I am always keeping an eye out for that next rush, even during the periods of my life where the money isn’t all that available. The key to any great adventure is long term planning, patience, and positive visualization. Visualization in my case includes marrying rich. Time Magazine’s Asia edition has a list of the best adventures in Asia. Two of them in particular stood out (thanks for the tip Punbaji Boi):

In the Indian hill resort of Manali, Tibetan Peter Dorje runs an operation dedicated to the most implausible extreme sport in the world: yak skiing. In winter, he takes up to five skiers and his herd of beasts to the hills above town, making overnight camp. Come morning, Pete heads to a high slope with the yaks, trailing out a rope behind him. You wait below, wearing your skis and holding a bucket of pony nuts. When Pete reaches the top, he ties a large pulley to a tree, loops the rope through it and onto a stamping, snorting yak. Now it’s your turn—and this is the important part. First tie yourself onto the other end of the rope, then shake the bucket of nuts and quickly put it down. The yak charges down the mountain after the nuts, pulling you up it at rocket speed. If you forget yourself in the excitement and shake the bucket too soon, you’ll be flattened by two hairy tons of behemoth. Or as Pete says, “Never shake the bucket of nuts before you’re tied to the yak rope.” This piece of Himalayan sagacity can be restated in many ways that apply to everyday life: do things in their proper order, make adequate preparations before embarking on a risky venture, and so on.

Yak skiing not your thing my friend? Well how about Discharging Firearms in Darra Adam Khel, Pakistan?

Forty kilometers south of Peshawar, deep inside Pakistan’s tribal belt, lies the village of Darra Adam Khel. It’s an area few foreigners will ever visit—unless, of course, they are surreptitiously waging the U.S.-led war on terror or trying to elude it. Yet for anyone else who manages to pass through the roadblocks to enter Darra, it’s the perfect place to release pent-up stress. The village has just one industry of note: ordnance. Darra is the arms factory of the tribal areas, and pumps out everything from pistols to anti-aircraft weaponry. Wander into any of the many mom-and-pop-style workshops, choose your weapon, haggle over the price of bullets or shells, and stroll out with the equipment into the bush. Besides being rather nice to look at, the surrounding rocks and trees also make for excellent target practice. Once you’ve finished debarking a tree with an AK-47, you can head back to civilization a better, calmer person for this cathartic experience. Think of it as a harmless outlet for the warrior that lurks within you.

Ummm. No. I’ll pass thank you. It is true that a warrior does lurk within me, however, I already got pre-selected for additional security screening both to and from Atlanta this past weekend. I have no intention of making things worse for myself.