Asia - Help with Southeast Asia itinerary - Thailand, Cambodia, HK, ?

I'm taking my wife to Southeast Asia for 2 weeks for our 10th anniverary in July/Aug. The focus of the trip will be sightseeing, dining, and shopping (plus diving in Bali) Here's what I have so far:
SQ21 EWR-SIN connecting to SQ942 SIN-DPS (both J) - definite
6 nights at St. Regis Bali - definite
SQ(MI)943 SQ-SIN; 1 night at St. Regis Singapore - tentitive
MI616 SIN-REP; 2 nights in Siem Reap - tentitive
Bangkok Air REP-BKK; 3 nights in Bangkok - tentitive
Thai Air BKK-HKG; 2 nights in Hong Kong - tentitive (but flying out of HK)
CX840 HKG-HFK in J - definite

We really want to stop in Siem Reap to see Angkor and stop in Bangkok and Hong Kong to see these cities.

Questions (please keep in mind that we will be there late July/ early Aug):
1) am I pushing too many flights into the time period? I've found direct flights for each leg, but I'm worried about travel time eating up too much of these days - I've heard that check-in times are usually lax - are we OK here?
2) is Singapore worth stopping over for a night to avoid a 5+ hour flying day? With the above itinerary, all flights once we're there are under 3 hours with no connections. I worry that we take a full day for the stop, there might not be a ton to see, and we might want the time in other places.
3) between Bangkok or Hong Kong, in which should we stay longer?
4) am also thinking of Saigon for 1 night, but I'm reluctant to give up any of the above stops. any thoughts?

Thank you - would appreciate any input from the board!

1) You definitely have a lot on your plate. you need to maximize efficiencies.

2) Of all the places on your itinerary, Singapore is the most skippable. Try to get a morning flight from DPS to SIN (SQ?) that you can make an MI connection to Siem Reap. This trip is not that taxing, so except for transit in Singapore, don't stop. I'd make Siem Reap 3 nights.

3) Then proceed as you had planned, 3 nights in BKK and 2 in HKG. I'd advise getting the earliest flight out of REP to BKK, to maximize your time there. And the earliest flight out of BKK to HKG, likewise. I'd put the edge on time to Bangkok, partly because I think there are more "sights" to see and partly because it's a bit less efficient to get around. HKG you can cover quite a bit very efficiently since it's so well set up.

4) Adding Saigon--forget it! You don't have the time and you'd need to get a visa in advance for just one day. This isn't worth the extra hassle and cutting time away from something else.

Considering the total time you're in SE Asia, that's covering a lot. It's not so much the flights as that you don't really have enough time in some of the places.

Check-in times are not lax on most Asian carriers. If you're late to the desk, or the gate, with SQ, they will deny boarding even if the plane is there and pax are still boarding. A couple of years ago, SQ imposed a new requirement of being at the gate at least 10 minutes before departure. Reports on FT have it that frequent fliers on premium tix have been denied boarding when not at the gate on time, even if already checked in. This is not something to mess around with.

Six nights in Bali is a good amount of time. It's a big island with tons to see. And you'll be getting into the high season of Aussie summer holidays, so getting around might involve fighting traffic. And you don't want to be constantly on the move. Some down time to just relax and enjoy the spirit of Bali is essential. Because the rest of the schedule is tight, you could take out one day, but don't cut it down to less than five days. On my and Mr. Megatop's first visit, we felt that five days allowed us to only scratch the surface of Bali.

Singapore has tons to see and do, and I'm not referring to the glitzy malls on Orchard Road. Sure, there's lots of shopping, but there's also great dining of all sorts, and excellent siteseeing too. On my and Mr. Megatop's first visit to Singapore, we had three full days and two nights. Not nearly enough. We now return regularly for weekends of shopping and dining. If you can't spend at least two days in Singapore, I'd give it a pass this time and save it for next time. That could give you much-needed extra time in Bangkok or Hong Kong.

Two full--FULL--days in Siem Reap is enough for a very quick walkaround of the main temples of Angkor. No time for the outlying temples. And no time for slowing down to study the reliefs, the architecture, and experiencing the place in a meditative-like state. A couple of years ago, Mr. Megatop and I had three full days and two nights to do a quick overview of Angkor and environs. It's on our list to go back to because we'd like to take it at a slower pace.

I'm struggling with three nights in Bangkok and two nights in Hong Kong. When I think that one of those days is split by the travel time between 'em, I realize that it's really not enough time in either place. Mr. Megatop (who is Thai, admittedly) and I (American) love both places. You cannot do either one justice in three days. Much as I hate to cut out either one, I'd combine your time and spend it in one place. You might find HK a lot like NY in some ways, but BKK is very different. That would probably give Bangkok the edge. Believe me, there's PLENTY to do in Bangkok for five or six days. On my first visit, I spent nine days there, and actually enjoyed repeating the Grand Palace so I could do it at a slower pace.

My reluctance in recommending Bali-Angkor-Bangkok alone is that you're seeing only developing and poor places in Asia, not the modern cities testifying to Asia's rise in world commerce and politics. That might be a reason to restore Singapore to the schedule, shave a day off of BKK (cutting it down to four), and add it to Singapore, saving HK for the next time. Bali-Singapore-Angkor-Bangkok would probably work out very well.

Two nights in Siem Reap during the rainy season don't leave a lot of time to see the temples at the usual tourist pace, which usually involves trekking back to the hotel at lunch. You can expect an hour or so of rain the the afternoon, as well.

I'd recommend you plan on how you arrive in town, get settled and also how you depart. Then try to figure out what time you need in between. Frankly, I'd skip SIN and a lot of the rest to see Angkor at more than a rush-rush pace.

Thanks all for your input - you have confirmed a lot of my concerns.
MegatopLover - I understand your point about KH - I don't mind keeping Hong Kong short as we lived in Manhattan for 12 years and I think we would get more out of Bangkok and Angkor than HK. It would be nice to finish with a little luxury, though, as it is our anniversary trip.
I guess that leaves two options:
1) As jiejie noted, there is a SQ/MI flight through SIN that leaves Bali at 9:15AM and arrives Siem Reap at 3:45PM, so we could then do 2 nights in Angkor, taking the last flight out to BKK, giving us two full days (plus hopefully sunset the first day), then four nights/three days in Bangkok an early BKK-HKG flight, giving us two nights/three days in Hong Kong.
2) There is a Thai Air flight that goes direct from Bali to Bangkok, letting us bypass the Singapore stop altogether. Obviously, getting to Angkor is easy from Bangkok. The only challenge is getting from Angkor to Hong Kong, which seems to be a minimum of 7 hours with connection in BKK. There doesn't seem to be any easier/quicker way of getting from REP to HKG. Any other thoughts on a stopover from REP to HKG other than backtracking to BKK?

Don't try to pack too much in. Definitely forget about Saigon, and IMO Singapore.

6 nights Bali - 3 nights Bangkok - 3 nights Siem Reap - 2 nights Hong Kong is the max number of stops I would suggest.

It might be tempting to see more, but sometimes more is less. If you get Southeast Asia, you will return anyway. If you don't get it, you will be glad you did not pack the itinerary even more.

Look at flying PG (Bangkok Airways) REP-PNH and then Dragonair to HKG. It might work for you if the times line up. Dragonair has different flights/times on different days of the week.

It's a great part of the world. Have fun!

A thought about finishing your trip with a bit of luxury: there are more luxury hotels in Bangkok than just about any other city in the region, and they are all available at very reasonable rates by world and regional standards. You don't need to go to HK for luxury.

Regardless of how you play this, I'd cut out Singapore--agree that one night pitstop is useless. If you prefer to put a Bangkok stopover before REP, then take the TG flight DPS-BKK and do 3 nights there. Then take a morning flight BKK-REP and then 3 nights there--I would not spend less than 3 nights at Siem Reap. It is possible to fly from REP-PNH on Bangkok (Siem Reap?) Airways and then PNH to HKG on Dragonair. Dragonair changes the times on the PNH-HKG route depending on the day of the week: if it leaves in late morning, you'll have to take the earliest PG flight out of REP to connect and you'd get to HKG mid-afternoon, if it's the early evening flight, you have additional later PG options out of REP but would get into HKG pretty late (10 pm-ish). And it's still going be a journey of about 7 hours including stop in PNH. (You can also engage a private car to take you from SR to PP.) Be aware that your journey is quite a ways into the future, and these schedules are subject to change esp for internal Cambodia flights and anything in/out of PNH. You will probably have to baggage claim at PNH then recheck--no big deal, PNH is a small airport. Given the choice of that vs backtracking to BKK, I'd probably choose going through PNH since the chance of delays, hassles, etc. at BKK airport are higher. Final two nights in HKG.

Frankly, after thinking some more about it, I'd be tempted to add a night in Bangkok and take it away from Hong Kong. It's easy enough on future trips to Asia-Pacific region to route through HKG for another quick stopover. If you can add one more extra day for the overall trip, make it 4 nts BKK and 2 nts HKG.

As for sunsets at Angkor in July, don't bet on it, nor sunrises. I was in Cambodia for much of this July, including a week in Siem Reap, and if not raining, the cloudiness will make sunrise/sunsets an unlikely proposition. That said, you don't need to witness a sunrise or sunset to appreciate the place. I've been to SR in the dry season and much prefer the area and the temples in the rainy season. Better atmosphere, lush, and fewer tourists.