South East Asia -Tour or DIY?!

raemie21

Hey, would appreciate any feedback on this! Planning to take annual leave in a chunk and spending five weeks in South East Asia in late summer. Know that's not a lot of time but hoping to get a taste of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia....Anyway, I've travelled on my own before and enjoy that freedom but am thinking about joining a tour this time instead so that's kinda the biggie. I would have been quite dimissive of tours in the past to be honest but looking at SE Asia, I'm not very sure that I'd manage to find my way around on my own reasonably well and part of me is a bit nervous about it I suppose. The other advantage of a tour is that i'll get to do some things like sleep overnight in a tent on a hilltrek or stay with a home family for a few days - great experiences but unlikely to happen if it's just me on my own. That's the main thing of the tours and the ones I've been looking at seem to include some cool things like that. On the other hand, part of me would not like being stuck to a schedule so tightly & herded around like sheep. And group dynamic wise, there aren't that many that specify the age or possibly you could be paired with someone that you don't click with maybe...?

So if anyone has any feedback on this or thoughts, I'd appreciate them all and will keep researching myself! Essentially, I'm trying to figure out if I'd prefer the experience of meeting lots of people in hostels, random happenings and and that sense of achievement when you finally orientate a map or if I'd prefer to have some more opportunities like the homestays and bamboo trekking for example, in the group...

Thanks

kenmc

Definitely DIY. you can still book the homestays, hilltribes etc with local tour groups, and will pay half the price as you do here. Also chances are you will meet people in hostels who will also be up for doing the homestays etc, and you know you will get on with them instead of being stuck with (for example) some poncy gap year bimbo who "just loike can't beeeelieeeeeve there is no hairdryer in these huts in the jungle and ohmygod just look at that bucket toilet eeeeewwwwww".
It's a well worn tourist trail and there are more travel agencies than you can shake a stick at all over SEA. Just do some due diligence before you part with your hard earned cash.

Jugs82

DIY for definite - 5wks isnt alot of time but its still doable

You'll save alot of time using the budget airlines, buses take time and of course you'll be wrecked after a 10-12 hour bus journey

Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia - if i was you, id probably start in Hanoi and work my way down to Saigon into Cambodia and onwards to Laos.

Enjoy the trip

kraggy

Diy definitely. You'll save a fortune and have twice the freedom.

As stated, you can do hill tribes and all that sort of thing as a solo traveller too. You will want to spend more time in some places than others so the freedom of backpacking cannot be underestimated.

To give you an idea of money, I spent about 1500 euro over 7 weeks the summer before last.

And don't worry about safety and being on your own. I never saw any trouble over there and I met countless other travellers over there who said they never felt unsafe.

Enjoy.

LadyMayBelle

DIY..abasolutley,, there will be tours coming out your ears once your over there, but DIY it as much as you can, and for jungle treks, esp in Northern Thailand, the Golden Triangle, you can jump on a tour..

what2do

Another vote for DIY - I wouldn't plan an itinery, you'd be surprised how things just fall into place as you move about and talk to people, some of the best places I've visited in my time were following suggestions from people in hostels or on transport somewhere!

tea

This comment isn't really meant as a discussion of the merits of independent versus tour travel - more the specifics of trying to see SE Asia in 5 weeks using tours or DIY). Like most people here, I'd normally say DIY, but 5 weeks isn't long for SE Asia, and if you want to get off the beaten track, as you seem to, you'll be very pressed for time.

I spent 4 weeks in SE Asia last year; a tour from Bangkok to Saigon (10 days) and afterwards I DIYed it from Saigon up north. It was a rush - never spent more than 3 nights anywhere, and while it was a blast, I was very short of time, and saw little except the highlights. If I hadn't toured the first ten days, I would have seen even less.

Based on that, 5 weeks really isn't long, so if there's a list of things you want to do, you'll need to plan it pretty well for DIY, so you've already lost much of the freedom you get independently just by having to stick to the schedule. And if you're travelling on a schedule, you may as well let someone else do the hard work of organising things for you!

Glowing

Even though you're only going for 5 weeks, it's enough time to get a good taster of those 3 countries. There are loads of cheap airlines, so you can book flights if you feel you are short on time.

Another vote for DIY, despite the fact you may be slightly short on time.