I like this song. Why isn't there more french music, or indeed of any other language in our chart music?

How many wonders of the world are there *really*?

I was just having a ponder about whether there was an official list of the wonders of the world.. so I did a Google search, and that almighty behemoth that is Wikipedia sprung an enormous list of potential wonders on me.. who knew? If you're reading this; sure, you could just go search it up right now. But I'm interested... So I'll speak about it a bit. If you don't mind.

There are apparently 7 Ancient wonders of the world:

1. Great Pyramid of Giza
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia
4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
5. Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
6. Colossus of Rhodes
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria/ Ishtar Gate

Of course, the only one of these that still exists today is the Pyramid(s) at Giza [which I'm desperate to see, as Egypt is rather high indeed on my list of places I want to go]. It's a little bit depressing to think that there was all of this incredible stuff around as recently as a few hundred years ago, and yet we'll never see them. History's great for a variety of reasons, but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Now I know about all of these ancient monuments, I have an irrational craving to see them. Maybe my true calling in life is as an archaeologist...

Anyway, those are only the ancient wonders; next, the 'later wonders':

1. Stonehenge
2. Colosseum
3. Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
4. Great Wall of China
5. Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
6. Hagia Sophia
7. Leaning Tower of Pisa

(others including Taj Mahal appear in other versions of this list)

This group is rather more recognisable to the modern onlooker. But, as I browse them myself, I realise I haven't seen any of these sites despite the fact they do still exist... So what am I doing with myself? I live near Stonehenge, yet I've never even contemplated going! What's wrong with me!!!

Next, the most complicated part... I'll just give you a list of some of the many 'wonders' of the modern world according to different sources:

• Great Wall of China
• Petra
• Christ the Redeemer
• Machu Picchu (YES, I'VE SEEN THIS ONE)
• Chichen Itza
• Colosseum
• Taj Mahal
• Pyramid of Giza

On top of these, there are wonders of the natural world, modern wonders of the world, underwater wonders of the world... The list is seemingly endless

Other than making me realise I want to visit a heap of places in the near future, these lists really do put things into perspective a bit. I feel a bit small.

So, I'm back from my voyage as you may well know by now- yet I think I left part of me behind...

I get the feeling my latest expedition has changed me somewhat- and I think it's for the better. Even before my month away I definitely had that 'travelling bug' phenomenon which so many gap yah folk rave about, but now things have moved up a notch.
I feel altogether a lot more restless, and sitting about, looking for a job and watching t.v. all seem a lot less fulfilling compared to before (although I must admit two things- these weren't necessarily the most exciting things to begin with, and also not much time has passed since my return). All in all, there's still time for me to resettle at home, but I somehow doubt I'll ever be quite as happy staying in one place again...

I find myself constantly thinking about where I want to go next, what I want to do there, how to get there, how to fund all of it... I've found a bit of an identity, as silly as it sounds, as a nomad. And I like that image of myself, more than any previous opinions I've had.

When I was away, I was living in the present.
When I got back, I was living in the past.
Now, I live for the future.


Yes, I sound pretentious. No, I couldn't care less. Peace.

Wingman (or mouse...) of the year

Surely the greatest (drinking) game ever invented

I present to you: BANANAGRAMS.

There's a distinct lack of time on this trip to make a half decent effort at updating this

For that, I apologise. Although I'd like to point out the layout of the keyboards here in South America is far from ideal for typing with any level of speed. They always have sticky keys, have all of the letters worn off from overuse and almost everything is in a completely different place that can only be accessed using a bizarre combination of the Alt and Shift keys. Anyway, enough about the keyboards, as I'm sure I have better things to talk about from the last month other than this. It's be a pretty boring post otherwise. Here's a good picture to lighten the mood.

Right now, I'm in Sucre, which is the constitutional capitol city of Bolivia. La Paz is generally recognised as the capitol,but Sucre retains this role, albeit in a more dignified sense. I feel there's far too much to talk about in one blog post, as I haven't managed to keep this updated as I go, but there's definitely certain parts that be mentioned in due course; of course, the part of my trip that I'm arguably looking forward to most is yet to come, but I'll have plenty of time to regale my adventure down Death Road in the coming days.

Here's a picture of me making a fool of myself:

Suffice to say, I'm having an incredible time,I've met some very bizarre yet wonderful cannibalistic Americans and I really don't want this to end any time soon! Here's a picture of a bunch of us at the salt flats,which are southern Bolivia. It's not too bad at all during the day, but at night it's one of the coldest, most inhospitable places you could imagine. We stayed in a hotel made of salt, which was pretty cool, but it had no heating. Less cool (or more, if you want)

Peace, all.