Prioritize. Figure out what is important for you to do/see/experience. We can't tell you what will be important to you. Remember that this part of the world is best seen slowly. It takes time - lots of time overland - to get from place to place.

If you want to be home by July, you have, at most 6 weeks to travel. Take a look at some guidebooks and see what you want to do. The usual backpacker route from the Chinese border to the delta in VN can take 4 weeks. Decide how much time you want to spend. Frankly, you'll have plenty to see and do if you stick with VN, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia and SIngapore. Adding Indonesia is probably unrealistic unless you cut other places.

take a look at the discount airline air asia....some of their hops might help you cover some areas a bit faster...

Agree, you're not going to see it all. Not to worry, it sounds like you'll be back!

First thing I would do is reconsider your plans to travel by land. The geographic distances are greater than you'd expect and surface transportation will eat up a huge amount of time. Air travel is obviously more costly but the budget carriers are good values.

Rather than picking countries, I'd choose places -- cities, islands, sites. Once you've established your top 4 or 5 picks you can connect the dots.

Think about what interests you the most (e.g., culture, nature, adventure travel, arts & crafts, religion, healing, urban Asia, etc., etc.). Don't forget to plan some down time on the beach or in a scenic spot as travel -- especially Asian budget -- is tiring and you will need to rest and recharge.

I live in Indonesia and would rate Java/Bali/Sulawesi highly as travel destinations; however, with the time and budget I'd suggest you concentrate on peninsular Asia and save Indonesia for the next trip. Just Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam could easily fill up 6 weeks as could Thailand/Vietnam.

Make a list of the places you want to see starting with the most important. With 6 weeks, I would not pick any more than 8 places. Flghts in Asia are better than in the US and can be had cheap on dscount carriers. As a suggestion, you might think of two weeks n Vietnam, two weeks in Thailand and two weeks spread amongst Laos, Cambodia and Singapore. This will provde lots of time to appreciate the wonders and prevent to much hustling around.

Wow, thank you very much for your replies. I feel I should extend my trip a few weeks. I honestly have no where to be till the end of August, I could stay longer, but Im not sure how far I can make it on $3000 dollars.

As for flights, should I get them in country at the airports or book them in advance? I'm guessing in advance will save the most money.

Would; 14 days in Vietnam, 10 in Cambodia, 10 in Laos, 14 Thailand, and 14 more to travel to Singapore suffice?

I have a flight budget of about 2000, getting to Tokyo and over to Beijing is surprisingly cheap, $800... So, I can get a few flights after China & one home.

Thanks again for the replies

You may get better info on traveling on a budget on Lonely Planet's thorntree. For the number of days you list you have $48 a day - that should be doable, but you will be sleeping and eating at the lower end of the scale. I've done SEA on $50 a day, staying in places with AC and en-suite bathroom, eating reasonably well and taking local transport, but that was a few years back and prices may have gone up. (I usually stay at the lower end of Lonely Planet's mid-range recommendations.)

Have you purchased your transpacific tickets yet? You might get an open-jaw ticket - maybe into Tokyo and out of Singapore. That will be much less expensive than a one-way ticket to Tokyo and a one-way ticket out of SIngapore.

Your rough outline is ok, but you'll only know if it will work by choosing the places (not just countries) you plan to visit. If you are just making say, three stops in VN - Hanoi, Hue/HoiAn/DaNang and HCMC, two weeks is fine. 14 days to travel from Thailand to Singapore is a lot of time. There are trains and luxury buses that can get you there in a couple of days... the question is how many stops you want to make.

Intra-Asia flights can be cheap, but you are right, the earlier you buy them the cheaper they are. Air Asia is the big discount carrier. Remember, though, once you buy those tickets they are yours - no changes of any sort, no refunds for any reason. So you'll want your plans solidified before you buy.

You will be able to save money by using land travel, trains and buses. It takes way more time and is less comfortable, but is significantly cheaper. This means that you will have to folow a linear path, HK, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Singapore. Do take a look at The Air asia website because you may want to travel by air for a leg or two. It really is relatively cheap. The Thorntree recommendation is a good one. That forum has many long term travelers on a budget and their experience may prove useful.

Also, Singapore is expensive, but Malaysia is cheaper, so taking your time traveling through Malaysia is good from a budget perspective, as well as for the experience. Land travel isn't just generally cheaper than flying, but gives you a better opportunity to meet locals. You may find my three month trip to SEA helpful (reverse direction) - http://wilhelmswords.com/asia2002/index.html - I went back in '04/'05, but never wrote that up....

I should have bought my tickets last week... Yes I will purchase an open-jaw ticket from NYC-TYO and Out of SIN-TYO...

The prices of Air-Asia flights are almost to cheap to believe when it comes to travel within SE-Asia... Is this a common case? Also are they as cheap if I just grab flights in country ?

Looks like I'll be gone from April 30th to June 30th.

Thanks for the replies.

generally flights purchased way in advance are cheaper, but like all airlines it depends on traffic loads...

i find that with the frequent sales on sites like air asia you are best to purchase in advance...

btw, tiger air is having a sale starting today