help with xmas holiday

thanks in advance fodorites for helping me plan another holiday. we are a family of 4 (kids 19 and 21) who have 2 weeks (including travel from canada) for a trip to somewhere in SEA. despite pouring thru the forum, and guide books, I cannot come up with the perfect holiday yet. we like experiences over shopping, and do not need to spend much time with temples. we loved thailand, the highlights being the elephant training camp, our trek (hike, elephants, boat) from chiang mai, and our day with tong to secret village. we have enjoyed safari in south africa, and the nile in egypt. where do you recommend in SEA? we are looking at vietnam or honk kong/bali, though laos looks lovely. we can stay in basic accommodation if need be for an experience (elephant training camp) but prefer a higher level of accommodation. thailand had beautiful hotels! our budget would be in the $2-300/night (more if 4 pple could be in one room). we do not want to kill ourselves running from place to place, and would happily hire tour guides/drivers along the way. Help!

thanks again

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Kathie on Aug 17, 12 at 12:47 PM

Given your interest in wildlife, how about Borneo? Malaysian Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak) are the most accessible. With two weks, you could spend time in both. Espcially check out the Borneo Rainforest Lodge.
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jgg on Aug 17, 12 at 01:53 PM

We spent two weeks in Vietnam last Chrissmas with our kids who were 16 and 19 and a family friend who was 28. We too had been to Thailand and done a similar trip to what you described. We had a fabulous time in Vietnam and all actually loved it more than Thailand. We did Saigon/HCMC and Mekong Delta, Hoi An, Hanoi and Halong Bay. Our highlights were Saigon, Hoi An and Halong Bay. Here is a link to my trip report along with pictures:

http://www.fromhometoroam.com/category/travels/asia/vietnam-christmas-2011/

Still working on getting the Hanoi/Halong Bay portion up. Should be there by Monday.
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4bams on Aug 17, 12 at 04:21 PM

your trip report sounds great jgg. was it hard to organize all the hotels, transport etc? did you do everything yourself or use an agent? is 2 weeks total time away enough to be satisfying?

kathie i will look into borneo

no votes for the HK/Bali option?

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jgg on Aug 17, 12 at 07:50 PM

I did not use an agent, but organized everything myself. I did not find it difficult at all to organize everything. I contacted tour guides, cooking classes, etc. directly through email and found everyone extremely responsive and helpful. Most hotels I was able to book directly on their websites but then also contacted them through email.

We often go away for two weeks and always find it feels like we have definitely "gotten away". One time we did a 3 week trip to Italy, and while I was fine with it, the rest of the family felt it was a bit too long for them.

I actually looked at HK/Bali before we chose Vietnam as we really wanted to go to HK. But we nixed that idea because it was going to be pretty cold in HK, plus I could not find reasonable airfare from HK to Bali. Just two things to consider.

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