New Postcards from Postcrossing

I received a few postcards in the mail this week and thought I would share my favorites.

This first one is from Chrome- the bike people in San Fransisco. They had this program going on a few weeks ago where if you sent them an old beat up pair of shoes, they would send you a free pair of Chrome shoes. So I sent them some old kicks and got new ones in the mail, plus this cool postcard.

This is my favorite postcard that came this week. This came from someone in Hong Kong. I love it's colorful quirkiness. Now I want a bike helmet with birds coming out of it.























This postcard is a painting of the Neva river in St. Petersburg. If you've ever read any Russian literature, then you've heard of the great Neva river.




















This last one is from China. China was such a great country to travel through- I'm fascinated by the country and can't wait to go back someday. And this postcard looks weirdly similar to the Neva one above it, no?

Antique View of Asia Circa 1930

I found this antique book in a used bookstore in Denver a while ago called 'Carpenter's New Geographical Reader: Asia' from 1930.  It has some really great photos and provides insight into how our view of the world has changed since then.  I just thought I would share some of my favorite photos.

This is written on the inside cover of the book- presumably the owner of the book and student of Asian geography.

There are only a couple of color plates in the book but I wish they were all in color to get a better idea of what life was really like then.

I've traveled extensively through Malaysia but I don't quite recall the women being 'fond of jewelry' but perhaps it's still true.

This is a beautiful building in Bangkok that is just as beautiful today as it was then.  I have never seen so many golden buildings.

I would love to see a print shop like this.  What an incredible setup compared to how things are done today.

It seems some facets of the Chinese way of life have always been puzzling to westerners.

This pagoda reminds me of one that I saw near Dahli in China.  I really wish it was in color because generally the pagodas have really colorful and extremely detailed painting.

Early school uniforms?  If so, they've changed quite a bit....

The owner of this book made extensive notes and underlining all throughout the book, clearly making a careful study of the information it contains.

I don't understand why it was called a 'costume' if someone in a foreign country was wearing it.

I would love to ride my bike under this tree.  We spent a few months cycling through South East Asia and it was incredibly hot.  So I guess I wouldn't actually like to ride my bike under this tree, but I would like to ride my bike towards this tree and stop in the shade for a nap.

Ok, this might be my most favorite picture from the book.  Look at the little guy in the front with his arms crossed.  It just makes me crack up.  Some things just don't change through the ages, including how funny kids can be.  He's just so put out about something- I'd love to know what.

Where did all the exotic country names go?

PS- I apologize for the crazy formatting but Blogger is throwing a tantrum and there doesn't seem to be anything that I can do about it so you get crazy formatting, rather than no blog post at all.  sorry!