The Top 10 Lists
Date: January, 2006

Here is my ever-changing, ever-incomplete and ever-subjective list of the best and worst the world has to offer.

BIKE RIDES in the world
Pacific Coast from Vancouver to San Diego
Avenue of the Giants. California, USA.
The Friendship Highway. Tibet.
The Outer Banks, North Carolina.
Land's End to John o'Groats. Great Britan.
Almost any bike trail in Europe.
Iron Mountain Highway. U.S. Route 16A. Black HIlls, South Dakota.
The Great Ocean Road. Australia.
Ocean Road and Cape Point. South Africa.
South Island, New Zealand

BEST COUNTRIES
South Africa
Ireland
Greece
USA
Mexico
Thailand
New Zealand
Kenya
Lesotho
Argentina
India

WORST COUNTRIES (at the time for bicycling)
India (India wins the award for most paradoxical country and so gets the best and worst awards in the same categories.)
Zimbabwe
Egypt
North Vietnam
El Salvador

CITIES
San Francisco
Cape Town
Istanbul
Buenos Aires
London
Bangkok
Melbourne
Hanoi

BEST FOOD
Braais (South African barbecues)
Asados (Argentinian barbecues)
American food (of course)
Saltenas (Bolivian Cornish pasties)
Falafel sandwich (Egypt)
Thai food
India
Rice and beans and Mexican food in general

WORST FOOD
And the award goes to Zimbabwe because there was no food.
Beef soup (East Africa. Cow hacked up with machete, boiled in water. With a cup of salt.)
Mealy Maize (East Africa)
Beans on toast (England)
Rice and beans (Nepal) (Due to an economic crisis there was hardly any food.)
India (can be very dirty with few ingredients and lots of flies)
Ecuador salmonella sandwich
Intestine and tripe soup (Tanzania)
Chicken fetus (Vietnam)
Fried cockroaches and grasshoppers (Thailand)
Flies (Australia)

ARCHITECTURE
The Milennium Wheel and the Parliment Building (London)
The Great Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
Machu Picchu (Peru)
The cathedrals of Europe
New York CityGolden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

NATURAL WONDERS
Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA)
Yosemite National Park (California, USA)
Redwood Forests (California, USA)
Sedona (Arizona, USA)
Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA)
Table Mountain (South Africa)
Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)
Victoria Falls (Zimbabawe)
Sani Pass (Lesotho)
Franz Josef Glacier (New Zealand)
Uluru (Ayers Rock, Australia)
The cacti forests of Baja California (Mexico)
The fynbos plant kingdom (South Africa)
Mount Everest (Nepal, Tibet)

And because you keep asking... BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
Mexico
USA (there's no place like home)
Argentina
Czech Republic (also wins the award for most ugly men)
Thailand
Vietnam
South Africa
France
Holland
Italy
Scandinavia

And to be fair... BEAUTIFUL MEN as far as I can tell
USA (of course)
Kenya
Italy
Australia