I am extremely inexperienced in Asia outside India and would appreciate
all advice.

1. How would you divide 15 days among the following cities (including
side trips):

Bangkok (incl Angkor)
Hanoi *OR* Ho Chi Minh (which one do you recommend?)
Hong Kong (incl Macau)
Beijing (incl Great Wall)

"Zero days" is also acceptable as an answer if you feel it is better to
spend more days in fewer cities.

2. How much would a clean/safe but unfancy budget room cost per night
in each of these cities?

3. Is it possible/easy for individual tourists to visit China on their
own without being part of a tour group?

Kirans Cousin wrote:

You don't have enough time for all these places. I was in Beijing for
a week, and I just hit the high spots. Beijing = 9 days, Hong
Kong/Macau = 6 days.

Angkor is the best place to visit in 15 days. You can get all other
places from books. Angkor was still unknown to many people. Your trip
can be very interesting to many other who have never been there.

Kirans Cousin wrote:

...

Hmm....I think it's too short for spending 2weeks on those cities.
Bangkok and Beijing will eat up all your time, don't even count HK.
They both have a lot of sighseeing spots. However, it's also upto what
kind of trip you like, shopping? trekking? To share my experience, for
China, you will find yourself in a difficult situation if you can't
speak Chinese and travel alone. Getting with the tour group is a better
idea. I've been there once. It was not expensive for a city tour in
Beijing. Do some preparation and bring a map. Hope you have a good time
there.

Car, Van, and Bus service in Bangkok
http://www.vntbusinessgroup.com

Kirans Cousin wrote:

...

take a bus from Bangkok to Aryanpathet in eastern Thailand , and
then take a motor taxi into Cambodia's border town called Poipet ,
from Poipet take a bus to Angkor Watt temple complex.

Angkor Watt was the centre of Power in the Middle age before the
existence of the Thai nation .
Thai came from the Red River source in North Vietnam .

Sun wrote:

Kirans Cousin wrote:

Here is a recommended intinerary.

Some assumptions:
a) you must use Cathay Pacific.
b) you are a male US or European citizen.
c) you are going to get guidebooks for these cities.
d) you have lots of energy.

on Cathay you can travel from India - BKK - HKG - Japan

Based on my own one-time visits to Bangkok and Hong
Kong some years ago, the recommendations in the post
by "F. D. Lewis" hotmail.com> (appended
below in case you missed it) are VERY good ones.

(I'd skip the Angkor Wat visits myself if time or funds
were limited, since they're of less interest to me
personally, and spend another day in Hong Kong.)

==========================================

F. D. Lewis hotmail.com> wrote:

: Some assumptions:
: a) you must use Cathay Pacific.

Basically true. I must use a One World carrier. Unless I want to
connect via London or Australia, Cathay is it. (Next year JAL will
join, but that doesn't help now.)

: b) you are a male US or European citizen.

Yes (US) but a new complication: my GF is talking about joining on this
leg---there goes my much awaited Thai experience. :-) Anyway, she has
Indian passport with US green card. Does that make a huge difference?

: c) you are going to get guidebooks for these cities.
: d) you have lots of energy.

Yes, yes.

: Day 1: fly from Mumbai to Bangkok..
: ...
: Day 10: fly to Japan.

Many thanks for such detailed advice. As I indicated in another post, I
can cut some fat from the India trip and stretch this to 15 days.
Should I stretch my HK time or try to do either Hanoi or Beijing?

Kirans Cousin wrote:

Of course Cathay is a great airline so this is kind of a "win" for you.

Yes, this makes a difference. You can get into a lot of countries with
a US passport and no visa. Her rules will be different.