18 days in Thailand-Cambodia
 

We are a senior couple, 62 and 64, healthy, and planning to spend 18 full days in Thailand and Cambodia. Our current plan is to spend 5 days in Bangkok (we have the use of a friend's condo), 3 days in Siem Reap, 5 days in Chiangmai, and 5 days in the Phuket area.

Our stay in Bangkok is fixed at 5 days, but we could be flexible about rearranging our time spent at the other three destinations. Would anyone who has visited all three places recommend trading a day from one spot to another? Or is this plan a reasonable one?

More info: our trip will begin the last week of January 2012 and end in the middle of February.

I think it sounds perfect to me. We spent three days in Siem Reap and found it good, it just depends if you have three full days or if one day is a travel day. Even two to see the temples is fine IMO but three full would be better.
We stayed five in Chiang mai and found it good. I am going to the Phuket area next month too and hope that five would be enough. We are doing 8 nights but also doing Krabi and Phi Phi.

I've been to 3 of your 4 (not Phuket) and I would definitely take a day from Chiang Mai and add to Siem Reap -- travel in/out of any SE Asian location eats up a full day, and in order to really see the variety of temples, you'll need the extra time. Not sure where you're staying in each -- I found being close to the general market and walking distance to the shops/restaurant area of Siem Reap really helpful -- felt more "stroll-able" than Chiang Mai ever did.
Also -- I'd recommend trying to do some kind of 1/2 day community service project in Cambodia -- the people will absolutely knock you out -- life changing stuff, truly!

I think that timing is good unless you loose a whole day in travel to Siem Reap. I would cut a day from Phuket if necessary. In Chiang Mai you can do a loop to Chiang Rai - beautiful.

Thanks to all of you with your advice. Based on your collective advice, I think we'll stick to our original plan. However, I've decided to fly into Krabi rather than Phuket.

hudsonga: thanks for the advice about a side trip to Chiang lai. I had been wondering about that possibility.

jenskar2: how did you arrange your half-day community service in Siem Reap?

live42day: one of our 3 days in Siem Reap is a travel day, but hopefully only a half day. We will fly from Bangkok to Siem Reap, hopefully getting there around noon.

That is what we are doing. We fly into Krabi for three nights and then take the ferry to Phi Phi, then the boat to Phuket and fly from there back to Bangkok. It looks gorgeous in Krabi. We booked a hotel on Railay Beach.

I did my project through the Ponheary Ly Foundation. Most of their volunteers stay a week -- but this was several years ago right after the economic meltdown and there were very few people traveling that year. Ponheary is a very well-known and well-recommended guide, if you do a search you'll see many references to her, and the woman who spearheaded the foundation posts here as well.

http://theplf.org/wp/volunteer/volunteer-basics/