Amazing stuff we've eaten in Thailand

Thailand is without a doubt one of the best places in the world to tantalize your tastebuds. Street food is cheap and wonderful, markets are an endless source of joy and regional variety is awesome. Like the Chinese, Thai people seem to eat out for almost every meal so there is always a street stall nearby whipping up their own specialty for next to nothing.

This is FAR from an exhaustive list...just a few of the things that we found, loved and had the presence of mind to write down at the time. 

1. Yam Naem Khao Thot: we first tried this awesome spicy salad as we wandered through the Sunday night market in Chiang Mai. It's a potent mix of fermented pork, ginger, peanuts and curried rice croquettes and at 30B (AUD$1) for a serve, it absolutely rocked our world.

2. Kaeng Hung Lay Moo: we tried this delicious pork curry at the Women's Correctional Facility in Chiang Mai. The prison is famous for rehabilitating their inmates and training them in massage and if they massage as good as they cook...well, just get there. Although it didn't mention chili on the ingredients list this one packed a more-than-modest punch and also contained a healthy dose of ginger and pickled garlic. Yum.

3. Som Tam: the ubiquitous green papaya salad is found at almost every restaurant in Laos and Thailand. All the best ones so far have been at various night markets, prepared in enormous mortar & pestles so you can watch the art of combining shredded green papaya with sour lime, hot chili, salty fish sauce and sweet palm sugar to create the perfect balanced dish. 

4. Tom Yum Soup: a lot of places serve surprisingly average Tom Yum Soup, but when it's good, it;s freaking amazing. So far the best one was in Chiang Mai...but the search will continue until we leave the country!

5. Spicy fish soup: I wish I knew the Thai name for this unbelievably good soup that we ate in Nong Khai. The fish had been fried and then added to a broth absolutely loaded with chili, ginger and lemongrass- it didn't take long to break out in a sweat but the advantage of lunch along the Mekong is that there is always a breeze to cool you off!