After reading few articles and a bit of research I am planning the following trip:

Trip:

Flight: Hamburg – Frankfurt, Frankfurt – Singapore, Singapore – Bangkok

Backpacking: South of Thailand – West Coast / East Coast, Langkawi

Flight: Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur

Backpacking: Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Singapore

Flight: Singapore – Frankfurt, Frankfurt – Hamburg

Time:

I will go in February. I want to start the journey in the first weekend in February and stay all in all 4 weeks. This gives me 3 weeks Thailand and 1 week Malaysia / Singapore.

After a little bit investigation I am struggling with my plans to go to Vietnam. Vietnam itself is a beauty and its definitely worth going there. But there are certain problems, that keep me thinking about alternatives.

Flights: The flights to Vietnam are quite complicated. I have to go to Singapore and then to Ha Noi or Bangkok. That makes the whole trip more expensive and with stop overs I loos some time. And i am note 100% sure of getting my luggage where I want to have it.

Prices: Stefan Loose travel guide says about prices in category 3 rooms:

Thailand: 17 $, Laos: 15 $, Kambodscha 15 $, Vietnam 35 $

I heard once, that Vietnam is the “Thailand” of 10 years ago. But I think the price level is the “Germany” of yesterday. So in addition to extra flight costs I have to pay more $ per night.

So I guess I will watch out for alternatives. Here are my top candidates:

• Cuba (have to check price level)
• South africa (maybe I can stay at a friend on the Seychelles)
• Malaysia (this time the west coast)
• Thailand (classic)

So my decision is made. I want to visit Asia in 2012 again.

But this time I want to see the Mekong region around Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. I was in Singapore and Malaysia in 2008 and now I want to see even more of Asia.