This itinerary is a labor of love from the renowned chef Andy Ricker of PokPok and Phongsila “Mapeng” Comack, one of Thailand’s most connected and compelling culinary ambassadors. Their deep love for the region, along with their many friends in the South, combine here for a week of culinary exploration that is sometimes rustic, sometimes luxurious, but always fascinating.
By foot, by plane, by private vehicle, by speedboat: this is a kinetic journey through the heart of Southern Thailand. From the slow-paced coastal gem Songkhla to the luxuries of modern and ancient Phuket, this week mixes places you think you know with locations that few outsiders get to visit. And through it all, we’ll combine Michelin-level private dining with the country’s best curries, humble glorious noodles and of course excellent seafood. These are experiences and hosts you simply cannot find anywhere else.
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Thailand
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Feb 2-9, 2025
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from $11,500
2 Rooms Left
Day
1
Phuket Revealed
- Airport transfer from Phuket Airport to the V Villas resort high above Ao Yon Bay with commanding views of the Andaman Sea
- Welcome cocktail at the rooftop bar with our hosts Andy and Mapeng
- First-night dinner at Nam Yoi Restaurant for a vibrant introduction to Southern Thai cuisine
Day
2
Phuket Old Town
- Breakfast at Mengala, Shan Café, nestled in Phuket Old Town, with a tasting of their signature Thai teas
- Private lunch at the legendary Ko La Hokkien Mii for wheat noodles with pork, prawns, fish cake, and oysters
- Coffee break at a Phuket specialty coffee shop
- Pre-dinner drinks in the gorgeousness of our friends’ Phuket Market Loft
- Dinner at the Bib Gourmand-awarded Charm restaurant, with a special Phuket-focused menu
- Optional nightcap at local cocktail bar in Phuket town
Day
3
Krabi and Trang
- Travel by speedboat directly from our resort across the water to Krabi
- Lunch in Krabi at Ban Ko Lek riverside
- Travel to Trang, check into the Parima Hotel
- Straits Chinese dinner at the home of the exceptional historian and chef Aum Trangkoe
- Soak up Trang Old town, including late-night dim sum and patanko snacks
- Optional, but essential: visit a maker of Muu Yang Trang (Trang-style roasted pork) at midnight
Day
4
Market Marvels & Coastal Charms
- Wander Trang’s vibrant morning market, more Muu Yang Trang
- Market breakfast of southern Thai dim sum
- Journey to Phatthalung, home of endless rice fields and the brand-new Dusit hotel
- Rice field dinner featuring food from the Phattalung Lagoon
- Transfer to Dusit Princess Hotel to unwind at the seaside
Day
5
Rice Fields
- Rice masterclass amid the beauty of Phatthalung’s rice fields with local slow food advocate K’bui
- Breakfast at a Khanom Jiin joint making the region’s excellent rice noodles, then travel to the elegant coastal town of Songkhla
- After a lunch of specialties like the century-old recipe Pig Tail Noodles
- Check into Baan Nai Nakhon, a boutique hotel that seamlessly blends Thai, Chinese, and Melayu influences
- Siesta to escape the midday sun
- Dinner at Ko Kluay, featuring the rich flavors of Songkhla cuisine
- Conclude the evening at the excellently named bar Grandpa Never Drunk Alone, indulging in creative cocktails
Day
6
Hat Yai Hues
- Breakfast at the guesthouse with our fabulous host Bang Mae
- Stop at the quaint fishing village Ko Yo to visit the Piksu, rebel female monks
- Lunch of Bak Kut Teh (literally: “pork bone tea”) in Hat Yai at Kotee Ocha
- Back to Baan Nai Nakhon
- Dinner in Songkhla at old-school Hokkien/Teochew restaurant Tae Hiang Aew
Day
7
Farewell Phuket
- It’s our last full day: start by flying back to Phuket (these plane tickets are on us)
- Leisurely lunch in Phuket Town, followed by shopping and walkabout
- Triumphant return to V Villa, our retreat above Ao Yon Bay
- Toast to the memories of your journey with rooftop drinks at V Villa
- Indulge in an epic final private dinner in a 120-year-old shophouse with Chef Chalee Kader of Michelin-starred Wana Yook in Bangkok
Day
8
Departure from Paradise
- This is it, our goodbye to Southern Thailand
- Farewell breakfast at V Villa
- Private transfer to Phuket International Airport for your onward journey
What’s Included
- All breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, as well as snacks and beverages between meals
- Expertise and services of our experienced trip leaders: at least one guide and one host per trip
- Additional guides and experts from the region
- Transfers to and from the airport or wherever you are on the day the trip starts and ends
- Daily Roads & Kingdoms gifts related to the themes, activities and narratives of each trip
- All gratuities for accommodations, meals, guiding or transport
What’s Not Included
- International airfare to and from the journey (note: some trips begin and end at different airports)
- Personal bar tabs (when not with the group)
- Personal laundry or spa services
- Personal travel insurance
Andy Ricker is an award-winning chef and best-selling author widely credited with introducing Northern Thai cuisine to the United States through his Pok Pok Restaurants. Formed in Portland in 2005, Pok Pok later operated in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New York, where it earned a Michelin Star. The two-time James Beard Award winner has worked as a pumpkin picker, DJ, house painter and construction contractor, ship’s cook, busboy, waiter, bartender, musician, commercial fisherman, outdoor store salesperson, maintenance man and short order cook. He first visited Thailand as a backpacker in 1987 and now lives full time with his wife and six cats in Chiang Mai city.
An avowed environmentalist and “culinary connector,” Mapeng Commak was born and raised in Bangkok but went to Chiang Mai 12 years ago to escape flooding and never left. He founded a nonprofit that connects local farmers with chefs in the region and helps them to transform endemic ingredients into artisanal products. We met him through Lee Ayu, proprietor of the extraordinary Akha Ama Coffee in the Akha highlands and soon realized there was no one better to join chef Andy Ricker in guiding the League through the country’s south.
Rising 39 meters above sea level, V Villas Phuket is a luxury resort with panoramic views across Ao Yon Bay. Situated on a private hilltop, the resort features 19 villas, each with a private infinity pool and 24-hour butler service.
Replete with swimming pool and adjoining gardens, the sleek, white-walled Parima Hotel is our base in central Trang, the southern Thai city that’s known as a gateway to the beaches, islands, and limestone mountains of Trang Province.
This new Phatthalung hotel by Thai hospitality dynasty Dusit offers a tranquil retreat and an ideal jumping-off point for exploring the biodiverse wetland paradise at its doorstep. We have everything we need: elegant, renovated guest rooms and a large outdoor swimming pool for soaking up the incredible views.
To create the first boutique hotel in the old town of Songkhla, owner Danny transformed this century-old building into a six-room property that seamless blends Thai, Chinese, and Melayu influences. Artworks, antique pots, and ceramics fill the interiors, leading out to an inviting courtyard garden.
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From Hanoi to the Highlands
Vietnam, the North
From the patinaed grandeur of Old Hanoi to the deep hilltribe valleys of Lao Cai province, this week is a master class in the vibrant present and the ancient past. Our hosts will be Hanoians, Hmong, Red Dao, and the people behind Song Cai spirits, the most knowledgeable culinary minds in Vietnam’s north. We’ll track down the roots of phở from black cardamom fields to water buffalo markets. We’ll dine on blue plastic chairs down Bun cha alleys and private dining rooms with Vietnam’s most dynamic chefs. An unforgettable deep dive with the people who know it best.
Inquire Now
Local Guide
Activist, Distiller, Researcher Daniel Nguyen
R&K Host
Chef, Writer, Raconteur Andy Ricker
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Funchal & Arco da Calheta
Mighty Madeira: The World in One Island
Madeira is the main island of an archipelago more than 400 miles off the coast of North Africa, a place so green that one of the first Portuguese sailors to see it exclaimed that it was just “one large garden”. And a garden it has remained, through nearly six centuries of human habitation, through slavery and sugarcane, through extinctions and evolution and the current cultural rebirth. Your hosts on this one-of-a-kind journey will be the Portuguese culinary icon André Magalhães and renowned PokPok chef and frequent League host Andy Ricker.
Inquire Now
R&K Host
Andy Ricker Chef, Writer, Traveler
Local Guide
Portuguese Culinary Icon André Magalhães
2 Rooms Left
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