Been ln Southeast Asia since 2001, lived in Singapore, East Timor and Indonesia, been to all SEAsia countries save for Brunei, live now in Bali, and generally like SEAsia very much. With that preface let me share some comments
1. You and the wife need to read up on TODAY's Asia. You may find it far-fetched (ignorant is more like it), but there are asphalt roads even in Laos. Educate yourselves. SEAsia encompasses 11 countries, from glaciers to prime rainforest.
2. SEA is great, but I give the prize for bike touring in Asia-Pacific to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. These countries are where you should go. Check out of Tour-de-Taiwan and Tour-de-Korea threads this year on the Folding Bikes channel here.
3. You wanna go off the deep end in SEAsia, head to interior, mountain Sumatra or to eastern Indonesia. Very few facilities and mod-cons, though. You want great infrastructure, and mod-cons, see
#2 above.
4. One year. Fly to Tokyo, bullet train to Sapporo, tour Japan from top to bottom, hop on ferry from Fukuoka to Busan, South Korea, bike across the country to Seoul, fly from Seoul to Taipei, tour Taiwan, fly Taipei to Hanoi, bike the interior highland road. Japan and Korea will be cold in Nov./Dec., though.
More to follow...