Woodworking is an integral part of Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes. Whether you’re exploring the night markets or museums, you’ll find an abundance of woodworks that give you a peek into their culture.
For first-time visitors like myself, it’s easy to get drawn to the rows upon rows of souvenir shops selling wooden items, like keychains, toys, and magnets. You’ll notice that almost everything is made of wood.
One particular item that caught my attention in Taipei is the wooden postcard. Backstory: I’ve been working on a postcard project for years. I send myself postcards from every city in every country I visit. When I get enough postcards, I’ll bind everything into a book.
Unlike the typical postcards with photographs of tourist spots, Taipei’s wooden postcard is an assembly kit. One side has the blank card that you can write on and where you can affix the stamp. The other side has the wooden construction kit that the recipient can transform into a 3D creation. There are many designs to choose from. Post offices allow this size and bulk to be snail-mailed.
I’m a sucker for puzzles and assembly kits, so I purchased my own wooden postcard set. There’s only one problem: I don’t fully trust the postal service in the Philippines. I’ve lost so many postcards and letters that friends have tried to mail to me through the years. They were either stolen or lost. My mom told me I’d definitely lose this precious wooden postcard, so I shouldn’t attempt to mail it.
Instead, I packed the wooden postcard in my luggage, purchased a separate regular postcard, affixed a stamp, and mailed it at the Taipei train station. The regular postcard safely arrived in Manila last week.
As for my new wooden construction kit, I’m ready to build!
Have you ever mailed yourself a wooden postcard from Taiwan?