Although we were parked some way down the river from the city centre, there is a very easy local boat called City Cat which was about 10 minutes walk from where we docked. We used this both to have a l(ook at the river, and to get from place to place. Many of the places we wanted to see were within easy reach of the river. We loved the atmosphere of Brisbane (very hot so I was glad of my sunshade) with (air-conditioned!) museums, Botanical Gardens and a very popular and well-equipped riverside beach area (We were sorry we hadn't taken swimming costumes). Nice shopping centre.
We chose this tour as possibly being a less hot way to spend the day than a city tour, but it was a bit of a waste really - a long drive each way to get there to see some big termite mounds and a waterfall where you couldn't swim because previous visitors had been eaten by crocs. There was also a visit to a crocodile farm - was OK. A nice lunch included.
We'd been to Bangkok twice before so didn't see the sense of yet again sitting on a coach for 5 hours to spend a small amount of time only glimpsing this amazing city. So we chose a hotel pool break - which was fine, but the last three of our ports of call we all very repetitive. Pattaya was a nice place to shop if you'd wanted to - but it was 38 degrees so I gave that a miss. Nice lunch provided. But it was still an hour from Laem Prabang.
More 
