The Best of Northern Thailand

Well readers, now that we've officially moved on to Laos, it's probably a good time for the first installment of Tim and Laura's "Best Of" series. This week, "The Best of Northern Thailand".

Best Song: The Carpenters - Yesterday Once More (this song was playing everywhere. On one night we heard it three times. It was written in 1973 and it is not a good song. Honorable Mention: the cover of The Cranberries' "Ode To My Family" that some Thai lounge band was playing at a night market in Chiang Mai.

Best Transport: Red Truck (sorry Tuk Tuk)

Best Food: Pad Thai, Banana Chocolate Pancake, Cashew Chicken, Pork Fried Rice, Mango Sticky Rice, Burger King

Best Drink: Bottled Water, Singha (large), Barcardi Breezer Lychee Flavour, Pepsi Gold (I think this is actually Crystal Pepsi left over from 1986. Remember the commericial with the guy diving into the waterfall with Van Halen playing in the background?)

Best Accomodation: Nice Place 1 (maybe next year, Nice Place 2)

Best Brand-Name Knock-offs: Diesel, Billabong, Puma

Best Backpacker Fashion: Fisherman pants (Earth tones seem to be big this autumn)

Best Catchphrase: "Where are you going?!" (tuk tuk driver)

Best Name: Knox (this is a great name. Very strong. Knox Elgar. Not sure how the Thai people go about picking their English names - do they have to resemble their real Thai names? Second place goes to the guy named "Q". Was it a James Bond reference? Was it a nod to the great Quincy Jones? (side note: his autobiography is a great read). Either way, a pretty cool name.

Best Item Found at a Market: Live squirrel on a leash

Southern Thailand is going to have to work hard to top this.