BEAUTIFUL CURRENCIES OF THE WORLD

A Costa Rican banknote for five colones. It shows Rafael Yglesia Castro, president of Costa Rica from 1894 to 1902 and a Guaria Morada orchid, Costa Rica's national flower. The current series of banknotes is being replaced throughout 2010.

A Canadian banknote for five dollars, depicting children playing ice hockey. The verse is from a Roch Carrier short story, and reads: "The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places - the school, the church and the skating rink - but our real life was on the skating rink."

A colourful five dollar Australian note. In 1965, Australia adopted the name "royal" for its currency, but it was later dropped in favour of the dollar.

A note for one Egyptian pound. All Egyptian banknotes are bilingual.


A 100 dirham note from the UAE, showing the World Trade Centre. A falcon watermark is placed on all UAE banknotes to help prevent fraud.

A five rupee note from Pakistan. The port depicted is Gwadar port, which opened in 2008.


A five ringgit note from Malaysia showing the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Petronas Twin Towers, and the Multimedia Super Corrido.

A 20 rand note from South Africa. Each in this series of banknotes features a different animal from the "big five".

A colourful, floral 1000 note from French Polynesia, where the currency is the CPF franc.

A 500 baht note from Thailand. This is roughly equivalent to £10 of British money.


A Surinamese ten dollar note. The dollar replaced the Surinamese guilder in January 2004.

A one lempira note from Honduras. The lempira was introduced in 1931, and is named after a 16th century ruler.

A New Zealand note for five dollars, depicting New Zealand's native hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin.

A Bahamian one dollar note, showing the Royal Bahamas police force band.

A one dinar note from Libya. The dinar replaced the pound in 1971.


Indian 1000 Rupee note bearing the image of the nation's father, Mohandas K. Gandhi in front and a combine harvester, an offshore oil derrick, a satellite, and a steel furnace, with a young girl working at a computer at the back.


An Indonesian note for 1000 rupiah. The word rupiah derives from the Indian rupee. This note shows traditional houses in the city of Palembang.

MURALS IN BANGALORE, INDIA

The streets of Bangalore in India are covered with colourful murals. In 2009, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) - the Greater Bangalore Municipal Body - embarked on the idea of painting the city walls with colourful motifs and designs.


Scenes from mythology, animals, monuments and sporting heroes are just a few of the themes of the huge paintings on the city's walls.


BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) came up with the idea of the murals to beautify the city and to stop people defacing properties with graffiti or posters.


The scheme also provides employment for local artists - more than 100 painters from Bangalore are involved in the scheme.


Authorities say they plan to extend the scheme to cover virtually every city wall.


Cricketers Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.


A painting of Sachin Tendulkar on the boundary wall of a sports ground.


A painting of Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue.


A mural of the Taj Mahal.


An elephant on roller skates.


A mural depicting a child holding a swan in the palm of his hand.


An auto rickshaw driver passes a mural depicting a tiger.


A man passes a mural depicting Royal Elephant.


A girl waiting in front of mural depicting Royals.


Men walk by murals of Mughal architecture.


A man walks by murals depicting deer.


A man standing in front of Ajanta type mural.

HOLLAND TULIP FIELDS

The history of Dutch Tulips is amazing. Until today, the dutch tulips remain one of the brightest associations when it comes to describing Holland’s top attractions. The biggest tulip fields in Holland can be found in the Keukenhof tulip gardens.

Keukenhof tulip gardens have been an exciting destination for visitors from all over the world since 1949. Keukenhof’s magnificent display of color, created by more than 7 million tulips and other bulbs in bloom, gives you that springtime feeling and lifts your spirits. Part of the park has been redesigned in 2005. Surprising and inspiring – brimming with ideas, trends and features that you can apply in your own garden. It’s an experience you will never forget. Keukenhof is for young and old, gardening enthusiasts and people who just want a pleasant day out. More and more people are looking for fun and a pleasant atmosphere in a magnificent park setting. A holiday in which they can take the most beautiful photos.

The area now occupied by Keukenhof was covered in forests and unspoiled sand dunes in the 15th century, when the land belonged to Jacoba van Beieren. People hunted here and came to gather herbs for the castle kitchen, which explains how the area got its name. Keukenhof can be translated as kitchen garden. Around 1830, the landscape architect Zocher was invited to design a garden. He was inspired by the English style of landscaping and he designed the basis for the present park.

Hi Friends

I am going for a vacation. I will miss you all very much. See you soon.

AMAZING TIGER SPLASH SHOW

Called ‘Tiger Splash’, the event at Out of Africa Wildlife Park, in Camp Verde, Arizona, U.S. is a big hit with visitors. For 30 minutes every day a pair of the zoo’s six Bengal and Siberian tigers take to the 50ft pool for fun and games. The big cats launch themselves from the poolside and, with enormous paws outstretched, look like they could do some serious damage. But, despite appearances, these pictures actually show zoo keepers playing with the stripy creatures in the water.

HOUSE INSIDE A CHURCH

St Nicholas Church in Kyloe, Scottland, was built in 1792. It was taken on as a conversion project in 2002. Now it has 4/5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. 2 reception rooms and two kitchens inside.