Did 7 weeks and went: Thailand, Vietnam (down the cost from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh), bus to Phnom Penh, flight to Laos, bus to Thailand, back to Laos, flight to Thailand, home. haha.. we sure didn't plan it out very well did we?
Suggestions?? I have a few-
1) This discussion starts and ends with this:
http://www.gibbonx.org/ Trust me. You won't find this in Lonely Planet books, because they try to keep it sold on word of mouth (lucky for you I was there). It is unbelievable. You will be there during rainy season, same as me- soooo.... as long as your okay with a bunch of hiking you will love it as it's about as adventurous as you can get. You live in treehouses w/ total strangers and zipline across gigantic canyons in the middle of a jungle. It's a bit pricey but DEFINITELY worth every cent and a blast. Plus you get to play/wrestle with a bear (however he might be an adult now.. sooo... maybe not).
2) In Vietnam, if you are drunk and separated from buddies, and looking for a cab, and then you see one about 5 feet in front of you and a cop asks you to pay him some money and he'll find you a cab; so then you tell him no thats okay there's one right here and then he looks serious and says "NO... PAY ME AND I'LL GET YOU A CAB", and so you do and get a ride home and then 2 chicks follow you back to your hotel and corner you in an alley and begin trying to grab at your crotch saying "Sucky Sucky"... do not take them up on their deal. You may need to use force to get them off of you. Sorry was that a run on sentence?
3) Take malaria medication, and if it happens to be doxicyclin (sp?), and you get a sore throat or it feels like you have a fishbone caught in there, it's the malaria medecine causing esophogenitus (sp?) and you just need to plug through it. If you are taking malarone, its expensive but usually has less side effects I think. If you are taking anything else, you could get some messed up side effects.
4) I'd take a pass on Cambodia, extremely poor and when it rains hard, their streets become rivers of garbage since they don't really have a garbage system it seems. I'm talking strictly about Phnom Penh... I never got to Angkor Wat but heard it was a beautiful place so I'm sure it's worth seeing.
5) Go to Full Moon Party in Thailand. You can try the mushy shake if you want from the left side of the beach up the steps, its a milkshake w/ mushrooms, but I don't think it really works and you'll be loaded off the sandpail-red bull-vodka-coke stuff anyway.
6) I don't do drugs (I guess other than trying milkshakes), not even pot, but if you do, don't when you are over there. Thailand has a huge drug war going on (as in, government trying to deal with their ridiculously problematic crystal meth issue in addition to taking a super hard stance on drugs) and they take it VERY seriously. You can be thrown in jail VERY quickly and it's just an overall good idea to stay away from that stuff period, but especially in foreign countries.
7) Get Lonely Planet books. Huge.
8) Go to Laos and neighbouring countries... they were awesome. Vietnam, awesome. Like I said skip Cambodia but that's just my opinion.. it was a lot sketchier.
9) The ping pong show is insane. I don't want to get into details because it actually is kind of disturbing.
10) Pack light. Honestly, don't get a HUGE backpack like everyone does because you can buy the SAME big travel backpack when you get there for a LOT cheaper. Buy a small bag, take 1-2 shirts, 1 pants for flights to stay warm, 1 shorts, 1 shoes/sandals.. and then prepare to take FULL advantage of the EXTREME cheapness that is SE asia.. when my friend picked me up to go on the trip he said I looked like I was headed to my first day of school not travel for 7 weeks.
11) My 7 weeks, including flight, cost about $7,000 in May/June 2007 and the conversion to Thai baht was about 30-$1CDN. Now mind you I split accomodations with a friend, but many overestimate. We lived quite well. Everything there is so cheap. EVERYTHING.. and everything is up for negotiation.
12) Cabs will charge double for the same distance if more people get involved. This is normal, but try to negotiate cabs down and call their bluff. Tell them no and start to walk away if there are other cabs around and you will get a better price.
13) Buy dress clothes, LOTS of dress clothes, and then store in a locker at an airport until you come home. The storage could get expensive (around $200 or so for 4 weeks) but then you don't have to lug it around. The dress clothes- make sure you get top quality material, and then be sure to check them carefully when you receive them to get what you paid for. You can negotiate unreal deals on clothes. Almost all my dress clothes I wear today are from Thailand and they fit perfectly and look great. In fact it is cheaper, literally, to buy a plane ticket, fly over there, buy the dress clothes that are custom fit and tailored, and come home than it is to buy clothes here in Canada. That is fact. Example- I got an armani suit, 4 pants, 5 or 6 shirts, 2 ties for $500CDN.
I got more good info if you'd like too..I could go on..