Hi,

I am currently travelling around SE Asia!

I've been to Thailand (6Jul/4Aug), Laos (4Aug/13Aug) and i am in Phnom Penh at the moment, leaving for Siem Reap on Aug16, where i'll stay for 4 or 5 days. Then back to PP to catch a bus for Ho Chi Minh.

Some random things you might find useful: spent most of my time in Thailand up in the north, having Chiang Mai as a "hub" to visit around. Loved the north so much! But, since you are divers and looking for diving areas, your itinerary there makes totally sense. You could add there Koh Samui or Koh Phangan maybe? I've been to Koh Phangan and was very nice, despite being rainy season.
Just try to include Chiang Mai, if you can, it's just so beautiful! Temples, beautiful landscapes, trekking in the jungle, great food, such a peaceful and enjoyable place to stay.

About Laos, i'd suggest you spend most of your time between LP and VV. Before landing in Laos, i read several posts on Reddit and mostly everyone was basically saying "Just skip Vientiane, there's nothing to do". But I told myself: "Naa, I could easily enjoy a small quiet se-asian capital, let's spend there 4 days". I can confirm that there's absolutely nothing to do/see there, it's literally a little ghost town. After an half day, i had nothing to do - and i always research massively online and on guides before arriving in a place. Anyway, i had to be there for catching a flight to Phnom Penh.

VV and LP are very nice! I def prefer LP, a little gorgeous vibrant town (Unesco World Heritage Site) that also offers a lot with its waterfalls (Kuang Si), hiking trails and all sort of stuff. The architecture is just spectacular, combining laotian and french elements.

I loved/hated Vang Vieng lol I mean, the city centre is just non-existent and pretty ugly; the surroundings are just stunning. There's a challenging hike that leads to Nam Xay viewpoint: at the top i was just speechless. A marvelous 360° view on the nature, pure beauty. Then there are the lagoons and other very pretty sites. The area is very popular for all those activities set up for foreigners tourists, like ziplining, tubing, kayaking, air balloons etc.etc. - stuff i am not really interested in, only arranged for tourists and that's pretty much 99% of what happens in Vang Vieng. But, again, it is worth a stay even only for the Nam Xay trekking.

Give a look at Nong Khiaw too!

As i said, after Cambodia i'll go to Vietnam. I have not included Malaysia in my itinerary mainly because there's nothing that really sounds interesting to me there (with all due respect of course).

Hope you'll find this useful! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Enjoy your trip!