Halong Bay

Another postcrossing coincidence, my second ID card from Iris in Taiwan! Strange! This time she’s chosen to send me this beautiful card of Halong Bay in Vietnam. Stunning!

Halong Bay, What a Beauty!

This stunning viewcard comes from the lovely Maija again who’s just finished her tour of Halong Bay. She tells me that Halong Bay actually means Dragon Bay – which I didn’t know but it’s very cool! She says she did a cruise there and was served lots of lovely food. Sounds like she’s had an idyllic holiday. Very jealous!

A New Contender in “The Awful Postcards” Competition!

After receiving Ruhan’s tortoise card the other day, I thought I’d seen the craziest postcard image, but now I’m not so sure! My lovely friend Maija, who is currently travelling in Vietnam, sent me this bizarre card with NO warning! You can just imagine how hard I laughed when I saw this! There are so many strange aspects to this image – I mean, the cow, for starters, being transported on a bike, but also the rider’s attire! And the thinness of the wheels! I mean, it truly is a cultural image, but how did it ever become postcard material?! Maija tells me Vietnam is seriously fast-paced and energetic with beautiful scenery and that the contrast between North and South still remains stark, even today, so she likes the middle best, in an atmospheric town called Hoi An where she has learned to cross crazily busy streets and has enjoyed delicious food and amazing coffee, but has drawn the line at learning Vietnamese (she says it’s too hard). I am seriously jealous of her trip, it seems like she’s had an amazing time.

To my utter surprise, despite her forgetting to put ‘Guernsey’ or ‘Channel Islands’ in the address, this card reached me and I can’t help but think that if I put Ha Noi (but no Vietnam) on a card in Guernsey and sent it there, it likely wouldn’t arrive. That is serious efficiency on behalf of the Vietnamese post! Awesome card!

Halong Bay

This stunning view over Vietnam’s Halong Bay was sent to me  from Zarif in Malaysia after his grandmother visited Vietnam. He tells me he hopes to go there when he is older. Halong Bay is actually a place I’ve always wanted a card from, so I was thrilled to receive this!

A First From Vietnam

I received a lot of cards today so this is the last one I’ll upload for now (hopefully will catch up with myself at the weekend) but just had to show this spectacular card from Ann in Vietnam. It shows Sapa rice terraces which she says she hasn’t visited yet herself, but (for obvious reasons) loves the cards from there. It really looks amazing! Ann also tells me that when she opened her postcrossing account, she met an unexpected challenge – buying stamps! She didn’t realise that no local post offices sell international stamps so in order to send her cards overseas she has to go on adventures to Saigon, the nearest city, an hour away from where she lives! So it seems her card has a real story behind it. Love it!