Jan 31, 2025 • 5 min read
12.01.2025 - 13:01 / lonelyplanet.com
Jan 11, 2025 • 8 min read
Beyond mild pad Thai rice noodles – or papaya salad for those who can take the heat – Phuket offers an intriguing mix of cuisines, a product of the island’s tin-mining history. The Chinese-Peranakan love flash-fried Hokkien noodles and dim sum. The Muslim population goes for roti, which is sweet or savory pan-fried bread. Those from south Thailand swear by sour fish soups or crispy rice salads packed with spicy flavors. There are also a slew of fiery seafood dishes to try on this profoundly multicultural island.
Whether you prefer lower levels of heat, or you’re a fan of hot sauces, use these pointers on authentic food and drink in Phuket, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
Southeast Asia’s ethnic Mon are said to be the brains behind these thin, cloudy and pearly-white noodles they aptly termed khon om jin, or “cooked and clumped together.” Rather than bog-standard, kanom jeen are rice noodles with a tangy taste, the result of days-long fermentation which makes them highly addictive.
Gathering around long tables, chatting and laughing, families share them topped with luscious curries all over Thailand. Bangkokians call them kanom jeen namya (in this context, it translates as flour-based food with medicinal water) due to the curry’s chilli paste made with herbs and spices like fingerroot, lemongrass, turmeric and galangal, and because they enjoy the rice flour noodles anytime.
Phuketians, though, have a kaeng kra-ti (coconut milk-based curry) version traditionally for breakfast. Sides include crunchy veggies, pickled mustard greens, Thai basil leaves, and dried sardines.
Where to try it: Sansan Kitchen Halal Breakfast, an open-sided restaurant with great service in Thalang district.
Cha-chak is Phuket’s answer to the pulled milk tea known as teh tarik in Malaysia. First created there in the 1950s, when workers left without sugar countered plain tea’s bitter tannins with cow milk, pulled tea or cha-chak is a creamy, deep sweet drink with caramelesque notes. Thais concoct it by “pulling” boiled black tea, condensed milk and evaporated creamer between steel mugs until bubbles form a delightfully frothy head.
Unlike Malaysians who slurp it hot, locals in Phuket love that iced, fatty mouthfeel on a hot day. Artisans keep the exact recipe secret, but ingredients likely include black teas like Ceylon or ChaTraMue – tea made from butterfly pea flower, jasmine, and Thai green tea leaves. The cherry on top could be star anise, vanilla, cinnamon, orange blossom water or even crushed tamarind, making for a well-rounded drink.
Where to try it: Aroon Po Chana in Phuket Old Town, where you can watch restaurateurs in action.
Steamed or fried and stuffed with springy, hand-diced pork fillings, shaped into
Jan 31, 2025 • 5 min read
My wife and I have been living as full-time nomads since 2019 and have already visited more than 43 different countries.
When in Morocco, one might visit the El Badi Palace, walk the grounds of the Koutoubia Mosque or enjoy a meal of dates and chebakia at … McDonald’s?
Low-cost airline Norse Atlantic Airways will make it easier to fly to Greece from the West Coast thanks to a brand-new flight launching next summer.
Jan 24, 2025 • 5 min read
Bordeaux is synonymous with the famed French wine, but its joie de vivre cannot be bottled. A list of the best things to do in Bordeaux is sure to namecheck all the things the city is known for: historic monuments, bustling markets, attractive museums, boutique art shops that are as impressively stocked as the city’s galleries—and yes, plenty of wine. The Old Town, Vieux Bordeaux, is a charming neighborhood to explore, a place that blends the architecture of grand vintage buildings with contemporary wine bars where one can linger long after the last drop. On a trip to this world capital of wine, cups are sure to runneth over. Here are the very best things to do in Bordeaux, France. (And check out the best hotels in Bordeaux, while you’re at it.)
This is part of Why I Moved, a recurring series about Americans building a life abroad.
Rich Harrington had always wanted to visit Europe, but planning a trip with others felt daunting. “It’s hard enough coordinating dinner out with friends,” he said.
Jan 21, 2025 • 11 min read
On a recent trip to Tokyo, I stopped at a suburban McDonald’s and spoke with a few older patrons. I was interested in their memories of the brand’s Japanese debut in 1971. Between sips of coffee, a man in his 70s told us that he remembered it vividly: It was around the time that Yukio Mishima, then the nation’s most celebrated writer and a champion of Japanese imperialism, committed suicide after a failed coup. One era was ending, another was beginning, and the transition was marked by the arrival of an American restaurant radically different from anything they had ever seen.
Jan 20, 2025 • 6 min read
A day after Christmas, I started the final stretch of the SAS EuroBonus million-point challenge, where I would end up taking 20 flights on 16 different SkyTeam airlines over the course of 25 days in order to nab 1 million SAS EuroBonus points.