5-7 nights after attending conference in Hong Kong
 

My adult daughter and I will be attending a conference in Hong Kong in early December and would like to extend the trip by 5-7 nights. We would love some suggestions on where to go - we like natural beauty, cultural immersion, wildlife viewing and photography and are OK with a more independent style of traveling. I know this isn't much time - we were looking at Hanoi and Halong Bay, Bangkok and Mai Chiang, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat and Bali as possible choices. We are totally open to other ideas as well. This will be our first time in SEA and we need to keep the price down while maximizing our time.
Thanks for any help you can give!

Sorry for the typo - I meant Chiang Mai :)

December is peak travel period for all of S.E. Asia if not the world. You could do Chiang Mai - Pai - Mae Hong Son on a really inexpensive budget while staying at good resorts. If you or your daughter can drive or has an international driver's license, then I highly recommend it. The weather should be perfect!

vietnam is generally a bit cheaper than thailand, but both would interest me. i could easily spend 7 days in either bkk or hanoi... i would skip halong.

depending on how much you will get out from your conference, you might just like to stay on in HK and explore it more fully and add a day or two in macau...

In 5-7 days I'd pick a one flight destination, like Siem Reap or Bali. Time spent back and forth to the airport will eat up most of a day.

Bali fulfills all of your wishlist except widelife (lots of monkeys, birds and lizards, though). With a week, you can split your time between the beach and inland areas without incurring another flight.

High season starts in Bali around December 15, though it seems to get earlier every year. The first week or so should be good, but you will get some rain.

R u a male or female? Makes a difference when suggesting travel plans to unusual or remote places. My first choice would be to reduce the travel time to a minimum, thus flying from HK to Bali will take one day, other distant places similar. U interested in something besides 'top of the line' hotel rooms? Some folks posting here think that only this will do for them. From HK you could go to Nanning by train, then switch trains to PingXiang and cross the border on foot to Vietnam. That would be an interesting day for u'all. Then easy transit to Hanoi for a few days and fly back to HK. Get a good look at 'real' China and Vietnam. Sure, it will be a bit of an adventure but hey...you might like it.