4 in 10 travellers visit tourist sites to capture social media content

(Btw, the trip was: KL -> Kuala Kubu Bahru -> Taman Negara -> Cameron Highlands -> Penang (GeorgeTown and then the west of the island) -> south Borneo - Kuching (stayed at 2 national parks, Permai and Bako) -> North Borneo - near Sandakan (see Uran Utangs/Sunbears) -> Kinibatagan River -> Jungle near Seremban -> via KL to Pankhor island -> back to KL. For some parts we rented a car and had many nice experiences along the road. Bored? Not so much. I want to go back for the things we skipped and other travelers were enthusiastic about.)

"and you cover pretty much everything without repeating same stuff"

you can see only so many "different" (as they say in TH SSBD) temples/mosques, beaches, jungles within same country especially if you are on tight time schedule, that's why I understand someone picking one beach destination, one food destination, one historical destination, one hiking/jungle destination and rather try each of these in two different countries rather than trying 3 of each within same country, if someone has limited time

btw. if by Pankhor you mean Pangkor island it's pretty bad quality by Malayisan standards (been there to my disapointment while having too much time and visiting less touristy places in MY), east coast has far superior quality, there is reason why people never heard about Pangkor rather than Perhentian islands or Langkawi or Tioman

and I forgot in my main MY destinations Melaka, I've been obviously to more (forgetable) Malaysian places which is why I understand why someone choose only few, same as I've been to some islands most of the people visiting Thailand never heard of (e.g. Ko Jum, Ko Chang (west coast)), but there is usually good reason why people never heard of them

yeah, one of the most memorable experiences from my numerous stays in Thailand was doing multi-day Mae Hong Son loop on motorbike (it was really old semi-auto Yamaha or Honda, like 70s or 80s), highly recommended, Pai area is amazing, Chiang Mai is also interesting place, can't say same about the other two Mae, also Kanchanaburi area is one of my favorite places in TH where I've been numerous times and my personal favorite island is Ko Phangan, spent there few weeks on many ocassions (never been interested in FMP though)

agree with Vietnam, not very friendly country, didn't do much in north besides Hanoi (OK), Ninh Binh (great for motorbiking, though worse than Yangshuo in China or Vang Vieng in Laos), Halong Bay is nice but way too touristy, NB was nice empty

some people find it blasphemy - but I would say Malaysian cuisine (great mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese cuisine) is the best in SEA (especially in Penang) even compared to Thai, filipino probably the worst, might as well eat food at home in Europe (though their cakes in small bakeries in every street are great), Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos about same meh

by my experience higher the elevation, friendlier the people (same appliest to basically every SEA country I visited), the kindest/friendliest people I've met anywhere in SEA were in Dieng Plateau, but if I had to pick up the country Philipines would be by far nr. 1 in friendliness, Malaysia would be nr. 2 I guess, Vietnam would be on the opposite end, Thai people (at least in contact with tourists) are usually very fake, though I've had also many nice interactions with them (usually when no money is involved)