received: 8 January 2015   Travelled: 24 days

Lublin, Poland

 Lublin is not only the biggest city in eastern Poland, but also an important culture core city. Since accession of Poland into the EU, Lublin has been called the "Gate to the East". Since then, many important international events have taken place here, involving Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Russian and Belarussian artists, researchers and politicians. Lublin connects the West with the East. Even frescos at the Holy Trinity Chapel in Lublin are a mixture of Catholic motifs with eastern Russian-Byzantine styles.

Wow a beautiful cancellation from a new city to my Pole collection!

Thanks to Chris for the special cancellation! The postmark celebrates

the first day of the flight connection from Lublin to Frankfurt.

Sent: 3 July 2014   Received: 23 July 2014   Received: 20 days