回复：got some knowledge from your post.

Thanks. If you are not alone, then you can go without tour. If you go there alone, better join in a tour.

To avoid the disadvantages of tour, you can go to some backpack website, and find someone(s) with similar schedule, but need some compromises. You can go to:
www.alamu.com.cn and www.go2eu.com

Or even better, you may find some small Chinese groups at alamu site, and join in them.