New 7 Wonders Of The World: What, No Angkor Wat?

Filed under: Cambodia Written by:Chris Mitchell.

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After months of speculation, increasedly frenzied voting and nationalist fervour, the final choices for the New 7 Wonders Of The World have been announced. But Angkor Wat is not amongst them

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Yesterday on 07.07.07 the final choice of the New 7 Wonders Of The World was announced. By now you've no doubt read that they are the Great Wall of China, India's Taj Mahal, Rome's Colosseum, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Peru's Machu Picchu, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid.

I have to say I am somewhat taken aback that Angkor Wat did not make it into the final 7 - it's the world's largest religious building, nearly a millennium old, the cradle of Cambodia's civilisation and it is easily the most visually spectacular of any of the 7 nominated above, with the possible exception of Petra. I find it mystifying that the Statue of Christ Redeemer could manage to win out - perhaps it's because it's a much more iconic figure, or perhaps because most Cambodians are too poor to take part in much of the voting.

I guess there will be continual debates about the merits and demerits of how the votes were gained and whether some countries had a better chance than others simply because they had better infrastructure or less poverty etc. While I am personally peeved that Angkor did not make the final cut, I can't argue with the great deal of good the New 7 Wonders competition has done for firing imaginations about travel and the world around us

I've seen three of the final list of 7 wonders (mainly just to annoy Mike).

The Great Wall Of China, which is gobsmackingly spectacular, especially if you opt to do a 10 kilometer hike along it in zero degree weather when the snow's stop falling the previous day... (must write that up).

The Taj Mahal in India, which I saw in typical tourist fashion on a quick day trip from New Delhi to Agra. It is a truly beautiful building, and the story of love behind it is quite moving, but the crowds make it near impossible to quietly enjoy it. The moral would be - get there early.

I loved Petra in Jordan so much I went twice - once in 1991 6 months after the first Gulf War after seeing it used as the backdrop of a spectacular pop video by The Sisters Of Mercy, and then again in 2002 on a trip to Israel and Egypt. I wrote a fairly bad article about it at the time - and thanks to YouTube, you can watch the video too without even leaving the page.

You can read more about why I think Angkor Wat is so great in my brief guide to the best Angkor temples. Even if it didn't make it into the final list of the New 7 Wonders Of The World, I guarantee it will be a highlight of any trip to South East Asia.

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Posted on July 8th, 2007.