Wild Postcards

There’s nothing like a nice cup of tea when playing one’s dutar in the sunshine. This official Postcrossing card has one of the highly-prized low numbers (TM-38) and comes to me from Zulfina in Ashkabat. It arrived in an envelope with the Turkish/Turkmen words kimden and kime (“from whom” and “to whom”) pre-printed in the appropriate areas, so imagine my surprise when I found a message inside in Russian! Turns out Russian is the language used for “inter-ethnic communication” — that is, communication with Russians who call Turkmenistan home, thanks to its previous history as the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.

My new low Postcrossing number (TM-38) shows a way of life that prizes the simpler things.

“Ethiopians aren’t in the habit of sending postcards,” writes Sean McLachlan in his recent Harar travel series on Gadling, “and the fledgling tourism industry hasn’t printed many.” Nevertheless, he found this one at the Harari Cultural Museum; it shows a typical living room. In case you’re as confused about the floor plan as I was, it turns out that this photo has been ‘shopped to be able to show three sides of the room.

Also included in the package were two one-birr banknotes, worth about six cents U.S. each. One is fresh from the bank, according to Sean; the other is what one normally sees in circulation. Thanks, Sean, for these souvenirs of your journey!

“There’s a shortage of postcards in Ethiopia.” Nevertheless, Sean found one.

From Polona in Radomlje, Slovenia comes these terrific views of her country — not to mention a plethora of postage stamps. Based on these views, front and back, I’d have to say that Slovenia looks like a beautiful, interesting — and potentially dangerous — place.  Is that snake poisonous?

If you’re interested in stamps, check out the Sunday Stamps meme at Viridian’s Postcard Blog. This week’s theme: anything goes!

Multiple views of Slovenia, along with some beautiful — and dangerous — postage.

In my mailbox today were two — and only two — postcards, coincidentally both from Indonesia, and from different senders who got my address from different sources. This card, from Shinta, shows three side-by-side volcanoes in East Java. All told, Indonesia has about 150 active volcanoes, but it looks like only one of the volcanoes in this picture was feeling fiery that day.

Shinta was very generous with the variety of stamps! There are postage stamps celebrating wildlife, traditional food and clothing, the Year of the Rabbit, and… what’s that blue one? Molecular biology? Human cloning? Aspartame?

Check out Girls Go Postal! to see today’s other Indonesian postcard which, in yet another coincidence, also features three smokin’ hotties.

In my mailbox today were two — and only two — postcards, coincidentally both from Indonesia, and from different senders who got my address from different sources. This card, from Shinta, shows three side-by-side volcanoes…