In our high speed lives it’s easy to forget the natural beauty that exists around us. Fiberoptics, iPhones, 156-story buildings in Dubai are impressive, but they’re all humbled by the world’s natural wonders. The New7Wonders, an organization dedicated to creating respect and enthusiasm for the beauty of our planet will host a worldwide contest to name the world’s 7 natural wonders.

The foundation was established by Swiss-Canadian adventurer Bernard Weber in 1999. CNN quotes him as saying, “The closer we bring the beauty of our planet … to the people, the more likely they will say, ‘Oh, we have to do something to conserve it.’” We couldn’t agree more. With more than 300 Million suggestions from more than 6 continents, it looks like it’s going to be an interesting run. You can suggest wonders at their site. Voting will be open in early 2009.

We’ve highlighted Ha Long Bay in the picture above (taken by W.R. Ali). Halong Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a bay located in the Gulf of Tonkin, 170 kilometres east of Hanoi, in northern Vietnam near the border of China. The bay has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1,500 square kilometres in size. “Vịnh Hạ Long” (Ha long Bay) means “Bay of the Descending Dragon” in the Vietnamese language. Hạ means “descending” and Long means “dragon” in Sino-Vietnamese.

The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean.

The bay was World Heritage listed by UNESCO at the 18th meeting of the Committee of the World Heritages of UNESCO (in Thailand on December 17th, 1994). It is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations. [more info]