Traveling alone SEA

>>1230329
>I am not trying to be a tourist, I want to experience the real culture of the city and plan on staying in hostels/AirBnB.
god you are a cancerous little faggot, aren't you

>>1230345
Perhaps it sounded a little pretentious but I'm not trying to stay in a nice isolated hotel or on some resort that prevents me from actually meeting local population.

>>1230345
>Is a guide highly recommended? I don’t want to get scammed but they’d know what I should see/do right?
If you can spare the money then yeah why not, lonely planet has a one guidebook that contains north thailand, cambodia, laos and vietnam IIRC

>Do I stick to the cities? Are rural areas actually more interesting?
From my experience SEA is best appreciated by visiting the countryside and places where minorities live, that being said you can still combine the two and enjoy.

>Is being in a hostel really that good of a way to meet people?
it's good to meet other backpackers yeah, but not the locals, in fact hostels can be very isolating from the surrounding areas sometimes, so if you really want to get in touch with the local culture by virtue of accomodation then i suggest couchsurfing or volunteering programs like workaway, otherwise you'd have to look for a place that isn't online and caters to locals, that way you will meet locals but there would be the language barrier, still, it's fun to try to communicate and use body language, i noticed to SEA people use lots of body language, sometimes you would be able to understand the context of an entire conversation without understanding one single word because of that.

>Are there risks of danger as a white American?
Nope, just being ripped off in the major touristy places

>Will people in Myanmar and Thailand speak English?
I can't say for myanmar since i haven't been there but for thailand lots of them speak english in bangkok and other touristic areas (chang mai, pie, pattaya,phuket etc)

>>Is going to Europe a better idea as a first-timer? I’m sure I’d love it but I really want to experience a completely different culture. Kind of jump in headfirst you know?
Depends on what you like, but since you want to experience something else then SEA, don't worry though, SEA is babby's first backpacking trip, transport is so easy there it's ridiculous, same with things like getting food from food stalls

>>1230363
Ah dont listen to that fag. I get what you're saying. I don't have any advice for you but check out some Anthony Rollins podcasts. You will be inspired as fuck to travel anywhere

>>1230329
In all honest you might want to check out at least a few of the tourist traps anyway. They're popular for a reason, just do a little research to make sure that reason isn't just better advertising.