Take into account the cost of getting wherever you might get a bigger bang for your buck. I suspect that Bulgaria is very cheap, but getting there is fairly expensive unless you find a cheap flight from Germany to go to the Black Sea coast (only in season). The same goes for Romania. So make sure that the distance your dollar travels includes the fare from the States.

LLC,

If I were reading this when it was newer, I'd have suggested Romania, since it was in the Euro topic.

But to add to what eurotraveller replied - we just came back from SE Asia too for the first time, being fans of European travel. Loved it. Thailand was nice, Bangkok modern but full of surprises, the north more traditional but ready for visitors.

Cambodia was our big wow though, and probably our new favorite country (mbut many more yet to try, of course). Of course, most of SE Asia, outside of Bangkok, isn't about cafes and the same sort of things many people love about Europe so hard to say who'd feel the same.