Southeast Asia forum

I'm on the road - Ayuthaya - with 6.5 weeks to go. On the way to Chiang Mai tomorrow and then want to see Laos ( LP and Vientiane at least) plus Vietnam and Cambodja( Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh) to keep it short. My issue at the moment is that we want to have a week in Phuket at the end of the trip , flying then to HK and back to London on the 13th of December.

Already we have been going a lot slower than I anticipated..an extra day at Kanchanaburi, an extra day at Ayutthaya etc but I still want to have that week at the beach before coming home for Christmas! My question is around best way of planning the rest of the route taking into consideration flight routes and prices. From my research it seems the best ( read cheapest) way to get to Phuket is through Phnom Penh, via Air Asia. If that proves right then I guess there is no way of not backtracking on ourselves, right? i.e. Luang Prabang - Vientiane - flight to Hanoi(tbc) - travel down to HCM City - bus to PP then directly to Siem Reap and after seeing Angkor Wat back to PP - fly to Phuket.

Sorry if this doesn't make complete sense, just spent a few hours freaking out that 9 weeks is too little time to visit SEA and at the price of flights...that said, having looked at flight costs I'm pretty sure the option I put above is the best option but need some reassurance before booking.

Many thanks in advance.
Ana