Cover#016 PC#002 Japan, Year of the Horse,

This is my first letter ( not cards) I received from Japan, after 2 years of international exchange. I really love Japanese stamps and Japanese cultures. They are amazing to me >▪<

Sent: 22/9/2014

Arrived: 30/9/2014

I got inside a Year of the Horse SS 2014 ( one of prix for spring' s lottery in Japan) and some gifts:  Horse issues from 1966, 1978, 2002 and a shaped card. I was born in Year of the Horse.  But unfortunately,  there is not any horse issue in 1990, my birth year. 😕

Well, I really don't know that shaped card cannot be sent directly by the post from Japan. Just wondering why? ( I like the Sakura stamp).

Thank you  Yoriko, I love them so much.

Cover#015 EUROPA stamps

Today I got a letter from France with 2 mint EUROPA 2014 stamps for my collection. Really exited ^_^!

Sent: 19/9/2014

Arrived: 27/9/2014

EUROPA 2014 Andorra FR
Topic	Musical Instruments
Design	Helena Guàrdia
Day of issue	24/5/2014
Sheetsize	20
Perforation	13
Face value	€ 0.83

EUROPA 2014 Monaco
Topic	Musical Instruments
Design	Stefano Morri
Day of issue	7/5/2014
Sheetsize	10
Perforation	131/4
Face value	€ 0.83

Merci bien apietiner pour ton aide!

Cover#014 Finland, Cover Tom of Finland,

Tom of Finland, real name Touko Laaksonen(8/5/1920 in Kaarina – 7/11/1991 in Helsinki), was a Finish artist notable for his stylisez homoerotic fetish art and his influence on late20th century gay culture.

At the age of 19, Helsinki left his native city Kaarina to stydy advertising in  Helsinki.  He started drawing homoerotic for his pleasure in his spare time. Influenced by Winter War then World War II, he served for the Finish Army for some years after came back to his civil life. In 1957, he sent his homoerotic workart to the american magazin Physique Pictorial, published with the nickname Tom of Finland to avoid being recognized in his country.

Sent: 11/9/2014

Arrived: 23/9/2014

Stamp is from the set of 3. 

Thank you Jaana!

Cover#013Germany, Le petit prince,

Today, I got a FDC from German with The little prince, one of my favorite novel, and World War I stamp inside.

Sent: 1/9/2014

Arrived: 23/9/2014

2014 The 70th Anniversary of the Death of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1900-1944
Design	Peter Steiner & Regina Steiner
Day of issue	1 Sep 2014
Sheetsize	10
Perforation	133/4
Face value	€ 0.60

2014 The 100th Anniversary of the Beginning of World War I
Design	Astrid Grahl & Lutz Menze
Day of issue	7 Aug 2014
Sheetsize	10
Perforation	133/4
Face value	€ 0.60

Thank you Dustin for a nice cover and your little gift!

"- Ah! Je me réveille à peine ... Je vous demande pardon... Je suis encore toute décoiffée....
Le petit prince,  alors, ne put contenir son admiration:
- Que vous êtes belle!
- N’est-ce pas,  répondit doucement la fleur.  Et je suis née en même temps que le soleil. ..
Le petit prince devina bien qu’elle n’était pas trop modeste,  mais elle était si émouvante!
- C’est l’heure, je crois, du petit déjeuner,  avaur-elle bientôt ajouté, auriez-vous la bonté de penser à moi...
Et le petit prince,  tout confus, ayant été chercher un arrosoir d’eau fraîche, avait servi la fleur.
Ainsi l’avait-elle bien vite tourmenté par sa vanité un peu ombrageuse.  Un jour, par exemple,  parlant de ses quatre épines, elle avait dit au petit prince:
- Ils peuvent venir, les tigres, avec leurs griffes.
- Il n’y a pas de tigres sur ma planète, avec objecte le petit prince, et puis les tigres ne mangent pas de l’herbe.
- Je ne suis pas une herbe, avait doucement répondu la fleur.
- Pardonne-moi...
Je ne crains rien des tigres, mais j’ai horreur des courant d’air.  Vous n’auriez pas un paravent?
" Honneur des courants d’air...ce n’est pas de chance, pour une plante, avait remarqué le petit prince.  Cette fleur est bien compliquée..."
- Le soir vous me mettez sous globe.  Il fait très froid chez vous.  C’est mal installé.  Là d’où je viens. ..
Mais elle s’était interrompue.  Elle était venue sous forme de grainé,. Elle n’avait rien pu connaître des autres mondes,  Humiliée de s’être laissé surprendre à préparer un mensonge aussi naïf, elle avait toussé deux ou trois fois , pour mettre le petit prince dans son tort:
- Ce paravent. ...
- Je’allais le chercher mais vous me parler! "

" J’aurais dû ne pas l’écouter, me confia-t-il un jour, il ne faut jamais écouter les fleurs.  Il faut les regarder et les respirer. La mienne embaume it ma planète,  mais je ne savais pas m’en séjouir.  Cette histoire de griffes, qui m’avait tellement agacé,  eût dû m’attendit. .."

"- Vous êtes belles mais vous êtes vides, leur dit-it encore.  On ne peut pas mourir pour vous.  Bien sûr,  mà rose à moi, un passant ordinaire croirait qu’elle vous rassemblé.  Mais à elle, seule elle est plus importante que vous toutes, puisque c'est elle que j’ai arrosé.  Puisque c’est elle que j’ai mise sous globe. Puisque c’est elle que j’ai abritée par le paravent.  Puisque c’est elle don't j’ai tué less chenilles ( sauf les deux ou trois pour les pzpillons). Puisque c’est elle que j’ai écoutée se plaindre, ou se vanter,  ou même quelquefois se taire. Puisque c’est mà rose.
Et il revint vers le renard:
- Adieu, dit-il..."

PC#001 New Zealand, Te Wahipounamu, WWI stamps,

UNESCO site

Date of Inscription: 1990

Sent: 10/9/2014

Arrived: 23/9/2014

Te Wāhipounamu (Māori for "the place of greenstone") is a World Heritage Site in the south west corner of the South Island of New Zealand.

Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990 and covering 26,000 km², the site incorporates four national parks:

•           Aoraki/Mt Cook
•           Fiordland
•        Mt Aspiring
•          Westland

It is thought to contain some of the best modern representations of the original flora and fauna present in Gondwana, one of the reasons for listing as a World Heritage site.

Thanks Adriennegarry!

Cover#012 France, 100th Tour de France

This cover I sent to my papa from Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France, where I have been studying. Of corse, it's for my collection Centenary. 

Cover dated 11/12/2013. Evidently, it arrived when I was not at home. 

-Marianne stamps issued 2012

-A part of minisheet Tour de France 2013, 110th anniversary of Tour de France and 100th Tour de France. 

Cover#011 France, Cover from Strasbourg

This one I sent to myself when I lived in Strasbourg, France. Just wanted to remarque where I lived.

Dated 11/06/2014. 

The orchid stamp is from the Orchid sheet, issued in 2005.

And sure, thanks to myself for a nice cover. ;)

Cover#010 Taiwan, Year of the Horse

This cover was sent when I was not in Vietnam. The sender didn't know about that, just sent to me as he know I collect Lunar new year cover and stamps. Until now, when I'm home, I have chance to show it.

Thank you so much dear friend Douglas Lin.

The postmark dated 11.12.(20)13. a nice day.  

Cover#006 #007 #008 #009 Czech, Nature protection - The Beskid Mountains,

I got 4 nice FDC real-posted from my friend today. So excited.

Nature Protection - The Beskid Mountains

The Beskid Mountains are located in northeastern Moravia in Wallachia, in the southeast of Czech Silesia, in southern Poland, and in northern Slovakia in the Orava region. The Beskids are mostly forested mountains with rounded peaks, with rocks only occasionally protruding from the surface. The highest peak is Babí hora (1725 m), located on the border between Poland and Slovakia in the area of the Orava and the Zywiec Beskids.

The Beskids generally have the character of central mountains permeated by a number of aulacogen and basin depressions. Typically, they are a range of parallel mountains arranged one after the other and bound to the occurrence of more resistant rocks. They usually contain smoothly sculpted reliefs, whose morphology reflects the composition of flysch rock substrate (sandstones, conglomerates and clay stone shale). Shunting movements are common on the steep slopes. The original forest cover has been broadly reduced and the species altered in favor of spruce. Towards the east, grassy areas called plateaus are gaining ground. Their use in the 15th to 17th century helped pastoral colonization to spread.

The Moravian-Silesian Beskids tower over the Frenštát valley and are hemmed in from the south by the Rožnov valley. The Ostravice River divides them into two groups of mountains. To the east there are the Lysá hora, Travný and Ropice peaks. West of the Ostravice River the range of resistant peaks (Smrk, Kněhyně and Radhošť) decreases and with it the whole Radhošť upland. Smrk is separated from it by the deep Čeladenka valley. South of the Rožnov valley, the Vsetín hills continue (Vysoká, Vsacká Tanečnice), which are characterized by gradual slopes; overall, the local landscape has gentle, soft shapes. The Hostýn hills (Klečský Javorník, Hostýn) connect to this group to the west of the flow of the Vsetínská Bečva River, falling quite steeply to the north.

The Beskids are home to typical mountain and forest animals, such as deer, wild boar, foxes, martens, badgers, bears, wolves, lynxes and wild cats. Visitors can also see birds, such as tits, thrushes, woodpeckers, wood grouse, lesser-spotted eagles, short-toed eagles, buzzards, ravens, hazel grouse and eagle-owls.

0814 - badger (Meles meles), CZK 13

0815 - wild cat (Felis silvestris), CZK 17

0816 - two bears (Ursus arctos), CZK 21

0817 - two wolves (Canis lupus) and (Nucifraga caryocatactes), CZK 25

Source: Czech Philately

 Sent: 3/9/2014

Arrived: 15/9/2014

CZECH Nature Protection
Topic	Nature Protection - The Beskid Mountains
Design	Libuše and Jaromír Knotek
Engraver	Martin Srb
Day of issue	3. 9. 2014
Print sheet	4 stamps + 3 coupons (se-tenant)
Size of picture	114 x 170 mm
Face value	76 CZK

Thanks Trung!

Cover#005 Liechtenstein, EUROPA 2014,

I got my first letter from Liechtenstein.  Yuppie >□<

Sent: 1/9/2014

Arrived: 13/9/2014

EUROPA 2014 Liechtenstein
Topic	Musical Instruments
Design	Armin Hoop
Day of issue	10/3/2014
Sheetsize	20
Perforation	123/4x12
Face value	140 CHF

Thank you Rosmarie!

Cover#004 Germany, The little prince,

Le petit prince, l'oeuvre la plus connue d'Antoine de Saint-Exupéry publié la première fois en 1943 à New York simultanément en anglais et en francais.

C'est un conte poétique et philosophique sous l'apparence d'un conte pour enfants, avec le langage simple et dépouillé. Chaque chapitre relate une rencontre du petit prince qui laisse celui-ci perplexe quant au comportement absurde des "grandes personnes".

L'ouvrage, vendu à plus de 145 millions d'examplaires dans le monde et 12 millions d'examplaires en France, est traduit en 270 langues et dialectes, dont le toba, la langue amérindienne du nord de l'Argentine. C'est le premier livre à avoir été traduit dans cette langue après Nouveau Testament. 

Le petit prince est l'ouvrage de littérature le plus vendu au monde et le plus traduit après la Bible.

Sent: 1/9/2014

Arrived: 12/9/2014

Thanks Lars for the nice cover and your gift !

Cover#003 Czech, Victims of World War I,

The stamps depict war motifs. 

The First World War (before 1939 known as the Great War or the World War) was a global military conflict which lasted from 1914 to 1918. World War I hit Europe, Africa and Asia and also took place in the world’s oceans. The immediate pretext for the war was the successful assassination of the archduke, and heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand d’Este. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in retaliation, causing a chain reaction leading to World War I. Within one month, Europe found itself in a conflict.

The war broke out between two coalitions: the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. At the outbreak of war the Allied Powers were the United Kingdom (which participated in the war as a result of the German invasion of Belgium), France and Czarist Russia. The Allied powers were also joined by other countries, Italy in 1915 and the USA in 1917. The Central Powers were Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914, joined later by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria (in 1915). By the end of the war only Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries remained neutral.

The battles of World War I took place on several fronts in Europe. On the Western Front, the fighting took place in the trenches (“trench warfare”). Over 60 million soldiers were mobilized from 1914 to 1918.

The war ended with the victory of the Allies and the surrender of the defeated Central Powers. The world celebrates 11 November 1918 as the end of World War I (at 11 a.m. there was a ceasefire on all fronts, signed on the same day at 5:05 a.m. by the German Corps of Generals in the company wagon of the Supreme Commander of the Allied troops, the French Marshal Foch in Compiègne. The formal ending of the war occurred with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Source: Czech Philately

Victims of WWI Czech
Topic	World War I
Design	Jan Maget
Day of issue	11. 6. 2014
Print sheet	2 stamps + 3 coupons (se-tenant)
Size of picture	108 x 165 mm
Face value	58 CZK

 Thanks Trung!

Cover#002 Czech, Orchid cover,

This wonderful cover arrived today from my Vietnamese friend living in Czech. The cover with Sabot Venus Orchid on, one of my favorite orchid.

Sent: 25/8/2014

Arrived: 10/9/2014

Thanks, Trung!

Cover#001 Taiwan, Year of the Horse sticker stamp,

Date of issue: 22/8/2014

Sent: 22/8/2014
Arrived: 9/9/2014

Thanks James Chen!