I am planning a 15 day trip to S.E. Asia in June/July and wondered if anyone had thoughts regarding my itinerary. Am I trying to do too much? The plan is: (i) Bangkok (3 days); (ii) Chiang Mai (3 days); (iii) Bali (7 days); (iv) Malaysia or Vietnam for 3 days (opinions on either would be appreciated). I don't know whether (iv) is trying to add too much. Please advise.

It depends on what you most want to do. In my opinion, you can pretty easily see all of the sites there are to see in Bangkok in 2-3 days (depending on how rushed you want to be - don't miss the Jim Thompson house). <BR> <BR>Why 3 days in Chiang Mai? That sounds like a lot to me. We went there because we'd heard that it was the best place to do an elephant tour, but later found out that we could also have done it on Koh Samui, which also has beaches. Depends on what you're after though - although the beaches are very commercialized, there was no shortage of tourists in Chiang Mai. <BR> <BR>If you want more time to see more things, I think you could take a couple of days off of Bali - Vietnam would definately merit 3 days plus some of your Bali-allocated days. <BR> <BR>Let us know maybe why you selected the locations (what you're looking for there) and times & we'll be better able to help! Good luck!

I strongly suggest you go to Vietnam. The tourists are flocking there and soon the place will be one large spoiled tourist trap. I have been to Vietnam about 15 times in the past 3 years and love it. Strongly suggest HCMC, Hue, Da Nang, and maybe a day trip from HCMC to Can Tho in the delta. Hanoi is allright but not anything like HCMC. But if you have enough time go to Ha Long Bay, and to do that you will need to fly into Hanoi. <BR> <BR>Not sure what you are looking to do in Vietnam but if you have further questions, just drop me a line. <BR> <BR>And I agree that 3 days in Chiang Mai is a little much. <BR> <BR>Brad <BR>

Thank you both for your input. I appreciate it. I am thinking about cutting Chiang Mai down to 2 days (unless you think I should bag it altogether) and shave a day off of Bali and head to Vietnam for 3-4 days. Saigon appears to be more popular, but if I have time for a side trip from either, which would you choose: Hanoi or Saigon?

Not sure how much you want to spend on a side trip. From HCMC you can take a hydrofoil to the Delta city of Can Tho or My Tho for about $40 (I think) or you can spend about a $100 and fly to Hue and see the Imperial City. If you have the money and time I suggest Hue. Another option would be to fly to Da Nang for about the same price. I once flew to Hue from HCMC and stayed for a day there. Then took a 2-3 hour minibus trip over the mountains to Da Nang and stayed there a day and went to Marble Mountain. From there back to HCMC and then on to the Delta. <BR> <BR>If you have further question send me an e-mail. <BR> <BR>BRAD <BR>