Kyrgyzstan is on my list too (see earlier post)
...plus, I have an American friend who has been to Burma/Myanmar a couple of times and says it's one of the most beautiful places he's ever seen. The regime there is corrupt and psychotic, and you'll be followed around by the secret police most of the time, but there's some merit to the philosophy that if you're actually there and spending time in their bars, hotels and restaurants, you're putting real money into the hands of the people who need it, rather than into General Than Shwe's personal Swiss bank account.

That's probably a bit more than you wanted to hear. On the plus side, there are a fair few reputable firms in Australia, New Zealand, Bali and Guam who do packages to take you around the Pacific Islands for any length of time from 1 week to six months, calling on as many ports as you want to go to in that time. You'd get a skipper (and one or two crew if you need them), rent of a decent boat, and training for a week if you aren't sure about how to pilot a vessel... you'd need at least twenty grand UK money for a decent trip, though. And don't watch 'Dead Calm' the night before setting off
(Katabatic wasn't, and will never be on, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 14:39, 1 reply)

thanks Katabatic
at twenty grand maybe I'll have to wait til I've won the lottery... but that's the point of a bucket list isn't it, aim high!

Get your point about Dead Calm too - a friend and her boyf took a boat round the pacific and had massive storms, shark infested waters. Sounded a real adventure. No psychotic killers tho, phew!
(TheFlyingOnion. looking forward to, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 15:45, closed)