u/WestRedondo

Hello everyone! I (33M) am considering doing a last minute trip to LIB for just Saturday and Sunday. I just took two weeks off work for vacation and only got back last week and realized I had no plans for Memorial Day weekend (and I don't think I can take another day off!). I live in Los Angeles so this is not too far a drive and this would be my first camping festival as well.

I have two questions:

1. Would it still be worth going for just two days? Especially if I am not as diehard of an EDM fan as probably most people going to this? I generally enjoy dancing/vibing to EDM (even sober) but I honestly don't know too many of the bands on the lineup.
2. Would it be pretty easy to find someone to help me out with my tent on Saturday morning if I am having trouble? I am just imagining myself in the blazing sun struggling to get it setup while everyone is sleeping in and already setup.

Thank you for any feedback!

Hello! I am posting my already completed trip itinerary to Southeast Asia in case people are looking to do a similar trip. I know most people on this subreddit will criticize me for not taking enough time in each country. However, I likely will not be visiting this specific area in the future so I wanted to get a breadth of cultures/places rather than depth. I also enjoy faster paced travel as opposed to "soaking in" an area unless it is an area I really love.

My main priorities for the trip were doing the Ha Giang Loop (easy rider since I don't know how to ride a motorcycle) and seeing the Angkor Wat. I considered everything else on the trip as a bonus. The Ha Giang Loop was definitely the highlight! I personally find that overnight/multiple day nature related adventures with a bunch of other foreign travelers give me the best memories. The Ha Giang Loop fit along that trend!

I am not a beach person so I was fine with leaving most of Thailand unexplored given lack of time. I am also over 30 now so I no longer like to do overnight bus/train rides (which means it takes me longer to get to places).

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Vietnam, Hanoi - Arrive at Hanoi, recover from flight from USA. Go to Hoa Lo Prison Relic during the day, stop by Train Street and watch a train with a beer, fall asleep watching a water puppet show at night.

Day 2 - Vietnam, Hanoi - Wake up way too early due to jet lag and get some pho at 6:00 AM at Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn, visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, eat lunch at the Obama/Bourdain Bún Chả restaurant, take bus to Ha Giang in middle of the day.

Day 3 - Vietnam, Ha Giang - Start Ha Giang Loop Tour - I did the tour with Bibi and had a blast. I actually would have done Road Kings but they were filled up with bookings going out past 3 weeks (I booked my trip 2 weeks in advance). I did the 3 day tour instead of 4 so that I would have more time on my trip for other things. I was satisfied with the 3 day tour and don't mind missing the 4th day.

Day 4 - Vietnam, Ha Giang - Day 2 of Ha Giang Loop Tour

Day 5 - Vietnam, Ha Giang - Day 3 of Ha Giang Loop Tour. Tour ends and I take bus back to Hanoi.

Day 6 - Vietnam, Hanoi - Take day trip tour of Ninh Binh

Day 7 - Vietnam, Hanoi - Take day trip tour of Ha Long Bay. If you are going as a couple, a romantic overnight might be nice, but as a solo traveler, just a day trip is fine. There might be some trips where you focus more on physical activities/exploring islands rather than lounging which might be more solo travel appropriate.

Day 8 - Vietnam - Catch up on the things I missed on in Hanoi due to jet lag on the first day. Take flight to Siem Reap in the afternoon.

Day 9 - Cambodia, Siem Reap - Take sunrise tour of Angkor Wat, take a nap during middle of the day. Do a bike tour with Hostel in afternoon/night.

Day 10 - Cambodia, Siem Reap - Rent a scooter and visit Grand Circuit temples of Angkor Wat in the morning. Scooter rental was $10 a day and I had never ridden a scooter before! Seeing the temples on your own with a scooter is a fun adventure. Afterwards, I saw the Rat heros of APOPO midday, and watch an Apsara dance show at night at the hostel.

Day 11 - Cambodia, Siem Reap - Go to an elephant sanctuary. I went to this one but I am somewhat conflicted about the experience. The caretakers of the elephants do seem to really care for the elephants but I am not so sure if the elephants really enjoy getting bathed and scrubbed by humans everyday (there was no riding of course). Really cool stereotypical experience regardless. After that, I took a flight to Bangkok in the evening.

Day 12 - Thailand, Bangkok - Visit Wats in the morning and midday: Grand Palace, Wat Phra, and Wat Arun. If you are tight on budget, I would just do Wat Phra (reclining Buddha) and Wat Arun. In the evening, had a wild and crazy Bangkok night through a pub crawl run by the hostel.

Day 13 - Thailand, Bangkok - Recover from drinking from the night before in the morning. Go to a market during the day. I did not go to the floating markets since I heard they were sort of a tourist trap and I did not go to the Maeklong Railway Market since it seemed pretty similar to Hanoi train street. Doing a river tour of the city actually did seem nice but I did not do it. In the evening, I did the Chef's Tour food tour which was excellent and too much food! It was also pretty funny watching everyone on the tour have trouble eating the spicy food.

Day 14 - Thailand, Bangkok - Ayutthaya day trip. At night, see Muay Thai fights at Rajadamnern Stadium.

Day 15 - Fly back to the USA in the morning.

Some Hostel Notes:

I recommend Onederz Hostel for Siem Reap. It was incredibly clean and well run. You can meet other travelers by doing their activities (e.g. Angkor wat tours) and then you will run into people you met in their restaurant/pool afterwards.

For Bangkok, I highly recommend Jam hostel. It had a small communal area which fosters talk with other travelers. You could also tell that the people who went to Jam hostel were open minded solo travelers.

I don't have any strong hostel recs for Hanoi since I was mostly exploring the city on my own or going on day trips.

If I Could Do Anything Different:

I was pretty sick of temples by my last day so I did not enjoy the Ayutthaya day trip that much. I would have preferred doing the Kulen Mountain & Waterfall trip in Siem Reap rather than Ayutthaya in Bangkok but apparently it wasn't the right season for the waterfall. I also heard the floating villages day trip in Siem Reap is sort of underwhelming so I skipped that as well (which I do not regret).

I took Asiana to get to Hanoi from the US and leave Bangkok to the US. They actually cancelled my return flight ~24 hrs before the flight and rebooked me for one that gave me a 12 hour layover in South Korea. This resulted in me arriving back in the US at 6:00AM, getting essentially two nights of terrible sleep, and having to go into work later that day. There were Korean Air flights (same parent company) that would have given me a much more reasonable schedule but Asiana wouldn't let me reschedule since they were too soon to make the switch (this also involved being on-hold with customer service for 60 minutes). I would have booked with directly with Korean Air instead in the future since they had many more flight options for situations like this for my particular situation.