Five Wonders of the World

Five Wonders of the World

Before beginning my goal-achieving journey I had seen two of what are now known as the “New Seven Wonders of the World”. These were decided by a worldwide vote, and announced on 7^th July 2007 (07.07.07).

After finishing school I travelled around Europe for a while, and visited the Colosseum in Rome. Yes, that’s me in the pictures aged eighteen.
Colosseum (Wikipedia)

After marrying in 2000 my new wife and I took our honeymoon on the Red Sea in Israel. From there we took a day trip to see Petra in Jordan.
Petra (Wikipedia)

Both are spectacular, as are the other five that I still had to see. They all eventually made it onto my list of 100 goals.

Why not add one of these amazing Wonders of the World to your bucket list. Or better yet, add all seven and make it a longer, bigger challenge.

For me, I’m not yet finished with them, as I really need to go back to at least two of them to appreciate them fully.

1) Chichén Itzá

Visiting Chichén Itzá was relatively easy, compared to some of the challenges I was to face later in my journey when visiting other wonders.

A flight to Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula was easy to find, as was a reasonably cheap hostel in the town. From there a day trip tour took me and a group of fellow travellers to the historic site.

I’m not a big fan of organised tours, but this was easy to arrange and very convenient, as I only had limited time before heading on to California. The tour was interesting and informative, with plenty of time to wander off on your own to explore.

Here’s some further info on Chichén Itzá:
Chichén Itzá (Wikipedia)
Chichén Itzá (New7Wonders)

See my “100goals” blogs about Chichén Itzá here:
http://ianusher.com/tag/chchen-itza

2) Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China stands out as one of the best experiences from my two years of travelling and goal achieving.

I made two visits to the wall. My first experience was on a cold grim day. I caught the bus from Beijing to Badaling, the most easily accessible and therefore most heavily visited and touristy section of the wall.

While this achieved my goal, it was a little disappointing. My second visit was a two day journey to a much wilder section of the wall with my local tour guide and friend Lancy.

This was how I had imagined the Great Wall would be. The weather was beautiful, the scenery stunning, the whole experience amazing.

I would highly reccommend making the extra effort to see a wilder section of the wall. The part we visited was at a place called Jinshaling.

This video gives a little taste of the cold snowy day at Badaling, and a small glimse of our day high on the Wild Great Wall.

I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would ever listen to a Chinese girl sing Chinese Opera on the Great Wall of China without another soul around for miles and miles.

Great Wall (Wikipedia)
Great Wall (New7Wonders)

A couple of blogs with a lot of pictures from my Great Wall visits:
http://ianusher.com/tag/great-wall

3) Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is probably one of the most difficult of the seven wonders to reach. From Lima, the capital of Peru, you need to fly to Cusco, and then head in to the mountains from there.

Unfortunately, just a few days before my friend Val and I met at Cusco torrential rains had caused devastating floods in the Urubamba River valley. Much of the railway line which provides access to the small town of Aguas Calientes just below Machu Picchu had been swept away.

Machu Picchu (Wikipedia)
Machu Picchu (New7Wonders)

We did eventually get to see Machu Picchu, but not quite in the way we had hoped or intended. However, the adventure was so much better because of the challenges we had to tackle and overcome together.

Here are my blogs about our Peruvian problems:
http://ianusher.com/tag/machu-picchu

4) Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer looks down on the beautiful city of Rio de Janiero in Brazil. This truly is a spectacular statue in a stunning location.

We chose to climb a little-used path to the summit of the mountain, but a shuttle bus is a much more sedate option. However you get to the top, you will be left breathless by the views, the location, and the enormous statue.

Because of the relative ease of getting there this is a busy site, so try to go early in the morning mid-week for a better experience.

Christ the Redeemer (Wikipedia)
Christ the Redeemer (New7Wonders)

Here are a few of my blogs from Brazil:
http://ianusher.com/tag/redeemer

5) Taj Mahal

Due to travel issues in Kathmandu, seeing the Taj Mahal became very difficult to achieve. The only way I could do so was by a mad-cap drive from Delhi to Agra.

I got to see the amazing building, but only from a distance, before having to return to Delhi to catch my next schedued flight.

Obviously I still need to return one day to complete this visit properly.

More info about the Taj Mahal here:
Taj Mahal (Wikipedia)
Taj Mahal (New7Wonders)

Here is my blog about the hectic day I had in India. Once again the experience confirmed that my journey was more about the people I met on my journey, rather than a simple tick-list of things seen or done.:
http://ianusher.com/tag/taj-mahal

More “fantastic fives”:

There are so many great experiences to enjoy in life.

In celebration of the five-year anniversary of the completion of my “100 goals in 100 weeks” challenge, I have written five blog posts, each containing five ideas for fun-filled adventures or experiences you could add to your own personal bucket list.

Feel free to add your own bucket list suggestions in the comments section below.

Here are the other “fives” posts…
Five fantastic adventures to add to your bucket list
Five fantastic fun-filled festivals
Five airborne adventures
Five underwater adventures

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