Rupees. Yuan. Kip. Baht. Riel. Dong. All kinds of dollars: Australian, New Zealand, American, Canadian. Part of the joy of traveling for me is discovering new currencies; a joy that has been cruelly taken away in much of Europe. I know, I know, better for the economy, etc etc...not too keen on getting into a political debate about it. But the other day, when my dad fished out 25 Spanish-peseta coins with holes in the middle of them, and big colourful Greek Drachma notes, I felt a pang of regret that the upcoming generations will have no idea what 'pesetas' and 'drachma' are, in the same way that 'shilling' and 'farthing' now sound foreign to me. Call me overly romantic and unrealistic...but a country's currency helps to charactertise that country and make it unique. The Asian currencies are little works of art, often proudly displaying their crowning glories: Angkor Wat on Cambodian Riel notes, Ho Chi Minh on Vietnamese Dong, Gandhi on Indian Rupees. Platypuses on the Aussie 10 cent coin, and polar bears on the Canadian tooney ($2), also give me a little thrill. I love trying to work out how much 70 Baht is worth in British pounds, or withdrawing £80 in Laos and suddenly becoming a millionaire in Kip. May these currencies continue for as long as possible, and help to give countries their own unique flavour...
Figure this is as much as I can display legally of my newest project...preserving notes and sorting out coins from the countries I've visited in the past 2 years...a very addictive hobby...
Figure this is as much as I can display legally of my newest project...preserving notes and sorting out coins from the countries I've visited in the past 2 years...a very addictive hobby...
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