How long should I spend in Southeast Asia?

Thinking carefully about how long you should spend in Southeast Asia is certainly worth doing before you skip off for a month or more. Many a traveller here has complained of fatigue and a general apathy for ancient ruined temple complexes, because they've simply spent way too long experiencing the same thing, or as close as damn it, over the previous week or so. Staring at ceiling fans, opting out of 'yet another temple tour' and longing for Marmite on toast are all symptoms that your stay in Southeast Asia may have gone on too long, and no one wants to develop the thousand yard stare captured by Martin Sheen, aka Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now.

So, how long should you spend in Southeast Asia? Quality over quantity should certainly become your mantra. Although there’s no point whizzing from country to country ticking off temples as you go, it is possible to take a shortish tour of two weeks or even nine days that allows you to understand where you are and what you're experiencing. There are also three and four week tours that will give you a richer experience of the region, leaving you eagerly anticipating coming back for more.

Three week tours of Southeast Asia are going to give you an opportunity to travel more extensively, and reach more remote locations, in Northern Thailand and Laos, for example. A three week adventure creates time to meet local people, too. You could explore in the mountain foothills along Vietnam’s Chinese border and hike in the bamboo forests close to the town of Sapa, discovering the lifestyles of the Hmong and Dzao hill tribes before taking the overnight train to the capital, Hanoi, where a cultural contrast over French coffee awaits. This sort of time frame encourages loads of interaction with local people in the most natural of circumstances including nights in homestay accommodation, well off the typical traveller trail.

In three weeks you can dip your toe into each of the four Indochina countries (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam), travelling from Bangkok to Vientiane and Luang Prabang, on to Angkor Wat and the Mekong River, before exploring Vietnam via Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and Hanoi. Tailor made tours tend to include a private driver, but three weeks in Southeast Asia is easily enough time to get around using public transport, and it’s often incorporated into a small group tour. Travelling by overnight trains and public buses lets you watch the world go by as tranquil countryside scenes become replaced with exciting urban alternatives.