A Faster Moveable Feast: Vietnam Thailand & Malaysia by Air – Tour 5

Tonight our Faster Food moveable feast: Vietnam, Thailand & Malaysia small group tour will stay in; HANOI – Our Foodie tour officially starts when you are met at the airport and transferred to our accommodation in the heart of the Old Quarter.

A welcoming dinner will be had in the evening. This dinner will take the form of a roaming street food tour with a local guide. Think, all you can eat, delicious real Vietnamese delights. 

Tonight our Vietnam small group tour package will stay on; OVERNIGHT SLEEPER TRAIN – A free day to get the feel of this amazing city. Be careful crossing the roads is the best advice here. Shops and local culture abound.

The millenium old, Old Quarter is the best place to start and get a feel of the local way of life along with a stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake. Pay respect at Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum as you start to explore the many sights and attractions.

A few being the Ho Chi Minh Museum, One Pillar Pagoda, Dien Huu Pagoda, Tay Ho Pagoda among many other pagoda’s and temples as well as St Joseph Cathedral.

Another museum or three may include the History, Fine Arts, Women’s, Army, Airforce, Loa Lo Prison or Museum of Vietnamese Revolution.

Our local friends will point us in the right direction for lunch and you may also like to get some take away for dinner on the train. 

Tonight our small group travel tour will stay in; HOI AN – We will arrive late morning in Danang and then transfer to the quaint and charming UNESCO World Heritage-listed town of Hoi An.

If there is just one super highlight of Vietnam then Hoi An is among the contenders. Meandering through the delightful streets of yesteryear is the way to go. Dinner will be another new taste treat. Banana flower salad perhaps? 

HOI AN – Hoi An has many unique dishes of its own with the nearby Bamboo restaurant as good a place as any for a pre-dinner drink before another delicious local dish they serve up also.
Hoi An is also the place to look out for that tailor-made suit you were thinking about or just relax with a coffee by the Thu Bon River.
Hoi An is a favourite with all travellers.
For sightseeing, there are numerous attractions on an easy half day meander around town.
Start at the Phac Hat Pagoda followed by the Truong family chapel, the assembly hall of the Fujian Chinese congregation, the Quan Cong Temple, the Quan Am Pagoda and history museum, the Museum of Sa Huynh Culture, the Hoi An Church, the Japanese covered bridge and finish with a local coffee or USD $0.40 glass of beer Hoi (“fresh”, draught beer), Riverside.
The above sights are only a few of the many available. Most places are free to visit while a few charge a small entrance fee or ask for a donation. 

onight our Moveable Feast small group tour package will stay in; BANGKOK – After breakfast, we will transfer to Danang airport for the short international flight to Bangkok arriving mid-afternoon.

In the evening you will get your first taste of real Thai food with dinner at a local restaurant. 

BANGKOK – A totally free day to explore the Big Mango or Krungthep as the locals call it.
Within easy walking distance of our riverside accommodation are dozens of restaurants to choose from.
Our free time sightseeing could be spent visiting Wat Phra Kaew & the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, MBK or Siam shopping centres or take a boat ride with the locals on the Chao Phraya express to some local shops/markets in Nonthaburi.

A few of the dozens of other options may be Vimanmek Teak Mansion, Chinatown, Wat Traimit, Jim Thompsons’ House, Silom or Sukhumvit road shops.
OR? Maybe just lay back and have a traditional Thai Massage before a bowl of Tom Yum Goong or a plate of Pad Thai noodles. The choices will be endless in regards to meal time.
A month in the capital wouldn’t allow you enough time to see and taste all it has to offer. 

Tonight our group tour will stay in; CHIANG MAI – After breakfast we take a short domestic flight to the northern capital of Thailand, Chiang Mai, in time for lunch.
Free time for sightseeing after that by foot, Tuk Tuk or Sawngthaew, (share taxi) may include Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Jet Yot and Wat Phan Tao among dozens of others.
If you don’t temple out there is still the mountaintop temple of Phra That Doi Suthep, approx fifteen kilometres away in a national park.
Chiang Mai also has its own style of northern Thai cuisine.
Khao Soi noodles being just one of the must try local dishes. ( Yellow egg noodles in a coconut curry sauce).
For Shoppers, it doesn’t get much better than Chiang Mai.
After time at, Central Festival, Worowat Market, Airport Plaza and/or dozens of other speciality shops all over the place you can barter hard at the famous Night Bazaar. Arts and crafts, textiles, silver and clothing are but a few of the many bargains to be had in Chiang Mai.
Like Hoi An in Vietnam Chiang Mai never disappoints visitors. A real Thai experience. 

CHIANG MAI – A free morning to sightsee and/or shop.
In the afternoon a cooking course is included before enjoying the results for dinner.
This will be a great chance to chim, (taste), a number of unique Thai dishes you may never see back home.
We will turn this into a traditional Thai style dinner with lots of dishes to share that you have prepared plus more. And Thai style also says that as we invited you we pay for all the drinks tonight.
A REAL Thai dining experience. Go easy on the buffet breakfast and lunch. 

onight our Faster Food small group tour package will stay on; PENANG ( FOOD FOOD FOOD) – Our small group tour will take an international flight to Penang and on arrival transfer to Georgetown, the big and busy capital of Penang Island.
Georgetown has an atmosphere unlike any other place known to Baktrax in Malaysia and possibly all of S.E. Asia. It’s one of our all time favourite destinations and the food capital of the world according to many.
Go back in time as you walk the fascinating streets of the state capital.
Just a few of the nearby main attractions include:
Fort Cornwallis, Penang Museum,Khoo Kongsi Chinese Clan House, Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. Then maybe, Acheen Street Mosque or Hainan Temple and dozens more mosques, temples and colonial buildings.
Or head up to Penang Hill at 800 metres to get some great views of the island. Do this either by a long hard walk or take the historical Funicular Train where a monkey or two is often seen scampering around the tracks.
With all these attractions/atmosphere it’s hard to believe that food is the true highlight but it is.
At a local level, this is about as good as it gets. Cheap delicious local food. Malay, Chinese or Indian like you have never seen it before.
Indian food, in particular, has to be seen to be believed in the numerous buffet style restaurants. Take a look at what the locals are doing before you decide what sauce you want. Just say same as him for the best results. Far too many choices for here.
Your Tour Coordinator will point you in the directions for a 4 course Moveable Feast dinner at four different street vendors and restaurants or maybe just visit little India for a bottomless banana leaf vegetarian meal followed by some Indian sweets. 

PENANG – A free day to explore Georgetown or get a local bus further afield to explore the island at large and more FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!

China Town, Little India or the modern shopping malls of Komtar, Prangin or the more upmarket Gurney Plaza will keep you busy today.

The nearby street stalls and shops along Penang road will give shoppers a chance to spend their Ringgit just to begin with. Which restaurant will be the toughest decision today though. 

PENANG – Another totally free day to sight see, shop and EAT.
Or perhaps take it easy with a day at the beach. The more famous Batu Ferringhi beach is only a short bus ride away or lesser-known beaches and local villages that dot the island coastline await the more adventurous explorer.
Local seafood at some of these villages will offer yet another taste test.

You will know by now why Malaysians are so passionate when it comes to their food and most agree that Penang is about as good as it gets in one single place.
Maybe a spicy Laksa followed by a cooling sweet Ice Kachang for lunch today? 

Tonight our Faster Food small group travel tour will stay in; KUALA LUMPUR – After breakfast, our small group tour will actually slow it down a bit as we meander down to the jetty for the short ferry ride across the Straights of Melaka to Butterworth to board our bus to Kuala Lumpur arriving late afternoon. 
Better known to all as simply K.L. A bit like a smaller version of Bangkok is K.L. with loads to see and do. The Petronas Twin Towers is the must-see for most.

Other attractions include:

For an even higher view of the city try the 421 metre high Menara KL (KL Tower) built on top of the Bukit Manas Forest Reserve.

Thean Hou Temple
National Art Gallery
Islamic Arts Museum
National Museum

Then in no particular order, it may be the colonial Kuala Lumpur Train Station, Merdeka Square, Masjid Negara (National Mosque), Masjid Jamek (Friday Mosque) or stroll around the Central Market or Lake gardens where the K.L. bird Park; www.klbirpark.com is the worlds largest walk-in aviary with almost 200 species of birds.

But just like Bangkok; A month wouldn’t allow enough time to see all the sights.
This time our accommodation is in the middle of Chinatown so a multitude of Chinese food, shops and market stalls are only a few steps away. More Malay and Indian food is only a few extra steps away also. The best Ice kachang we know of in K.L. is also nearby in a local department store. Make sure you have a scoop of ice cream on top of this unique Malaysian dessert.

KUALA LUMPUR – Today is free to explore, shop and the last day for more food. The city centre is reasonably compact which makes for an interesting stroll in itself.

FOR SHOPPING:
NearbyPetaling street in Chinatown has a multitude of street vendors.
Other opportunities for shopping include the nearby Central Market or the further afield Royal Selangor Pewter Factory.
With the new, cheap and extensive light rail and monorail things are now a breeze to get around to see all the attractions.
Well worth a visit also is the Batu Caves, a short bus ride out of town. Walk up the 272 steps to the impressive Temple Cave. The Batu Caves is where the yearly, three-day Thaipusam Hindu festival is centred around.
Just a few of the many Shopping Malls include:
Berjaya Times Square.
Mid Valley Megamall.
Pavillion KL.

In the evening a final farewell dinner will be had. What to have for our last dinner will be the hardest decision in 14 days. 

Our Faster Food Movable Feast travel tour of Vietnam, Thailand & Malaysia by air is officially over when we check out of our K.L. accommodation. An airport transfer is included also.

We started with, in our opinion only, the bronze medal of S.E. Asian local food in Vietnam, before silver in Thailand and then we got the gold in Malaysia.

Were you prepared to forgo one hotel breakfast to experience a traditional Indian breakfast of Roti Chanai and/or Masala Dosai, Vardai or Idly?

Diet time, whatever way you went, probably.