My wife and I spent the summer of 2007 in SE Asia and it was absolutely amazing.
Here's my brief breakdown of what to do and see in the countries we visited:
Thailand - Bangkok is ok to see for a few days. Check out the red light district, and the ping pong shows. You won't likely see anything like that again. The Grand Palace is pretty cool as well. For the most part though Bangkok is just a big, busy, polluted city.
We went to Chang Mai in Northern Thailand and really liked it. We took a private tour that took us 4x4ing up these crazy mountain roads to a remote hill tribe that we hung out with and gave some candy and toys to. From there we did some rafting and elephant riding. It was a 2 day tour and very worth it.
We also spent a week down in Koh Samui which is just really a beach hang out. Cool to go see and hang out at if you just want some downtime.
Cambodia - This was my favourite place by FAR. Angkor Wat is simply amazing. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen in real life. I highly reccomend it. You will be happy you went.
Phnom Pehn was interesting as well. Going to see the killing fields is pretty surreal. There are little pieces of bone coming up through the ground from all of the mass graves.
On the road out to the Killing Fields there is a gun range. We stopped and shot M-16's, AK 47's and I threw a hand grenade as well. Something you just don't get to do in Canada. Apparently they would take you up to the mountains to shoot a rocket launcher as well but that was $200 and I wasn't overly confident of the safety precautions they were taking.
Cambodia is VERY poor but it is well worth the trip. I keep in touch with our tour guide there. He speaks great english, is very knowledgeable about everything so let me know if you want his contact info.
Vietnam - We started in Hanoi which is a huge city filled with millions of scooters. You won't believe the traffic once you get there. There are a few sights to see in the city but I also reccomend taking a tour to Halong Bay. Very beautiful, and you can take a 2 day tour where you sleep on a boat. It's similar to houseboating.
From there we travelled south trying to make our way to Saigon.
Go see the Cu Chi tunnels (not sure of the spelling). This is a huge network of tunnels the vietnamese used to hide underground from the Americans during the war. You actually get to travel through them as well which was coll unlesss you are claustrophobic.
We stopped in a town called Hoi An. I highly reccomend going there as well. It is a small town on the coast that has a great beach. The whole town is made up of Tailor shops that you can get great custom made clothes at very inexpensively. I know the name of a couple of the better shops if you are interested.
Also in Hoi An is an orphanage that we visited. The kids love visitors and it was one of the best things we did on our trip. We brought them some fruit, milk etc... and they were very grateful.
Once you are down in Saigon there is lots to see in the city as well as a tour down to the Me Kong Delta. It was a great tour as well.
I would LOVE to go back there you will have a blast.
One thing to note. All throughout Thailand and Vietnam you can get foot massages and body massages for dirt cheap and they are fantastic. Be careful going to any place that is a "Sauna" and massage. My wife and I awkwardly found out that those places offer FULL body massages. I didn;t seem to mind as much as my wife did.
Have fun!
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