Canada- cover with surprising gift!

Taiwan - Taiwan Sculpture Postage Stamp FDC

Over the course of history, Taiwan sculpture has evolved as a result of various factors—both domestic and foreign—involving the inheritance, convergence, and fusion of different cultural elements. To introduce the beauty of Taiwan sculpture, Chunghwa Post will issue a souvenir sheet on “Water Buffaloes” by Huang Tu-shui. The souvenir sheet, which has a denomination of NT$25, is designed by Delta Design Corporation and printed and embossed in color offset by Cardon Enterprise Co., Ltd. The sheet is embossed and will be released on June 22, 2010.

Huang Tu-shui (1895-1930) was Taiwan’s first contemporary sculptor and a pioneer in fusing western and traditional sculptural elements. “Water Buffaloes,” one of Huang’s masterpieces and his most representative work, is featured on this miniature sheet. “Water Buffaloes” depicts a scene in a banana grove at the height of the summer: a refreshing breeze lightly sways the banana leaves as five water buffaloes mill about in a pasture. There are two naked shepherd boys: one on the back of a water buffalo, with a bamboo rod in hand and a bamboo hat on the tip of the rod, and another standing in front of the calf, caressing it with his

hands. There is another boy, who is wearing a bamboo hat who is wearing a bamboo hat and sitting on the back of a buffalo. The air and posture of the boy touching the calf gives the work a sense of peace and stability, and the intermingling of the buffaloes provides a sense of balance. The piece vividly records a simple rural scene characteristic of early Taiwan. The design on the margins of the sheet features key parts of the sculpture, which are blown up and given a lighter hue. The sculpture is now on display in the Guangfu Auditorium of Zhongshan Hall in Taipei City.

Mongolia - Postcard

Turkey - 150th Anniversary of Sile Lighthouse

Taiwan - Shisanhang museum of archaeology

Poland - 750 YEARS OF THE TOWN TCZEW

Tczew [tt​͡ʂɛf] (German: Dirschau (help·info); Kashubian: Dërszewò) is a town on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 60,279 inhabitants (June 2009). It is an important railway junction with a classification yard dating to the Prussian Eastern Railway (German: Preußische Ostbahn). The city is known for its attractive old town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew, damaged during World War II.

It is the capital of Tczew County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously a town in Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–1998).

From Wikipedia

Hong Kong- Interrelated Locality Cover "Characteristic Streets in Hong Kong"

Hong Kong, a dynamic metropolis in every sense, is also a place brimming with unique local culture. This set of special stamps features six characteristic streets in Hong Kong to highlight the fascinating confluence of old and new, East and West in this city.

The set contains six stamps of different designs in three denominations.

Pottinger Street ($1.40) - The street was originally built from Queen's Road Central up to Hollywood Road. Because of its steep slope, the street was paved entirely with stone slabs, forming steps in an undulating pattern to make it easy for people to go up and down and to drain away stormwater. It is hence also called "Stone Slab Street".

* This cover was sent from the nearest post office related to the stamp : Wyndham Street (WYN)

Nathan Road ($1.40) - Stretching from Tsim Sha Tsui in the south all the way up to Boundary Street in Mong Kok, Nathan Road is one of the busiest streets in Hong Kong. It runs through the hustling and bustling Yau Tsim Mong District, lit up like a kaleidoscope by neon signs of shops, hotels, shopping arcades and restaurants along the way.

* This cover was sent from the nearest post office related to the stamp : Mongkok (MGK)

Hollywood Road ($2.40) - Alias "Antique Street", Hollywood Road is lined with antique shops that lend an air of nostalgic elegance. In this treasure trove for antique lovers, a wide range of thrilling items covering ceramics and jade, silk and embroidery, blackwood furniture, paintings and calligraphy are waiting for discerning buyers.

* This cover was sent from the nearest post office related to the stamp : Sheung Wan (SWN)

Temple Street ($2.40) - For a real taste of Hong Kong culture, there is no better place than Temple Street, the street named after Tin Hau Temple in Yau Ma Tei. Dubbed "People's Night Market" for its all-time bargains, Temple Street comes alive when the city lights up at dusk. Flocks of visitors linger around open-air stalls offering inexpensive goods, local culinary delights or fortune-telling, and they also enjoy performances of Chinese opera.

* This cover was sent from the nearest post office related to the stamp : Kowloon Central (KCL)

Des Voeux Road West ($3) - Our famous "Dried Seafood Street", Des Voeux Road West is a traditional marketplace for ginseng products and herbs as well as dried seafood. Clustered with shops selling products such as dried abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin and fish maw as well as Chinese herbal medicines and tonics, the street swarms with locals and visitors shopping for festive goodies when the Lunar New Year is drawing near.

* This cover was sent from the nearest post office related to the stamp : Sai Ying Pun (SYP)

Stanley Market ($3) - Encompassing Stanley New Street, Stanley Market Road and Stanley Main Street, Stanley Market is a popular tourist attraction in Southern District on Hong Kong Island. Apart from an interesting array of shops and stalls selling clothing and accessories, Chinese paintings and calligraphy, handicrafts and local souvenirs, the place is dotted with bars and restaurants offering a fine selection of world cuisines, making it an ideal choice for leisure travel.

* This cover was sent from the nearest post office related to the stamp : Stanley (STY)

China - Postcard "Grand Parade for the 50th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China"

Postcard - China

Russia - Historical-cultural heritage of Russia. Valaam.

Valaam, also known historically by the Finnish name Valamo, is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. The total area of its more than 50 islands is 36 km². The largest island is also called Valaam. It is best known as the site of the 14th century Valaam Monastery and for its natural beauty.^[1] In the 12th century, the islands were a part of the Novgorod Republic. In the 17th century, they were captured by Sweden during the Time of Troubles, but Russia reconquered them less than a century later. When the Grand Duchy of Finland was set up in the early 19th century as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, Alexander I of Russia made Valaam a part of Finland. In 1917, Valaam became a part of newly independent Finland, but it was acquired by the USSR after the Winter War and Continuation War.

The name of the island is from the Finno-Ugric word valamo, which means the high, mountain, ground. The climate and natural history of the island are unique because of its position on Lake Ladoga. Spring begins at the end of March and a typical summer on Valaam consists of 30-35 sunny days, which is more than on the mainland. The average temperature in July is 17 °C. The winter and snow arrive in early December. In the middle of February the ice road to the nearest city of Sortavala (42 km) is traversable. The average temperature of February is minus 8 °C.

More than 480 species of the plants grow on the island, many of which have been cultivated by monks. The island is covered by coniferous woods, about 65% of which are pine. The island was visited repeatedly by emperors Alexander I, Alexander II, and other members of the imperial family. Other famous visitors include Tchaikovsky and Mendeleyev.

The island is permanently inhabited by monks and families. In 1999, there were about 600 residents on the main island; including army service personnel, restoration workers, guides and monks.^[2] There is a kindergarten, an arts and sports venue, a school and a medical center. The community on Valaam at the moment has no official administrative status. The lay inhabitants, (Валаамцы — Valaamtsy), want their settlement to receive the official status of a rural settlement that will enable them to participate in municipal elections. However the leaders of the monastery are opposed to this.

During the summer, the main island can be reached by tour boats which leave St. Petersburg at night and arrive at the island the following morning.^[3]

North Korea - Newly received

In this mail enclosed New stamp information from North korea.

We can easily seen that it is hard to get enough resources for them. The envelope used is th product for16 years ago! And the laser printer is newly introduced, before is using dot- matrix printer.

25th Asian International Stamp Exhibition "Bangkok 2010" ( Overprint)

Unoffical Visit of the Great Leader Kim Jong Il to the People's Republic of China.
(Well, they need to issue a set of stamp for it.... as China's is the biggest help of their government!)
2010 FIFA World Cup - South Africa


Important News!
As the DPRK authority introduced the new currency last year at November, postage rate has been changed, and in this issue of Korea Stamp News, announced that stamps overprinted with new denominations were enforced for a period of time. But I cannot tell the differences of old and new rates==

Series: Hongkong post offices and their cancellations. (1)

As an Asian international city, Hong Kong has it's one of the most concentrate post office network, not less than their neighbour cities. Their are more than 125 regular post offices in the city... and when exhibitions, their shall be temporary post offices opened.

125 offices means that their are more than 125 different kind of cancellations, excluding those who were being used in the mail processing centre, like the International Mail Center (IMC) and Air Mail Center(AMC). On the other hand, their are also philatelic cancells used by different offices. Thus, it would be hard enough to collect all the cancellations used in the city.

From this post onward, I am going to upload some of the cancellations collected.

Series: Hongkong post offices and their cancellations. (1)

Yau Yat Chuen Post Office (YYT)

Kowloon City (KCY)
Ho Man Tin (HMT)
To Kwa Wan (TKW)

Tsim Sha Tsui (TST)

Russia - Monuments of science and technology. Watches.

Russia - The 500th anniversary of birth of Ivan Feodorov.

Russia - The 300th anniversary of Cyrillic alphabet – first civil alphabet.

The Cyrillic script (pronounced /sɨˈrɪlɪk/, Bulgarian: Кирилица [kɨˈrɪlɪtsa], Russian: Кири́ллица [kʲɪˈrʲilʲɪʦə]) is an alphabet developed in the 9th century^[1] in Bulgaria, and used in the Slavic national languages of Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Ukrainian, and in the non-Slavic languages of Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Tuvan, and Mongolian. It also was used in past languages of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Siberia.

The Cyrillic alphabet is also known as azbuka, derived from the old names of the first two letters of most variant Cyrillic alphabets. With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official alphabet of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek alphabets.

Cyrillic is one of the two alphabets (together with Glagolitic) used in the Church Slavonic language, especially the Old Church Slavonic variant (see Early Cyrillic alphabet). Hence, expressions such as “И is the tenth letter of the Cyrillic alphabet” typically denote that meaning; moreover, not every Cyrillic-based language uses every letter of the alphabet.

` From Wikipedia

Greece

Russia - Issue by “Europa” programme. Children' books

Russia- The XXI Olympic Winter Games.

The XXI Olympic Winter Games will be held on February 12-28, 2010, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The emblem of the Games has become a stylized figure of inukshuk - stone sculpture in the form of human being. The emblem was given the name “Ilanaak”, which from the local Indian dialect means "friend".

The stamp with the snowflake background depicts a stylized medal with the logo XXI Olympic Winter Games.

Russia- 50th anniversary of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.

Peoples' Friendship University of Russia - one of the largest and most prestigious universities of Moscow, it has a status of the University of the Federal Level, one of the five best universities of Russia. Peoples' Friendship University was established by the Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers on February 5, 1960, and on February 5, 1992 according to the Government's decision it was renamed into Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The special feature of the PFUR is its multinationality: among students, graduate students and trainees – there are representatives of 450 nationalities and ethnic groups from more than 131 countries.