New Seven Wonders of the World

I saw something on Yahoo news about a project to choose 7 new Wonders of the World. Apparently only one of the originals is still around. I was surprised; I guess I didn't really know what they were to begin with. And I just sort of assumed The Great Wall and the Taj Mahal were part of the original list.

So now everyone has an opportunity to vote if you register on the site.

I felt a little inadequate that I hadn't seen more of these in person seeing how I like to travel. I chose the following:

1. Acropolis
2. Angkor Wat
3. Roman Colosseum
4. Easter Island Statues
5. Great Wall
6. Stonehenge
7. The Taj Mahal

I've only actually seen the Colosseum, Stonehenge, and the Taj. Angkor Wat is #1 on my list of things I want to see in the world and the Great Wall is pretty high because I'm hot on China right now.

I do think the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and Timbuktu are amazing but not as much so as the ones I chose.

By far the most amazing place I've seen is the Taj. It's a place you think must surely be a letdown in person after hearing such raves about it. But it's a place where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There's something absolutely magical about it. I visited it for the first time in 1993 during my first trip to India and it was no less spectacular on my last trip to India in 2005.

One of the proposed wonders is right here in Mexico: Chichen-Itza. I say "right here", but this country is much bigger than you'd think. It takes about 12 hours just to go by bus to Mexico City and I know Oaxaca is another 8 and Chichen-Itza is further so my guess is that it could take about 24 hours or so. But I'm really interested to visit that eastern part of Mexico so hopefully I will get to see it sooner rather than later.