Suggestion for Southeast Asian Culinary Tour?

Why go there when there's Timmy Chan's?

 

[Educational Post]
Speaking from experience, the best restaurant in Bangkok is Celadon in the Sukhothai Hotel. I was in Asia recently for a humanitarian trip and had the opportunity to pair it with some vacation time. I had American Express Platinum's concierge plan the vacation and then I took their itinerary and shaped it into something that I wanted to do. Their services are free.


GOOD DAY

 

Affordable World /Affordable Asia has customizable packages. My wife and I just did a Thailand and China trip. I am sure you can find an all SE Asia trip. Just don't add any of the optional tours, if you wanna hit up more culinary destinations. Our group was about 16 people (not sure how small of a group you are looking for). Damn, I miss that Thai cuisine. So good!

 

Myanmar is where it's at.

 

May I ask how much the tour was and what it included? (Flight/Hotel/Meals) And was it only stops in China and Thailand?

 

my mom is actually on a vietnam tour right now with my uncles family. I will let you know the name of the company and how the tour was when she gets back into Houston next Saturday.

 

I've had some really excellent Burmese food in NYC...that's about as close as I'd get.

 

It was about $1,300 per person for 12 days*. That included round trip flights (non-stop from Houston to Beijing, then from Beijing to Bangkok), breakfast and lunch everyday (except for lunch 1 day in China), hotels, and buses/shuttles. It also included daily tours (there were also additional optional tours with varied prices). The guides (also included) we had (1 in Thailand and 1 in China) were both excellent too. Their Asian destinations are to China, Japan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. They had packages for Thailand/Cambodia, Thailand/Taiwan, Thailand/China, China/Japan, and probably others I can't remember.

*purchased through Groupon and saved $300 per person.

 

That's actually a really good price! Round trip flight alone is roughly $1,200 per right now

 

I highly recommend it. The accommodations were 4 star, the people were very friendly, and the food was amazing. A good tip we discovered was to hit up the hotel bars. We talked to a lot of Western businessmen that could tell us must see/experience places we otherwise wouldn't have known about.

 

One of the most underrated Culinary destination is Indonesia . You have the Malay style meals on the west side, the middle side has Balinese Lombok Menado food and savory Makassar meal. Then the East side has plenty of unique Melanesian influence. Myanmar Cambodia Thai Vietnam all have similar styles .

 

Can't go wrong with PF Chang's.

 

I can't vouch for Myanmar as I've never been there. But when it comes to SE Asian food: Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia are on the top of the list. Thai cuisine has a good fusion of styles from China, Thai, and other parts of SE Asia. Vietnam is very unique in terms of style and one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite food countries and mine too. In Vietnam, stick with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City when it comes to dining. Singapore and Malaysian food are very similar as they used to be one country.

 

I'm Malaysian so I'll try to keep it not too bias.

Indonesia is great and cheap, but its a huge country and if you really want to sample different types of Indonesian food, you might need to fly to different parts of the country. Cleanliness is hard to stomach if you're a westerner. Bali is probably what Bangkok is to Thailand.

Singapore is probably the cleanest, safest in terms of food, but know that its very expensive, commercialized for tourist consumption unless you know exactly where the locals go to, and even then I've found it not to be too authentic. Country is also so small you don't need more than 2 nights here.

Thailand is famous of course, but know that their actual Thai food is so spicy, that not even a lot of asians from neighboring countries can take it. The country is huge, but you could drive if you're willing. Roads aren't as good and drivers speed recklessly. I had a friend who passed away in the hospital after getting into an accident on a bike trip from Kuala Lumpur to Laos.

Myanmar is a bit like Thai food, but they use more coconut milk and not as spicy, sort of like Malay food. I spent time in Yangon and it was nice and I drove out to find a beach with a driver. I think the country has alot of nice places to go to but they're not easily accessible.

Vietnam is exciting food wise, especially the street food. I loved Hanoi. I always tell people to go. You can try to take their bus to travel the country. The flight I remember from Hanoi to Saigon was more expensive than Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi.

Phillipines food I did not like, so I can't say anything about it but some people do. Not saying its not good, just not to my taste buds.

Malaysian food, just like Singaporean, has been advertised as a mix of Chinese, Indian and Malay food. The Peninsular side especially is true to that, but street food is getting commercialized and getting harder to find. Its a bit dying in that the food makers arent exactly passing on their trade down to their children. Most of the action are indoors, and know that Malaysians love to eat out more than the other countries. You can have a look at the neighbourhood night markets where you can sample a lot of simple, local snacks. Fruit, local, of course is cheaper and durians, you need to try it once. You can easily get a car and drive on your own. If not get uber. Do not get cheated by Taxis. We hate them with a passion ourselves.
The Borneo side is more famous for seafood. Other types of food is more similar to Phillippines or Indonesian. Traveling on that side is more difficult.

 

This is great stuff, thank you!!!

And the rest of yall too....thanks, keep it coming. Planning a walkabout over there next year, gimme ideas.

 

Hey TVT. Have been to both Vietnam and Thailand just recently. Weather wise its best to go anytime November or no later than March to avoid the HOT HOT HEAT!

Apply and pay for VISA ahead of time for Vietnam. You wont need a VISA for Thailand or the other countries. Comb though the ASIA subforum and Thailand forum here; https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/asia-705/

Hit me up if you have questions.