2 month Southeast Asia itinerary - what do you think?
 

Hi everyone,

This will be our 1st trip in Southeast Asia. We have 2 months. Bangkok will be our entry point. This is what I have planned starting mid-February 2014:
-Bangkok 3 days
-island (not decided yet) 7 days
- back to the north (Chiang Mai) 5 days
- leave Thailand and go to Siem Reap (Angkor) - train? Plane?
-Siem Reap 5 days
- leave Cambodge fot Vietnam - boat? Plane?
- Vietnam from South (Saigon) to North (Sapa) 21 days
- leave Vietnam for Laos - plane or ?
- Luang Prabang 5 days
- back to Bangkok 3 days

As you can see I don't know what is the best way to travel from one country to the other. Any suggestion on this itinerary and moderately priced accommodation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Musvin

We spent two months in southeast Asia a few years ago (Jan and Feb) and had a wonderful time - Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos - but rather than Thailand, we flew into Singapore and out of
Hong Kong - and included some Bali and Java.. . my report is here: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...mos-in-sea.cfm. Mostly we stayed in moderately priced places. Because our itinerary was so "over the map," we mostly flew between destinations. However, many of the flights (particularly on Air Asia) were cheap!!

There is no train to Siem Reap. You can fly inexpensively on Air Asia from Bangkok.

We did a similar trip in January/Feb 2012 to the one that you are planning. We did not go to an island. We spent beach time at Aonang. We spent 9 weeks on the trip and it was our first trip to SEAsia. We flew into BKK and home from Saigon. Not sure where you are flying from, but it might make sense to fly home from Vietnam and eliminate going back to BKK. We flew within SEAsia using the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass. You need to fly 3 segments to get the pass. We also flew Air Asia which had very inexpensive rates. We took an overnight boat from Luang Prabang to Chiang Rai, but you can also go to Chiang Mai.
We stayed in moderately priced hotels. You can read about our trip including where we stayed and how we got around at http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...ia-odyssey.cfm

You might consider this routing which is not as much backtracking and see a little more of the countryside. What is your budget for hotels so someone can recommend those in your price range

Bangkok 3 days Fly to Chiang Mai (Air Asia or Nok Air)
Chiang Mai 3 days Bus to Chiang Rai
Chaing Rai 2-3 days
Bus or Taxi to Laos border to get boat to Luang Prabang
2 day boat trip to LP

Luang Prabang 5 days
Fly LP to Siem Reap (Lao Air)
Siem Reap 4 days
Bus to Phnom Penh (6-7 hrs) Giant ibis or Mekong Express Bus
Phnom Penh 2 days
Bus to Saigon (6-7 hrs) Mekong Express Bus

21 days traveling in Vietnam ending in Hanoi
Fly Hanoi to Bangkok(Air Asia) then onward to Islands same day
Islands 7 days
Back to Bangkok for 2 days

Scotters has given you a good suggestion for reorganizing your itinerary for less back-tracking.

Thanks Scotters for this interesting routing. I like ending our trip resting on an island. Any suggestion? But I wonder if this will take us to a period where Sapa is pretty cold? If we land in Bangkok around mid-February, we would visit Sapa at the end of March.

Thnks,
Musvin