A postcard from each corner of the World
Lake Piso is a saltwater lake in Liberia, West African country. It is the largest lake in the country. Lake Piso has an open connection to the Atlantic Ocean, making it a tidal lagoon. The lake basin is known for the richness of its biodiversity, its diverse ecosystems and its natural beauty. The people living in the vicinity of the lake depend on the lake for fishing, and also on the high-quality diamonds that are being mined from the rivers flow into Lake Piso.
Maletsunyane Waterfalls is one of the highest single dropping waterfalls in the Southern Hemisphere, with drop of 192 meters. The waterfall is on the Maletsunyane River, and is located near the town of Semonkong (Site of smoke). Two-thirds of Lesotho – which is completely encircled by the Republic of South Africa – consists of mountains.
Beiteddine Palace in Lebanon was designed by an Italian architect, and built between 1788 and 1818. Throughout the years it served as the Emir’s residence, as a government residence, as an administrative office, and as the summer residence of the Lebanese President. Today it hosts the annual Beiteddine Festival and the Beiteddine Palace Museum.
Envelope I received it in:
Riga is the capital of Latvia — Eastern European country set on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest of the three Baltic capitals. Riga is famous for its old town, which is UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded in 1201, and today is home to about 600k people.
I’ve been to Riga a few times when I was a kid visiting relatives, but don’t remember the city much. I do remember that’s there I saw a skateboard for the first time ever 🙂
Xieng Khuan – Spirit City – also known as Buddha Park is a sculpture park near Vientiane, Laos. The open-air park has over 200 sculptures of various sizes depicting figures from Buddhist and Hindu traditions and lore. It was founded in 1958, and the sculptures themselves are mostly cast in reinforced concrete. So, they are not ancient and carved from stone, as it may appear! Still, even though it’s not officially a temple, locals often worship here see it as a holy place.
It is also amazing, that is was built by one man — Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. He was a fairly poor man with no artistic training. But studied both Buddhism and Hinduism and had a desire to see the two religions integrated.
I received this postcard blank in envelope, without any indication what it depicts. After a little research shows that pictured are “Tree of Life”, and, possibly, a monument to Kurmanjan Datka – woman-diplomat and greatest statesperson in the history of Kyrgyzstan. The place is “Rukh Ordo” — a cultural complex and open-air museum in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.
The “Tree of Life” was the first exhibit of this complex. It resembles a blooming Japanese sakura tree, proudly towering over the endless expanse of Issyk-Kul lake. However, all pictures I saw of it do not have any monuments right next to it. Perhaps, it was a temporary composition in year 2011 the country celebrated 200th birth anniversary of their national hero? I’m yet to learn more about this postcard.
And this is the envelope it came in:
Gračanica is a town located in central Kosovo — de-facto independent, partially recognized state. This town of more than 10,000 mostly Serbian people is centered around the Gračanica Monastery, ten kilometers east of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. The image of this postcard: Fresco of Saint King Milutin, the founder of Gračanica Monastery, originated between 1319 and 1321.
According to Wikipedia, the Gračanica municipality was supposed to become part of the Community of Serb Municipalities after the 2013 Brussels Agreement, however this still hasn’t been implemented yet despite the promises from the Prishtina government. Still, we can see Serbian post, not Kosovar, was used when this postcard was sent: Serbian stamp is used. Also interesting, if I read the postmark correctly, it shows the name of the town in both Serbian and Albanian languages: Gračanica and Graçanicë.
“Health, Peace and Prosperity” — is the motto of the Republic of Kiribati. The motto I can stand behind! Kiribati (pronounced Kiribass, which surprised everyone I know when they heard it for the first time) is an island country in the Pacific Ocean. It consists of 33 islands, of which only 20 are inhabited. The islands are scattered over a vast area of ocean along the equator. The rising sea levels, a result of global warming, will be disastrous for the islands of Kiribati, as many of them are atolls that rise no higher than some 8 meters. It’s not surprising that fish is the bulk of the country’s production and exports, as well as dried coconut kernels from which coconut oil is expelled. Coconut palms dominate the landscape on each island. Another interesting export item is hand-caught ornamental fish (for aquariums)!
This post is not related to postcards, philately, or postal services.
Recently, I was helping a friend in his work on creation of Hamshen Armenian online dictionary, and in this post I just want to introduce the project. As postcards collectors, we learn a lot about remote places, foreign cultures, and history. So, this might be of some interest to visitors of this site.
Hamshen (or Hemshin) Armenians are an ethnic group, who are originally from Hemşin districts in the province of Rize, Turkey. Today numbering as many as 150,000, they live in Turkey, Russia (mostly my hometown of Sochi), and Abkhazia. Hamshen Armenians speak their own, archaic Western Armenian dialect – Homshetsma , and Аccording to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages, the Hamshen dialect is classified as “Definitely endangered” (children no longer learn the language as a ‘mother tongue’ in the home). And this was a primary reason for creating this project — to help keep this language alive.
The project is a work in progress. It’s currently a Hamshen Armenian – Russian dictionary, but there are plans to expand it for English, include more reading and learning materials in this dialect, and to create features that would help to crowdsource / expand the dictionary base.
Please check it out, and read up on this small part of World’s history and culture.
Hamshen Armenian ethnic folklore dance postcard of the internetz.
Kenya is the most popular of Africa’s safari destinations. It is is located in East Africa with coastline on the Indian Ocean. It encompasses savannah, lakelands, the dramatic Great Rift Valley and mountain highlands. It’s also home to wildlife like lions, elephants and rhinos. Kenyan safaris visit the Masai Mara National Park known for its abundant wildlife and annual Great Migration, and Amboseli National Park, offering views of Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro.
