Just a quick remark. As for soaking in the culture, I get that, but please know that takes years, and definitely isn't going to happen in a couple weeks. For example, I remember before people would always come up to me, say hi, start chatting me up and asking various questions... where you from, what are you doing, why do you walk, where do you live, why are you always alone, when when will you go back to your country?, etc....

Now I'm in the furthest thing from a tourist area, so if you're from the West and someone begins questioning you like that out of the blue, you're going to feel like they're interrogating you. When in reality, they're just being good Buddhists, are a little worried / curious about you, and want to ensure you're ok. They have only good intentions, but if you're from the West, you're naturally going to ask yourself, "what the hell does he/she want from me?", when in reality they're just ensuring you're ok.

That type of conditioning the West gives us takes years to strip away, and definitely won't happen during a 2 week vacation.