u/datguy030

Hi!

I'm in the process of planning out a SEA trip at some point from mid-October to mid-November. The trip would be 2.5 weeks long, and I was thinking of hitting up Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand. The initial high level itinerary I was thinking up was:

• SFO -> SIN and spend 2 nights here to just see the city, and try out food.
• SIN -> Hanoi, and spend 1 week here. I still need to research the exact things I'd want to do here, but to minimize travel, I'd only spend time in North Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, etc.)
• Hanoi -> Chiang Mai, and spend 1 week here. Similar to Vietnam, I'd localize all my travel to this region of Thailand around Chiang Mai
• Chiang Mai -> SIN, and spend 1 night here.

I've read this sub a lot and I know people may recommend spending the entire time in one country, but I'm trying to balance out different cultures and experiences here. Also, as mentioned, my intent was to spend time in a specific part of the country (north Thailand and north Vietnam) so I'm not always traveling.

A few questions:

1. Any general thoughts or recommendations based on my itinerary?
2. It seems like mid October and onwards is a decent time to travel to these countries (tail end of rainy season in Vietnam), so I'm hoping there won't be too many issues there. Would this be a good time to visit these countries?
3. I chose North Vietnam since I'm more into the food, nature, and cultural experiences (not necessarily nightlife). Any reasons I should consider South Vietnam?
4. Similarly, I chose Chiang Mai for a similar reason. It seems like a great base, but I think the main thing it would lack would be the beach scene. Any other place to consider other than Chiang Mai?

I've been exploring the gravel routes in SF a bit more, so I'm curious if anyone has any downloadable routes that cover as much of the Presidio gravel trails as possible.

So far, I've mostly been riding around and hopping onto trails I randomly come across, and this has been really fun, but sometimes I run into slightly more sketchy areas or areas that are hiking only.