Help on rewards trip to Asia please.

I have miles, but of course I like to get the most out of them that I can. Next December, or perhaps at another time in the Nov to Feb period, 2 of us want to go to Asia. The idea would be to go to Bangkok. I will do the usual and possibly visit vietnam (by land I assume). If possible and economical enough I would like to visit Hong Kong and maybe Australia, just for a few days each. My trip might be 3 weeks total.

My thought is to use an award ticket to get to some central destination, then fly to the other places I want to visit using regular purchased tickets on lower cost airlines.

So I might fly to Bangkok, then while there take a side trip to Hong Kong, and look into Australia if its not too prohibitive. But there are probably ideas I have not thought of.

Also, the difference between the low cost awards and high cost is huge when multiplied by two. Of course I would rather fly on the most economical mileage award tickets.

Sorry to be long winded. But surely others have done this. Any tips or ideas? Am I already too late for next December? Should I consider flying to one of my alternate destinations (like Hong Kong) then flying to Bangkok. I don't understand how they breakdown the cities, but I note some areas of Asia cost more than others.

Thanks for reading.:cool: