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Great Wall of China - 700 BC
(visited in 1997, 2002 & 2010) |
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Taj Mahal (India) - AD 1643
(visited in 2007 & 2018) |
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Petra (Jordan) - 312 BC
(visited in 2008) |
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Colosseum (Italy) - AD 80
(visited in 2010) |
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| Machu Picchu (Peru) - AD 1450 (yet to visit) |
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| Chichen Itza (Mexico) - AD 600 (yet to visit) |
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| Christ the Redeemer (Brazil) - AD 1931 (yet to visit) |
Movement Control Order (MCO June 1-28 2021), travel restrictions, grounded at home, balancing one's mental & physical health, day dreaming of your next holiday trip, speculating when borders will be opened, is it safe to fly again ? For wanderlusts or frequent travellers, it is going to be a stressful game ! Given the stay home order, perhaps it is a good time for me to reminisce my Good Old Days in travelling hence creating this post focusing on The 7 Wonders of the World.
KM's Dreams - pursuing my New Seven Wonders of the World & Old Seven Wonders of the Ancient World dreams. Dreams doesn't have an expiry date, so take a deep breath & try gain ! So far I had visited 5 Seven Wonders of the World, 2 more to go to make it to the Magnificent Seven ! Machu Piccu ? Chichen Itza ? Christ the Redeemer ? I have to keep dreaming of these 3 Seven Wonders of the World from now on ....
" A campaign started in 2000 to choose Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. Our world is filled with the most unique structures that are both man-made & natural ". Seven is a small number but for a tourist or traveller with varying travel interests & travelling style (also to take into consideration on security risk, logistic & travelling cost) in visiting all these 7 wonders, this maybe a tall order or easy meat to any traveller ! After a decade of intermittent travelling (mostly free & easy), I had so far able to fulfill my dreams of visiting 4 of the New Seven Wonders of the World ie 1) The Great Wall of China, 2) The Taj Mahal of India, 3) Petra of Jordan & 4) Colosseum of Italy ! The New Seven Wonders of the Modern World are :
1) The Great Wall of China (visited Sept 1997, Dec 2002 & Sept 2010)
2) The Taj Mahal, India (visited July 2007 & Nov 2018)
3) Petra, Jordan (visited Oct 2008)
4) The Colosseum, Italy (visited May 2010)
5) The Chichen Itza, Mexico (yet to visit)
6) Machu Picchu, Peru (yet to visit)
7) Christ the Redeemer, Argentina (yet to visit)
" The Old Seven Wonders of the World or the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is a list of remarkable constructions of classical antiquity given by various authors in guidebooks or poems popular among ancient Hellenic tourists. Of the original Seven Wonders, only one ie The Great Pyramid of Giza, oldest of the ancient wonders remains still intact. The Colossus of Rhodes (Greece), the Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt), the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Turkey), the Temple of Artemis (Turkey) & the Statute of Zeus (Greece) were all destroyed ". But to fulfill my dreams & out of curiosity, I had through my free & easy travels, visited The 1) Great Pyramid of Giza (Egypt) & 3 ancient sites or ruins of 2) The Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt), 3) The Temple of Artemis (Turkey) & 4) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Turkey)
1) The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt (visited Sept 2008)
2) The Statute of Artemis at Ephesus, Selcuk Turkey (visited the ancient site in Sept 2008 & Nov 2018)
3) The Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt (visited the ancient site in Sept 2008)
4) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Bodrum, Turkey (visited the ancient site in Sept 2008)
5) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq (yet to visit)
6) The Statute of Zeus at Olympia, Greece (yet to visit)
7) The Colossus of Rhodes (yet to visit)
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| The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt (visited in Sept 2008) |
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| Temple of Artemis, Turkey (visited the ruins in Sept 2008) |
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| Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt (visited the ancient site in Sept 2008) |
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| Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Turkey (visited the ruins in Sept 2008) |
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| Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq (yet to visit) |
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| Colossus of Rhodes, Greece (yet to visit) |
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| Statute of Zeus, Greece (yet to visit) |
During my backpacking years after my retirement in May 2006 (at age 56), I became a wanderlust & started my travelling "career" following this simple mantra ie M + B + F = C ie M stands for motivation, B for belief, F for focus & C for consequence. My simple philosophy then was to let my new passion in travelling to drive & "motivate" me to accomplish whatever of my travel dreams, "believing" in a new faith in travelling, "focusing" & targeting my visits on the Seven Wonders of the World, UNESCO World Cultural & Natural Heritage sites, visiting top priority countries ie China (22 visits thus far), India (3 visits), Japan (4 visits), Thailand (14 visits), Europe (7 visits) & USA (1 visit) in that sequence in order to achieve a desirable "consequence" ! I strongly believe in "you reap what you sow" & avoid the frivolous thinking of preaching NATO ie no action talk only !
Here goes the little stories of my Good Old Days leaving my footprints in 4 New & 4 Old Seven Wonders of the World .... hopefully my dreams of seeing Machu Piccu (Peru), Christ the Redeemer (Brazil) & Chichen Itza (Mexico) could be fulfilled in the near future - in the meantime, I just have to continue my day dreaming of these 3 Seven Wonders of the World ....
" The Wonder of the Wonders of the World " - pictures of my Good Old Days free & easy traveling to the 7 Wonders of the World (1997, 2007 > 2008 & 2010) "
1) Jordan - Petra, Wadi Musa (my solo free & easy visit to Jordan, Egypt, Syria & Turkey in Oct 2008) - a famous archeological site in Jordan's southwestern desert, dating to around 300BC, it was the capital of Nabatean Kingdom, accessed via a narrow canyon called Al Siq, contains tombs & temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs, earning its nickname the "Rose City", the most famous structure is 45m high Al Khazneh, a temple with an ornate, Greek-style facade known as The Treasury. Took a public bus from Amman City to Petra to fulfil my dream of seeing this spectacular New Seven Wonder of the World ! After the Petra visit, I took a ferry from Aqaba, Jordan to Egypt & visited The Pyramid of Giza in Cairo; Petra & Pyramid were my 3rd & 4th Seven Wonder of the World I visited thus far in my bucket list of travelling !
2) Italy - Colosseum, Rome (my free & easy solo visit to Europe in May 2010) - built in Rome under the Flavian emperors, an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome just east of the Roman forum, it is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built & still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world today despite its age !
3) China - Great Wall of China (package tours & free & easy visit to China in Sept 1997, Nov 2002 & May 2010) - built 2,600 years ago, a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states & imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe; the Great Wall of China was the 1st Seven Wonders of the World I visited (first visit in 1997) & had greatly inspired me to do more after my retirement in 2006 !
4) India - Taj Mahal, Agra (my free & easy visits to Northern India in July 2007 & Nov 2018) - originally the Rauza-i-munawara is an ivory-white on the southern bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra, it was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, it also houses the tomb of Shah Jehan himself, a lapse of 11 years when I made a 2nd visit to this magnificent World Wonder - more whitish looking compared to what I saw in 2007 ! I fulfilled my dream of seeing Taj Mahal in 2007, this was the 2nd Seven Wonders of the World I had visited, the 1st was the Great Wall of China (1997)
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| Taj Mahal - Nov 2018 |
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| Taj Mahal - July 2007 |
5) Egypt - The Pyramid of Giza, Cairo (my free & easy solo visit to Jordan, Egypt, Syria & Turkey in Oct 2008) - also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops, the oldest & largest of the pyramids in the Giza Pyramid Complex bordering the present day Giza in Greater Cairo, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World & the only one remain largely intact, Egyptologists conclude that the pyramid was built as a tomb for the 4th Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu & estimate that it was built in the 26th century BC during a period of 27 years ! Initially standing at 146m (481ft), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structures in the world for more than 3,800 years ! Took a public transport from Cairo to the Pyramid together with a hostel mate & enjoyed a camel ride touring the Pyramid area !
6) Turkey - The Statute of Artemis, Ephesus, Selcuk (my free & easy solo visit to Jordan, Syria, Egypt & Turkey in Sept 2008 & Nov 2018) - also know as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek Temple dedicated to an ancient, local form of the goddess Artemis, little remains of the temple though there are many fragments, especially columns in the British Museum; main purpose was to visit the ancient port city of Ephesus with well preserved Roman ruins, once upon a time the most important Greek city & the most important trading center in the Mediterranean region ! Ephesus is an ancient city in Turkey's Central Aegean region, near Selcuk, its excavated remains reflect centuries of history from classical Greece to the Roman Empire when it was the Mediterranean's main commercial center to the spread of Christianity, paved streets wind past squares, baths & monumental ruins, the Temple of Hadrian was built before 138AD for Emperor Hadrian's visit. I visited The Statute of Artemis's ruins site & Ephesus ancient city site in 2008 & after a lapse of 10 years, made a re-visit to Ephesus in 2018 together with my wife on a package tour !
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| Ephesus, Turkey (2018) |
7) Turkey - The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Bodrum (free & easy solo visit to Jordan, Syria, Egypt & Turkey in Sept 2008) - also known as Tomb of Mausolus, built between 353 & 350BC in Halicamassus for Mausolus, a native Anatonian from Caria & a satrap in the Achaemenid Empire & his sister wife Artemisa 11 of Caria, the structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros & Pythius of Priene; Bodrum city features twin bays with views of Bodrum Castle, this medieval fortress was built with stones from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, completed in the 4th century BC, the city is also a gateway for nearby beach towns & resorts; I made a special visit to Bodrum just to visit the ruins site of the Mausoleum & also a feel of this port city in Turkey !
8) Egypt - The Lighthouse, Alexandria (my free & easy solo visit to Jordan, Egypt, Syria & Turkey in Oct 2008) - sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, built by the Plolemaic Kingdom during the reign of Ptolemy 11 Philadelphus (280-247BC) which has been estimated to be at least 100m high, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, for many centuries it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world ! The lighthouse was severely damaged by 3 earthquakes between 956AD & 1323 & became an abandoned ruin, it was the 3rd longest surviving ancient wonder (after the Mausoleum at Halicamassus & the Great Pyramid of Giza), in 1480, the last of the Lighthouse remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site. In Oct 2008, I took a local train from Cairo & visited the Citadel of Qaitbay in Alexandria - just to get a feel on this marvellous place belonging to the ancient world !
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| 3D Construction of The Lighthouse, Alexandria, Egypt |
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| Reconstruction based on a Comprehensive 2013 Study |
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| The flag of the Alexandria's Governate |
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| Citadel of Qaitbay, Alexandria, Egypt |
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