Taipei Postbox

When I travel to other cities, I tend to collect little tidbits of information about their postal related matters. I guess it is a habit for many stamp collectors. Thus earlier I posted about the 'Nostalgic Looking Postbox in China' when I visited ShangHai.

Here's another postbox and this postbox is in Taipei. They have two different colours for postboxes - one for domestic mail and another for international mail. The Green Postbox is for Taiwan mails, and there is further differentiation - Taipei / Shilin area vs rest of Taiwan. Similarly for the Red postbox meant for international mail - Airmail vs Prompt Delivery. No I don't really understand what is meant by Prompt Delivery. The Chinese words at the prompt delivery is "限时邮件", so if there is any Taiwanese reading this post, I'll greatly appreciate your enlightenment on this category of mail.

Singapore's postboxes are more 'colourful' compared to those in Taiwan or China. Well, to prove my point, here's a picture from the Kovan Postbox, near the Kovan MRT. But regardless of the design of the postboxes, what is more important is that any mail that dropped into the postboxes get delivered on time to the recipients, isn't it?

Spices of Singapore & Food Festival 2011

In conjunction with the Singapore Food Festival 2011, SingPost has timed its latest stamp issue - "Spices of Singapore" to be released on 15 July 2011. Of course, the theme is spices, a once upon valuable commodity (still valuable today) that is essential for food flavouring.

Singapore has its history tied closely with spices, when the spice commodities were traded in Singapore's early days as a entre port in the Straits Settlements. We celebrated our historical ties with spices by setting up a special spice garden at the Fort Canning Park, at the location of Raffles' experimental and botanical garden.

For the Spices of Singapore stamp issue, five different spices (and one food / drink containing each spice) are featured:

- Cinnamon (1st Local) used in Masala Teh (spiced tea with milk)
- Coriander (2nd Local) used in Satay
- Star Anise ($0.65) used in Braised Duck
- Tamarind ($0.80) used in Assam Prawn
- Tumeric ($1.10) used in Fish Head Curry

The Spices of Singapore stamps presentation pack is sold at $4.95, while the pre-cancelled First Day Cover is sold at $3.95. Those interested can get these stamps at any SingPost outlets as well as the Singapore Philatelic Museum.

SingPost Registered Article Delivery - Not At Home

What happens when there is a delivery of registered article to your place and there is no one at home? Well, SingPost will still have options for you to receive the article. 

SingPost will leave a note (see the picture below) informing the recipient that there was an unsuccessful delivery.

Within the notice, SingPost will leave three options for the recipient:

a) Go to the stated Post Office and collect the article at the next working day; or

b) Request to collect the article at another Post Office (2 days upon receipt of this request); or

c) Request for another delivery to the original stated address (i.e. to your house) at 1 working day after the request

Give a call to SingPost (1605) if you wish to activate option b or c.

The notice has 'evolved' over the years. It used to be just a tiny slip of paper requesting the recipient to go down to a particular Post Office. Guess postal services have evolved for the better over time.

Philately Books - Major unauthorisd copying of other people's posts

After I posted about the 'Most Beautiful' stamp,  I was shocked  to find the entire post on another site - Philately Books. To my amazement, I found some of my other blog posts on the site as well.

Unlike normal blogs aggregator, Philately Books make absolutely no mention of my blog or that the content came from non Philately Books origin. Yes, it is unauthorised copying in a big way. Disgusting isn't it?

2005 Most Beautiful Stamp - Greta Garbo of Sweden

We have often heard of the world's first stamp (Penny Black), the most expensive stamp (Treskilling Yellow) etc etc. Recently I came across another 'most', and in this case it is the 'Most Beautiful' stamp - Sweden's Greta Garbo (2005).

Apparently there was a vote (not sure by whom, perhaps the UPU?) and this stamp of Greta Garbo was deemed as most beautiful via a combination of a beautiful woman, fantastic portrait photo, well made engraving and a recces print of the highest quality.

Accompanying this 'Most Beautiful' stamp in this little booklet are other stamps and to me, they are just as beautiful. I think stamps are generally 'beautiful' when they tell a story, regardless of whether it is of a beautiful woman or not. Nonetheless, the Most Beautiful stamp - Sweden Greta Garbo (2005) is quite well made.

Hawker Centres of Singapore Stamps

SingPost recently released a commemorative set of stamps about Singapore's hawker centres. Four of the more well know hawker centres are featured: East Coast, Maxwell, Newton, and Lau Pa Sat. Of course Singapore has plenty of other hawkers, e.g. Tekka hawker, Fengshan hawker etc etc but I guess the designers chose these four to be featured.

This issue of stamps caught my attention for two reasons, 1) hawker centres are part of the Singapore lifestyle, and 2) the stamps designers are actually students from the design class in Nanyang Polytechnic. Let me elaborate further.

Hawker centres are a way of life in Singapore. They are often a source of cheap and good food. In fact, many hawker centres have long queues of people waiting as much as an hour just to get their plate / bowl of favourite dishes. Increasingly when food courts and restaurants start to replace hawker centres, and when older hawkers decide not to continue their trade (e.g. after hawker centres are renovated / upgraded), hawker centres may one day disappear into history. So I thought it is appropriate to commemorate their existence somehow. (Added: a picture of Lau Pa Sat - note the somewhat unique architectural design)

I am also glad that design students from poly (Leon Yeo Hai Tian & Jean Ng Ting Fong) have been asked to craft this issue of stamps. Philately has often been thought of a hobby only for the retired or the primary school going kids. Thus it is good to involve those in the teens as much as we can. Of course, publishing the works of design students is also a great way to recognise the budding talents in local design scene.

So for those who are interested in our Singapore hawker centres, do buy a copy of these hawker centres stamps (each stamp selling for only $0.80 while the presentation pack cost $5), and enjoy a meal at these hawker centres!

1990 Tourism Definitive Stamps - High Values

The 1990 definitive series featured a series of tourism related stamps. There are stamps with the zoo, Sentosa, Jurong Bird Park etc for the lower value denomination stamps.

The 4 high value denomination stamps featured the four races instead.

These stamps are:

- $1 Chinese Opera Singer
- $2 Malay Dancer
- $5 Indian Dancer
- $10 Ballet Dancer (Eurasian)

In the background of the stamps there are also four buildings but I recognised only two of them, i.e. the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple at Little India for Indian Dancer, and the Victoria Concert Hall for the Ballet Dancer. I thought the mosque was the Sultan Mosque, but the drawing does not matched up somehow. I am clueless about the Chinese Arch. Anyone can help?

P.S.: Thanks Yesterday.sg for helping me about the two buildings.