10 days. Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia

[GenghisCaterpillar]

So due to changes at work, I've just discovered that I'm going to have 10 days of leave that will need to be used in September / October. With a bit of juggling, I can probably manage a mid-low budget trip to SE Asia - cheap and cheerful but not bare bones. Wehay!

Totally into temples / history / city vibes / food / shopping.
Also totally into beautiful countryside / remote villages / wildlife.
No interest (on this trip) in beach relaxation, scuba diving or long (5 hours plus) overland trips by bus or car, unless they can be broken down into smaller chunks.
So with that in mind, and flights available to either:
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Jakarta

Reflex response - which would you pick?

This is the kind of question that I would have happily spent weeks of my life researching on the old TT. Now, I figure FigJam is probably the best place to throw this out there for people's gut reaction.

[Deleted]

I'm not totally qualified to answer this. I've been to Thailand a number of times and Indonesia but never to Vietnam (I'm planning my honeymoon in northern Vietnam this year though). I have little interest in southern Vietnam I've heard a lot of stories of tourists being herded around like cattle there - I also love Indonesia but my favorite memories from there are beach memories and you're not interested in beach so for you I vote Bangkok.

Bangkok has great 'city vibes', the best food in the world... great shopping, history, temples. Really it's got everything you want. You can spend a lot of time in BKK and not run out of things to see/do (visit the markets, get massages, see thai boxing, tour the temples, simply wander the streets and see where they take you - eat, drink and be merry...). Also, it's a short train ride out of the city for smaller quieter surroundings.

[HalcyonDaze]

The travelfish forum might also help you with some of the research:

www.travelfish.org/

[sophie]

I just returned from Bali, and 10 days is perfect for that place if you are not into spending lots of time on the beach..

[wombatrois]

I'm another vote for Bangkok. There are plenty of things to do and places to go, including day trips if you want to go further. If you really had to, you could split your time between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, therefore fulfilling your remote villages wish (which are more accessible from CNX).

I'd be more inclined to stay in Bangkok.

You can do something like we did the last time we were there:

www.bangkokbikerides.com/daytrips

After all, you don't actually need to be remote to see village life.

Were you "someone else" on WT?

[sprite]

coming in here as we have similar questions. we have a 5 day, 9 day, and 16 day set of holidays and are thinking japan but also vietnam/cambodia, indonesia (this is a gut feeling, we have no ideas otherwise), and who knows where else. we also don't do beaches--it takes about 30 seconds for us to burn.

so, i'm looking forward to reading people's ideas.