hello! typical 20 something backpacker trash from the US here. i’ve been in thailand for a week, just bangkok and the south, and wanted to get reddit’s thoughts on this:

I have about 2 more weeks allotted for thailand, then a week for laos, then i’m off to vietnam.

I was going to do chiang mai and pai for like a week-ish before heading off to laos, but everything i’ve read about both places says they’re so saturated in tourists (not that i’m helping). I’m not concerned about the smoke, I’m from northern california so we also have “free-trial-of-Hell” season 😂😂.

For a first time backpacker to SE asia, are pai and chiang mai must-dos, or would it be more worth it to skip the tourist traps and get authentic experiences in northern laos instead?