Trinidad and Tobago

Here is a cover with many stamps from the far-off Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, an archipelago in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the cancel is extremely light. Well, on the bright side, at least it's not too heavy!


I especially like the $2.50 stamp showing the architecture of the historical building of the Queen's Royal College, one of the oldest secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago, and the only all-male Government-run secondary school in the country. The building was built in 1902 and cost 15000 British Pounds at the time. It accommodated six classes for 30 boys each. The lecture hall could hold over five hundred persons at a time.

Notwithstanding the German origin of the plan, a legacy perhaps of Mr Hahn's student days in Berlin, the design of the interior is very definitely tropical with a delightfully aristocratic touch from the days when European school architecture was austere.

The large stamp on the far right commemorates the British Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting held in Port of Spain, one of the developed areas of the islands of Trinidad. The buildings shown make up part of the Port of Spain skyline.

Philippines

Here are some interesting covers from the Philippines:

Here is a cover that I sent to Poste Restante in Macau with the expectation of receiving it back since no one would be claiming it (it was addressed to me). Thanks to the dependable and efficient Correios de Macau, I received the cover back with the great chops that they apply at Poste Restante in

These two covers are almost identical, save for the addressee. These covers contained the payment that I made to eBay sellers. Thankfully, they arrived safely at their destinations, payment intact, and were returned to me by the friendly eBay sellers.

This cover is from way back in 2005, around the time when there was the anthrax scare and the fear of terrorism escalated to new heights. This cover was probably opened because it looked suspicious: brown envelope, thick, and thoroughly wrapped in tape! And, to add to that, it's from the Philippines, where the Abu Sayyaf Muslim Terrorist Organization is based! No wonder Border Protection opened it! I do not recall what the contents were, but I do remember that they were eBay items that I purchased shortly before moving to the Philippines.

On 14 April, I was lucky enough to be at the Manila Central Post Office on the actual day of issue of this IRRI set. I had not known of this issue beforehand since there are no announcements made other than at the bulletin board at the Philatelic Division - nothing online. As usual, the official FDCs were not yet ready so I decided to make my own and sent it to myself registered. The cover didn;t come out very well, but it's the thought and the memory that counts, right?

Happy Collecting!

بروني دارالسلام Negara Brunei Darussalam

Here are some self-addressed covers that I sent back home during my three-day stay in Brunei. Brunei stamps are, in my opinion, not all that beautiful, but they have high catalog values because they are quite difficult to come across. Before my visit, I had no more than ten Brunei stamps in my collection.

The main post office building is quite small, and I believe it is just there to accept mail and sell stamps because, from I understood from one of the postal clerks, the mail sorting facility is located somewhere near the airport. Unfortunately, I didn't find any stamp dealer because I lacked the time (and perhaps the initiative since it was so darn hot and humid!) to look for one. Apparently, there is a small philatelist community in Brunei with something like 75 members, including its officers and some other government officials, if my memory serves me right.

The little philatelic corner they have at the left entrance to the building is, like I said, little, but it serves its purpose. It's an air-conditioned facility (thanks heavens!), so it's a cool relief from the outside heat. The philatelic desk still sells stamps and SS's from as far back as the late 70s (!!) at face value, which is a fraction of the current market value! So I spent quite a lot of time and money enjoying myself as I picked out the issues I wanted. Sadly, there were virtually no recent issues. I have not looked into this, but I got the impression that Brunei Post has been churning out only 2 or 3 commemorative issues yearly as of late. I guess it might be because there is little demand for Brunei stamps (?). I mean, there are some that have been sitting there in the post office storage for some thirty odd years now, and even after my purchase, I saw that there are still plenty left!

Well, anyway, enough of the rambling.

Below are four covers: three sent from the General Post Office in Bandar Seri Begawan and one from the Airport Post Office. Two are registered, one from each branch.

Enjoy!

Sent from the GPO, but processed at the MPC (Mail Processing Center). I chose the Brunei and Philippine stamps from the set because I was sending the letter from BN to the PH, and I chose the SG stamp because I like the architecture of the building depicted on it.

Sent from the BSB GPO. The lady postal clerk was very patient with me and was even kind enough to write "the Philippines" in the local script, which looks similar to Arabic.

Sent from the GPO, processed at MPC.

Sent from the Airport post office.