The Caspian turtle

The Caspian turtle or Striped-neck terrapin (Mauremys caspica) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae, living of the eastern Mediterranean region. It ranges from southwestern former USSR and central Iran to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Israel and Lebanon, northward through Turkey to Bulgaria, and through Cyprus, Crete, and the Ionian Peninsula to former Yugoslavia. This is a tan to blackish, medium-sized (to 25 cm), semi-aquatic turtle. Its low, oval carapace has a slight medial keel (better developed in juveniles) and a smooth unserrated marginal border, which is slightly upturned and tapered above the tail. A pair of low lateral keels are present on the pleural scutes of hatchlings but these become lower with age and disappear completely in adults. Females are generally larger than males, have flat plastra and shorter tails with the vent under the rim of the carapace. The smaller males have concave plastra and longer, thicker tails with the vent beyond the rim of the carapace. This Maxi card was given by Merja.

Aphrodite the Goddess of Cyprus

Who does not know about Aphrodite? Here I won’t be telling you stories about the Goddess, but we’ll see what sculptor’s thought she looked like. I have these three cards to illustrate what I mean.

The statue at top right is that of Aphrodite displayed in the Archeological Museum in Nicosia.

The statues shown at top left are of Aphrodite of Milos. She was named after the island of Milos where the statue was found. It could have been made ariund 130-120 BC by an unknown sculptor. Presently in the Louvre Museum in Paris. According to Greek mythology the Goddess of love and beauty was born in Cyprus.

The card below has the photo of Aphrodite, Pan and Cupid. It was found on the Island of Delos. It was made around 100 BC. It is presently situated in the National Museum of Athens. According to Greek mythology ”She rose out of the sea foam, and for this they called her Aphrodite”.

Thank you Merja for showing me these priceless statues.

Marina Gaviota in Varadero

Marina Gaviota is located near the Varadero international airport, which is only 30 kilometres away, and approximately 150 kilometres from Havana airport. You know Havana and the cigars made famous by that name.

In the marina you will find all necessary services for tourists: sailing, showers, laundry, shop, diving centre, and of course the excellent restaurant KIKE-KCHO, which is located on the calm waters of the marina, which offers all variety of seafood. The navigation area extends to the east towards the Marina Cayo Santa Maria, in this journey, one finds many keys such as Cayo Blanc, Bay of Cadiz, Cayo Hycacal, etc, coral reefs also complete a beautiful picture which one can hardly forget. Lying on the beach in the shadows of the palm trees is indeed an unforgettable experience. Alexis of Cuba de Santiago sent this lovely card to me.

Changdeokgung Palace Complex

In the early 15th century, the King Taejong ordered the construction of a new palace at an auspicious site. A Bureau of Palace Construction was set up to create the complex, consisting of a number of official and residential buildings set in a garden that was cleverly adapted to the uneven topography of the 58-ha site. The result is an exceptional example of Far Eastern palace architecture and design, blending harmoniously with the surrounding landscape. The Changdeogung Palace Complex is an outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design, exceptional for the way in which the buildings are integrated into and harmonized with the natural setting, adapting to the topography and retaining indigenous tree cover.

In the early years of the Joseon dynasty in Korea, the capital moved many times between Gaeseong and Hanyang (present-day Seoul). In 1405 the King Taejong (1400-18), moved the capital back to Hanyang. Considering the existing Gyeongbokgung Palace to be inauspicious, he ordered a new palace to be built, which he named Changdeokgung (Palace of Illustrious Virtue). This palace occupies an irregular rectangle of 57.9 ha, north of Seoul at the foot of Mount Eungbongsan, the main geomantic guardian mountain.

Thank you Rob for this lovely card.

Princess Victoria of Sweden

I just received this lovely picture of Princess Victoria who became a Mother just the other day on Thursday (See my post just below this one). Merja sent me this lovely photograph.

It's a princess! Female heir born in Sweden

Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first child Thursday, a baby girl who will one day become queen, prompting banner headlines and 21-gun salutes across the country. King Carl XVI Gustaf says his first grandchild — who is second in line to the Swedish throne — will be named Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary. The king said Friday that the princess will receive the title Duchess of Ostergotland, a province in the country's southeast. The news gave the royal family a respite from the negative headlines that have dogged King Carl XVI Gustaf, Victoria's father, after a 2010 book made scandalous claims about his private life. The child, was born at 4:26 a.m. (0326 GMT), said Victoria's husband, Prince Daniel. She was 20 inches (51 cms) long and weighed 7.23 pounds (3.28 kg). Both the crown princess and the baby are "doing very well," an emotional Daniel told reporters who had waited for the announcement all night at the Karolinska University Hospital in the Stockholm suburb of Solna.

I believe there is a festive atmosphere even in neighbouring Finland in honour of this momentous event. The picture on the card shown in this post sent to me by Pia, shows King Carl Gustaf with Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip admiring little Pricess Madeline in the pram. This photo was taken sometime in 1982.

Umpqua River Light

The Umpqua River Light is a lighthouse on the Oregon Coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Umpqua River on Winchester Bay, in Douglas County, Oregon., the first Umpqua River Light was built in 1855 and lit in 1857. Built along the river channel, the original light was vulnerable to seasonal flooding. This led to yearly erosion of the sand embankment of the light. In October 1863, the building's foundations had become too unstable and the structure soon collapsed. However, before its collapse, the Light House Board had foreseen the need to build a new light at the location. However, it was 1888 before Congress approved of a construction of a new light.

Construction started on the new light in 1892, and it was first lit in 1894. Built at the same time as Heceta Head Light, it was built from the same plans and is virtually identical to its more northern sister. Unlike its predecessor, the new light had several advantages over the original light. Built 100 feet (30 m) above the river, the new light was safe from flooding. This was partly due to the Light House Board's insistence that ships be able to plot a course based on visible lighthouses. The original light was not visible at sea and was only usable as an aid to ships approaching the river. The new light used a clockwork mechanism to rotate the Fresnel lens, and was eventually automated in 1966. The rotation mechanism served in the light for 89 years before it finally broke down and was removed. The Coast Guard, in charge of the light at this point, wanted to replace the mechanism with a new one. However, strong public outcry forced those plans to be aborted, and in 1985, the old mechanism was returned to its position after being fully restored. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Maria sent me this card.

Lighthouse in Tunisia

This is a Lighthouse on the coast of Tunisia. But, just look at the perfect setting. Thank you Maria for this lovely picture postcard.

The European Union of 25

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union or confederation of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by six countries in 1958. In the intervening years the EU has grown in size by the accession of new member states, and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993. The latest amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force in 2009.

Since then, the eurozone has increased to encompass 17 countries. This maxi card and the stamp on it with the special postmark commemorates the event on 16th April 2003. These 10 countries signed the Treaty of Adhesion in Athens.2004, when the the EU saw its biggest enlargement to date when Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the Union joined the other 15 States of the EU. This maxi card sent to me by Merja was released on 1.5.2004.

The Portland Observatory

Here's some more nautical lore.The Portland Observatory, built in 1807 at Portland, Maine, is the last surviving maritime signal tower in the United States. Using both a telescope and signal flags, two-way communication between ship and shore was possible several hours before an incoming vessel reached the docks.

Portland has a deep harbor sheltered by numerous islands. Ships entering the harbor are not directly visible from the wharfs, which created problems for merchants trying to prepare for the arrival of cargoes. This problem was solved in 1807 when Captain Lemuel Moody organized the construction of an observatory on Portland's Munjoy Hill, visible from both the open ocean and the wharfs. During the War of 1812, the observatory was used as

a watch tower.The 86-foot (26 m) tall observatory (7 stories) is octagonal and lighthouse-shaped, with a fieldstone base, and stands 222 feet (68 m) above sea level. The observatory's 'lantern' (cupola) included a P & J Dolland Achromatic Refracting Telescope, which could identify ships 30 miles (48 km) to sea. That telescope disappeared from the observatory in 1939. Maria gave me this nice card.

Swan of Finland

Suomen Joutsen (also popularly known as the “Swan of Finland), is a three-masted, steel hull, full rigged ship. She was built in 1902 in St. Nazaire, France to serve in the trade between Atlantic and Pacific ports. In 1930, she was bought by the Government of Finland to serve as a Finnish Navy training ship. Before World War II she made eight long ocean voyages. From 1956 she was a stationary Seamen's School for the Finnish Merchant Navy. Since 1991, she has been a museum ship owned by City of Turku, Finland.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural centre of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,398,889 (2012) (up from 1,293,537 recorded in the 2002 Census), making it Russia's fourth-largest city. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was known as Sverdlovsk after the Bolshevik party leader Yakov Sverdlov.

Soon after the Russian Revolution, on July 17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their children Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia (her death has been under dispute ever since), and Tsarevich Alexei were murdered by the Bolsheviks at the Ipatiev House in this city. Other members of the Romanov family were killed at Alapayevsk the day after. In 1977, the Ipatiev House was demolished by order of Boris Yeltsin, to prevent it from being used as a rallying location for monarchists. He later became the first President of Russia and represented the people at the funeral of the Tsar in 1998.

This card sent to me by Lisa shows photographs of some of the city’s theatre’s and museums in this well-known city. Especially the Opera House. Yekaterinburg is famous for its theaters, among which are some very popular theatre companies: the Yekaterinburg Academic Ballet and Opera Company, the Sverdlovsk Academic Theater of Musical Comedy, the Yekaterinburg Academic Dramatic Theater, the Yekaterinburg Theater for Young Spectators, the Volkhonka (a popular chamber theatre), and the Kolyada Theater (a chamber theatre founded by Russian playwright, producer and actor Nikolai Kolyada). Yekaterinburg is the centre of New Drama, a movement of the contemporary Russian playwrights Nikolai Kolyada, Vasily Sigarev, Konstantin Kostenko, the Presnyakov brothers, and Oleg Bogayev. Yekaterinburg is often called the capital of contemporary dance for a number of famous dance companies residing in the city: the Kipling, the Provincial Dances, the Tantstrest, and a special department of contemporary dance at the Yekaterinburg University of Humanities.

Famous Tall Ships

Thank you Karoly for this nice card. It’s indeed a ‘Who’s Who’ of famous Tall Ships.

The Gorch Fock I (ex Tovarishch, ex Gorch Fock) is a German three-mast barque, the first of a series built as school ships for the German Reichsmarine in 1933. She was taken as war reparations by the USSR after World War II and renamed Tovarishch. After a short period under the Ukrainian flag in the 1990s and a prolonged stay in British ports due to lack of funds for necessary repairs, the ship was acquired by sponsors and sailed to her original home port of Stralsund, where her original name of Gorch Fock was restored on November 29, 2003. She is a museum ship, and extensive repairs were carried out in 2008. The Federal German government built a replacement training ship, the Gorch Fock (1958), which is still in service.

Many regard Mir as the fastest Class A sail training ship in the world. Since 1996, she won the Tall Ship Races five times! Since 1990, up to 60 trainees of all ages are welcome on board to sail along with the Russian students of the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mir's full complement of sails is 26; she is sailed with a crew of 200 but can be sailed with only 30. The ship's crewmembers and cadets have acquired a lot of friends in many European and some American ports, which makes every arrival a joyful experience!

Alexander von Humboldt is a German ship originally built in 1906 by the German shipyard AG Weser at Bremen as Reserve Sonderburg. She was operated throughout the North and Baltic Seas until being retired in 1986. Subsequently she was converted into a three masted barque by the German shipyard Motorwerke Bremerhaven and was re-launched in 1988 as Alexander von Humboldt.

The STS Sedov, formerly the Magdalene Vinnen II (1921–1936) and the Kommodore Johnsen (–1948), is a 4-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation. Originally built as a German cargo ship, the Sedov is today a sail training vessel, training cadets from the universities of Murmansk, Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk. She participates regularly in the big maritime international events as a privileged host and has also been a regular participant in the Tall Ships' Races.

Great Horror Movie Heroes

This one is for the lovers of horror movies. The fmous three featured in the three maxi cards shown here, were all masters of their craft. Hemant from the USA sent me these cards.

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956), commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played and achieved cinematic immortality as the world’s most famous vampire - Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his career.

William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor. Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939). His popularity following Frankenstein was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or "Karloff the Uncanny." His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch, as well as the narrator, in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). As Frankenstein’s monster, Boris Karloff was able to convey an impressive range of emotions without speaking.

Lon Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor during the age of silent films. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney is known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces." As the horribly disfigured Eric, who lived below the Paris Opera House, Lon Chaney terrified audiences everywhere.

Kimon the Athenian

Further to my post on this famous Athenian on 15.11.2011, Merja sent me another nice card from Larnaca in Cyprus, showing the bust of Kimon the Athenian. Kimon was an Athenian general and statesman, a member of the distinguished Philaid family and the son of the great Miltiades, the victorious general at Marathon. He helped defeat the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. He cleared the Persians from the eastern Mediterranean and died in Cyprus in 449 BC leading a naval expedition against Persia.

Aleksis Kivi

Pia gave we this maxicard commemorating Aleksis Kivi, originally Alexis Stenvall, (1834-1872), was a Finnish national author and poet, creator of modern Finnish literature. His major novel, Seitsemän veljestä "The seven brothers" (1870), the classic of Finnish culture, has been translated into several languages. Aleksis Kivi was born in Nurmijärvi on the 10th of October 1834 to a rather poor family with three sons. His father Eerik Johan Stenvall was a tailor but a relatively educated man, his mother Annastiina, came from a smith's family. In 1846 Kivi went to Helsinki to continue his education and studied Swedish, which was a necessity for matriculation and for further studies.

In the house where Kivi was living, the master had a wide library and soon Kivi got to know works from authors such as Shakespeare, Cervantes and Byron. Kivi fell in love with his masters daughter Albina Palmquist, who later moved to Denmark. This relationship probably gave influence to Kivi's female characters in several of his plays. Kivi finished his secondary school in 1857 and was admitted to the University of Helsinki in 1859. The classics of literature and theatre were his interests. The same year he made his first play, Kullervo, which was based on the Kalevala, The Finnish National Epic.

In Helsinki, Kivi made friends with leading Finnish speaking personalities such as J.V. Snellman, Elias Lönnrot, Fredrik Cygnaeus and Emil Nervander, who were also his supporters, Snellman also economically. Kivi wasn't very keen on studying, and spent more time writing and drinking than in university. After winning a competition held by the Finnish Literature Society, for his play Kullervo (1859), he had enough money to continue writing in Nurmijärvi and in Siuntio. Charlotta Lönnqvist, who is considered his biggest supporter, helped him along and during that period he published 12 plays, a collection of poems and a play Nummisuutarit "The Heath Cobblers", which won the State prize in 1865. Kivi's friend and supporter, theatre director Kaarlo Bergbom, made many of his plays known to the public.

This epoch-making period, which started in 1863, dedicated Kivi to his mission in life as an author. The novel Seitsemän veljestä "Seven brothers" published in 1870, received scathing criticism from the Finnish professor August Ahlqvist, who characterized the book as a blot on the name of Finnish literature, from its realism, humor and language, which he found too offending and vulgar. With this critic and disparagement, Ahlqvist totally blackened his reputation, and became a symbolic example of oppressiveness against artistic freedom. For Kivi's susceptible nature, this critic was a prime cause for his mental collapse later on.

The last years of his life, apart from his constant financial difficulties and breakdown, Kivi also suffered from schizophrenia, and received treatment in the mental hospital of Lapinlahti in Helsinki. Aleksis Kivi died at the young age of 38 on December 31st, 1872 in Tuusula, where his brother had taken him to spend his last months. The statue of Aleksis Kivi is erected in front of the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki, next to the railway station.

On the stamp issued on 10.10.1984 has been printed “The Song of My Heart”, a poem by Alexis Kivi.

China Town in Singapore

Singapore's Chinatown is the traditional Chinese quarters of town, and while the entire city is largely Chinese these days the area does retain some of its own charm. The area is also known as Niu Che Shui in Chinese and Kreta Ayer in Malay, both names meaning "bullock cart water", a reference to the carts that used to haul in drinking water.

The area between Pagoda Street and Smith Street has been tarted up considerably for tourists, but workaday Chinatown continues south and east, merging seamlessly into the Central Business District. Tanjong Pagar is the unofficial home of Singapore's gay community, with many watering holes in restored shop houses, while Club Street caters more to the expat and yuppie crowd with small, intimate eateries offering excellent (if pricey) Western fare.

. Chinatown's primary attraction is the town itself, composed as it is of restored shop houses full of strange little shops selling everything from plastic Buddha’s to dried seahorses. Wander at random and see what you can find! As an old Chinese told me, “IF you haven’t seen China town, you haven’t seen Singapore”. And that my friends are absolutely true.

• Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Towering above southern Chinatown, this four-story temple was completed only in 2007. The imposing main hall hosts a 27-foot statue of Maitreya Buddha, and the scared relic itself, reputedly one of Buddha Shakyamuni's teeth,
• Chinatown Heritage Centre, 48 Pagoda St, An excellent museum chronicling how Chinatown came to be and the privation suffered by early migrants.
• Jamae Mosque. One of Singapore's oldest mosques, built in the 1830s by Tamil Muslims in an Indian style. Note the stepped minarets outside.
• Pinnacle@Duxton Skybridge, Singapore's tallest public housing project has a 50th story viewing deck that offers some of the best city views around at a fraction of the cost of the Singapore Flyer.
• Red Dot Design Museum,
• Singapore Coin and Notes Museum, Tiny little museum tucked away across the Chinatown Heritage Centre. Managed by the Singapore Mint, it features local currency, commerative coins, a history of coinage, and the coin-making process. Not exactly a must-see, but a nice little distraction if you're in the area.
• Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore's oldest and most important Hindu temple and worth a visit for the intricately carved gopuram (statuary above the entrance), which gave adjacent "Pagoda Street" its name. This is an active temple, so take off your shoes and don't disturb the worshippers. The Thimithi fire-walking festival is held here one week before Deepavali, usually Oct/Nov.
• Thian Hock Keng Temple, The oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore, dating back to 1821, although the structure was thoroughly refurbished in 2000. The brightly colored, elaborate facade was constructed with ironwork from Scotland, tiles from England and the Netherlands, and dragon-ornamented granite pillars from China.
• Singapore City Gallery (URA Gallery), 3-storey visitor gallery with large scaled models of the entire country (ground floor) as well as the city centre (incredibly life-like), which provide good orientation of the country for first-timers. The gallery tells the history of Singapore's urban planning, various planning, design, and conservation strategies adopted to create a good living environment, sustainable development, and many others. Learn the story of Singapore's transformation from 3rd to 1st world, play games on land planning, and the expanse of land reclamation done on the island country. There are also wonderful images of old-new Singapore to browse, free walking maps to unique districts like Joo Chiat to pick up.

House of Aion

The mosaics of the House of Aion date back to the fourth century A.D and lie close to the mosaics of Dionysus and Theseus. Five mythological scenes worth seeing are "The bath of Dionysus", "Leda and the Swan", "The beauty contest between Cassiopeia and the Nereids", "Apollo and Marsyas", and the "Triumphant procession of Dionysus". The House of Aion is located in the Paphos Archaeological Park and is close to all the other attractions, such as the Paphos lighthouse and the Odeon. So far only a small part of the building has been excavated by the Polish Archaeological mission of the university of Warsaw.

House of Aion is the smallest house, discovered in 1983, which basically contains one large mosaic showing five scenes. At the top left is Leda and the swan (Zeus is disguised as the swan). In the top right corner is a picture of baby nymphs with the baby Dionysos. The middle picture shows sea nymphs in a beauty contest, being judged by Aion. In the bottom row Dionysos appears again in a triumphal procession, and the final picture shows Apollo punishing the loser of a musical duel. This lovely card was given to me by Merja.

Moscow

Lena sent me this pretty card with two views of Moscow, The one above is that of The White House, also known as the Russian White House. It is a government building in Moscow. It stands on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Construction started in 1965 and ended in 1981. Originally called The House of Soviets, it was designed by the architects Dmitry Chechulin and P. Shteller. Upon completion in 1981, the White House was used by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, which had until then held its sessions in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The Supreme Soviet of Russia remained in the building until the end of the Soviet Union, as well as during the first years of the Russian Federation. The White House was pictured on a 50 kopeck stamp in 1991, honoring the resistance to the failed coup attempt of 1991. After the end of the Soviet Union, the White House continued to serve as the seat of the Russian parliament. The White House stood damaged for some time after the 1993 crisis, and the black burns became famous, so much so that it became tradition for newlyweds to be photographed in front of its damaged facade. The reformed parliament, known thereafter by its Tsarist era title of Duma, was elected in 1994 and moved to another building on Moscow's Okhotny Ryad. The renovated White House now houses the Russian government. An inscription at the base of the tower reads, "House of the Government of the Russian Federation."

The picture below is of The Grand Triumphal Arch, which is decorated with the coats of arms from the 48 Russian provinces. To celebrate the victory over France in the war of 1812, it also includes bas-reliefs of the "Expulsion of the French". The arch was originally built in 1834, but has only been on this site since 1968. One can also see the Poklonny Hill in the background. It is a little ironic that this arch resembles the Paris Arc de Triomphe, which Napoleon built between 1806 and 1836 to celebrate his French victories.

Lighthouses in Germany

Germany has two coastlines, one facing northwest on the North Sea and the other facing northeast on the Baltic Sea. Interest in lighthouses is strong in Germany, and most of the towers are in good condition. A federal law provides blanket protection to historic lighthouses. There is concern, however, that many of the lights may be deactivated in the coming years as navigators depend less and less on them. Shown on the card are lighthouses on the North Coast.

In German, a lighthouse is a Leuchtturm ("light tower"), plural Leuchttürme. The front light is the Unterfeuer and the rear light is the Oberfeuer. Modern range lighthouses are crowned by a topmark: a large, distinctive structure that serves to mark the range clearly in the daytime. Maria sent me this card.

Merlion of Singapore

We went to the famous Fullerton Hotel and then on to the Fullerton Heritage Trail. More about the Heritage trail later. Crossing the road we sighted what we had really come for, The Merlion, a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion is used as a mascot of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

The Merlion is the most important, the most famous and the most popular tourist site in Singapore. This one near the Marina Sands is the most famous. But, there are replicas in four other places in the city. The biggest and tallest one is at a park in Sentosa Island, south of the city.

The symbol was designed by Fraser Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997 and has been its trademarked symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol. Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion appears frequently on STB-approved souvenirs.

The merlion — occurs in a number of different artistic traditions. Lions with fishtails can be found on Indian murals at Ajanta and Mathura, and on Etruscan coins of the Hellenistic period. Merlions, or ‘heraldic sea- lions’, are an established element of Western heraldry, and have been used on the coat of arms of the cities of Portsmouth and Great Yarmouth in the United Kingdom; the City of Manila; and the East India Company.

Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore

The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore's oldest Hindu temple. It is an agamic temple, built in the Dravidian style. Located at No. 244 South Bridge Road, in the downtown Chinatown district, the temple serves mainly South Indian Tamil Hindu Singaporeans in the city-state. Due to its architectural and historical significance, the temple has been gazetted a National Monument and is a major tourist attraction. Sri Mariamman Temple is managed by the Hindu Endowments Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

The Sri Mariamman Temple was founded in 1827 by Naraina Pillai, eight years after the British East India Company established a trading settlement in Singapore.

Pillai was a government clerk from Penang who arrived in Singapore with Stamford Raffles on his second visit to the island in May 1819. He went on to set up the island's first construction company. He also entered the textile trade. Pillai rapidly established himself in business and was identified as a leader of the Indian community.

Singapore Flyer

What an experience! What a view! It was really fantastic from the top of the World. Or, that is what it seemed to me when I was on The Singapore Flyer. A giant Ferris wheel if there ever was one. Located in Singapore, constructed in 2005–2008. Described by its operators as an observation wheel, it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 165 m (541 ft), making it the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, 5 m (16 ft) taller than the Star of Nanchang and 30 m (98 ft) taller than the London Eye. Situated on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre reclaimed land, it comprises a 150 m (492 ft) diameter wheel, built over a three-story terminal building which houses shops, bars and restaurants, and offers broad views of the city centre and beyond to about 45 km (28 mi), including the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, as well as Johor, Malaysia. The picture on the card is slightly dated, as it does not show the now famous Marina Sands Hotel with the curved ship on top of the three hotel towers.

The final capsule was installed on 2 October 2007, the wheel started rotating on 11 February 2008 and it officially opened to the public on 1 March 2008. Tickets for rides on the first 3 nights were sold out for S$8,888 (US$6,271), an auspicious number in Chinese culture. The grand opening for the Flyer was held on 15 April 2008. Each of the 28 air-conditioned capsules is capable of holding 28 passengers, and a complete rotation of the wheel takes about 30 minutes. Initially rotating in a counter-clockwise direction when viewed from Marina Centre, its direction was changed on 4 August 2008 under the advice of Feng shui masters. The counter ticket girls were kind enough to give a key chain, depicting the important facets of Feng Shui.

The Batu Caves

I had the good fortune of visiting The Batu Caves very recently. These caves are situated thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Batu Caves are caves in a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, located in Gombak district. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. The golden statue of Lord Murugan which you see in the picture is 42 metres tall and is the focus point of the Batu Caves complex. The Batu Caves are said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people (a tribe of Orang Asli).

The Batu Caves consist of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone and are 400 meters long and 100 meter high. They were discovered in 1892. From our hotel in the Golden Triangle area of KL we reached the Batu Caves by bus in about 30 minutes. On arrival at the caves we were greeted by lots of monkeys. They were looking out for peanuts and bananas, which people buy in several shops and offer them to these simians, before climbing up to the caves. One has to climb 272 steps, which lead to the religious and magnificent Batu Caves. I preferred to admire the caves from below, from near the feet of Lord Murugan. 272 steep steps…It’s a good thing I remembered that discretion was the better part of valour, especially at my age ;-))

Once a year the Hindus here celebrate the Thaipusam festival in the Batu Caves. It's a celebration for the son of Shiva (Subramaniam) and the becoming "one" of Pusan and the Brihaspati stars. The Thaipusam festival. On Thaipusam, as many as 800,000 devotees and other visitors may throng the caves. As a form of penance or sacrifice, many of them carry kavadis (literally, "burden," such as a pitcher or jug). These are large, brightly decorated frameworks, usually combined with various metal hooks and skewers which are used to pierce the skin, cheeks and tongue. By doing this penance they naturally expect some favours from their Gods! The festival is held in the tenth month of the Hindu calendar (normally the at end of January).

If you go up the stairs, you can meet a lot of long tailed-macaque monkeys and if you have peanuts with you, they'll come to you. These monkeys love peanuts, but they love potato crisps too! They have a temper also. So be careful how you look at them!

Birds of Prey - Cyprus

On September 25th, 2003, Cyprus Post released the stamps features the Birds of Prey in Cyprus. The species depicted are Imperial Eagle, Eleonora’s Falcon, and Owl. The issued stamps have specific shape, triangular and have differ nominal values. Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland and some remote islands.

Different species of owls make different sounds; this wide range of calls aids owls in finding mates or announcing their presence to potential competitors, and also aids ornithologists and birders in locating these birds and recognizing species.

The Owl shown on this maxi card is the Athene Noctua. This is a night bird. It can be seen in many areas like forests, farmlands, farms as well as in populated areas. It feeds mainly on rodents, reptiles, small birds and insects. It lays 3-6 eggs in crevices of cliffs, in holes in buildings or in heaps of stones, during the April to June period. The lower maxi card shows these eggs. Merja gave me these cards.