Taipei 101

Eleven years ago on October 17, 2003, the pinnacle was fitted onto the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei. At 508 meters or 1,667 feet, it surpassed the Petronas Twin Towers (451.9 meters or 1,483 feet) in Kuala Lumpur by 56 meters or 184 feet and had been the tallest building in the world until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010.

Postcard TW-851403 from Taiwan shows an elegant illustration of Taipei 101, highlighting the design that symbolizes the combination of modern technology evolution and Asian tradition  The repeated segments, eight of them in total, mimics the rhythms of an Asian pagoda that bridges the earth and the sky. The tower also reminds people the color and shape of a bamboo shoot that represents perseverance, learning and growth.

In comparison, Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas, the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States, stands at 350.2 meters or 1,149 feet.

Mother & Young Baby

Earth Day celebration continues as postcard TH-165704 from Thailand arrived yesterday, showing a pair of mother and baby Asian elephants, the largest living land animals in Asia.

Since 1986, E. maximus,  one of the three subspecies of the Asian elephant, has been listed as endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2003, the wild population, mainly living in Sri Lanka, was estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals. According to a 2008 study, The population had declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be around 60 to 75 years. Like many other threatened species, habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation was a major factor.