Asia - Where to go in SE Asia for our one year anniversary

Need some help from all the Southeast Asia experts.

My wife and I recently secured a couple of tickets from NYC to Singapore for our one year anniversary next October. We got a descent routing. JFK-ICN-SIN (Asiana/Singapore airlines), we then have 10 days using Singapore as a transit hub to explore the SE area. We then fly at night to Tokyo with Singapore airlines. Pretty excited to fly on the new A380. We have three nights in Tokyo then go back to NYC.

We are looking to do 3-4 days on a beautiful unpolluted beach (currently thinking Perhentian, Redang, or Tioman), so we have ~6 days open to go to another destination in SE Asia.

Our interests lie in authentic eating (street food to restaurants), natural beauty, cool architecture, traditional culture, and fun boutique hotels (though not “Four Seasons” expensive)

Some of the place we were thinking of were:

Cambodia (Angkor/Phenom Penh)
Vietnam (either Hanoi/Sapa or Saigon/Mekong)
Hong Kong
Bali/Lombok
Sri Lanka – We’d skip the Malaysian islands if we did this

Thailand – did this last year and would like to try something different

Most likely we aren’t going to be back in SE Asia for vacation soon, so looking to live it up a bit. If you could use this time as your last in SE Asia, where would you use it? If you could use this time to fit “some” of my criteria above, where would you use it?

Thanks for the help!

We just took a trip to Asia in early November, going to Bangkok, Siem Reap, and Hanoi.

By all means go to see the temples at Angkor. Truly fabulous and not to be missed.

We also went to Hanoi and loved it. I've been to Saigon and much prefer Hanoi. Smaller scale and much more charming. The lake in the middle of the city is lovely. It's the new favorite city in SE Asia for CHGal. And the weather in October is superb.

I've been to Hong Kong four times and love it, but I would pick Angkor and Hanoi if I could only hit two destinations.

...next October..

Cambodia (Angkor/Phenom Penh)
Vietnam (either Hanoi/Sapa or Saigon/Mekong)
Hong Kong

We are looking to do 3-4 days on a beautiful unpolluted beach (currently thinking Perhentian, Redang, or Tioman), so we have ~6 days open to go to another destination in SE Asia.

Our interests lie in authentic eating (street food to restaurants), natural beauty, cool architecture, traditional culture, and fun boutique hotels (though not “Four Seasons” expensive)

Why not head to Penang? For the anniversary aspect, stay at the E&O, and the food is spectacular. There are beaches up north towards BF that are fantasic, and the architechture is great.

Our interests lie in authentic eating (street food to restaurants), natural beauty, cool architecture, traditional culture, and fun boutique hotels (though not “Four Seasons” expensive)

Some of the place we were thinking of were:

Cambodia (Angkor/Phenom Penh)
Vietnam (either Hanoi/Sapa or Saigon/Mekong)
Hong Kong
Bali/Lombok
Sri Lanka – We’d skip the Malaysian islands if we did this

Thailand – did this last year and would like to try something different



I can't call it. North Vietnam or Cambodia, but I can't say which.

Hanoi has great street and restaurant food.
Siem Reap has the majesty of Angkor.
Vietnam is vibrant and bustling.
Cambodia is peaceful and slow paced.
Hanoi would be Hanoi without any tourists.
Siem Reap exists as it is because of tourism.

Really hard to pick.

I will say that in June and July my wife and I are traveling the Malay-Thai peninsula arriving in Singapore, returning from Chiang Mai (already booked), and yesterday we bought tickets KUL-PNH (Kuala Lumpur-Phnom Penh) for a one week side trip to Cambodia. :D

Have fun wherever you choose!

Do one of the nice beach resorts at Hoi An, Vietnam; then Hanoi, and then either Sapa or Siem Reap.

Was in phuket lots of nice hotels there and you can go to a number of islands that are beautiful.