Where to go???

After spending 4 excellent weeks in Thailand last January, my wife and I have been inspired to see more great beaches, culture and nature in backpacking style. We are planning a 2 month trip, leaving UK early January 2008.

First destination will be India for 3-4 weeks which I am expecting to be quite busy until we spend our last week in Goa. Then we were thinking about Indonesia but read that the humidity is unbearable at this time of year. Now Im looking at South Pacific and love what Im reading and seeing (especially Cooks) but, again, it will be the wetter time of year? How much of a difference will this really make to the islands? Will the beaches be less attractive? Water be less clear etc? Or will it still look as great as the pictures Im seeing, but just feel sweaty??

At the moment the only suitable place I can think of that will be guaranteed dry in Febuary is Thailand, but already been there. I want to decide on a second destination now so I can look into it further. We really want to just relax and swim on nice beaches at an affordable price.
Any ideas?

I think you summed it up quite well in the Cooks for Feb/March:

"Or will it still look as great as the pictures Im seeing, but just feel sweaty??"

If you don't like humidity, you're out of luck in the South Pacific from December to April or so. If you can afford a place with air-con, go for it. If not, make sure there is at least a ceiling fan in your room, it will help.

Most places are on the coast, so they do get a little breeze, which does help. But it will be humid.

Rain is pretty sporadic. an hour or two, then clear, then an hour or two, this is maybe three or four days a week from Dec to April. But it really won't affect going into the lagoon, etc. In fact, a lot of my former guests would actually go into the lagoon (or pool) when it rained!

I love the South Pacific in the wet season. Places like Rarotonga and Tonga, which can get quite cool (for me) are just perfect, and in Tonga at least the trade winds die down and make boat travel much more enjoyable (you can actually reach the far flung islands and enjoy the experience!). Rain isn't a huge issue and the archipelagoes with lots of small islands don't have rivers which can make the water murky at this time of year. It is cyclone season but you would be unlucky to be caught in anything more than a big storm. If you don't like humidity then you probably wouldn't enjoy Samoa, Vanuatu at this time of year.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>we were thinking about Indonesia but read that the humidity is unbearable at this time of year. <hr></blockquote>That's nonsense.
I've visited Indonesia more times than I could count, and never noticed a huge difference in humidity in much of the country.
As Indonesia is stretched out right along the equator, it tends to be hot and humid year-round.
But some parts of it (East Java to Timor) actually tend to be pretty dry, being in Australia's "rain shadow".

Besides, it's so huge that when it's wet somewhere, it's the dry season elsewhere.

Jan-Feb is actually the "dry" season in Maluku, which happens to be my favourite part of the country, and the closest thing to the South Pacific in Asia. Some info on Maluku, with some more on what I mean closest thing to the South Pacific (except that it's less touristy and much cheaper).

Thanks. I will look into indonesia more. Are there plenty of budget bungalows in Maluku?

"Bungalows" as such are not common in Maluku, and only exist in a very few more popular (relatively!) beach places like the Kei Islands.

But other type of budget accomodation (cheap hotels to homestays) are easy to find everywhere a first time visitor would likely end up going to.

The "beach bunglow" is very much a tourist concept in Indonesia, and as such is more likely to be available in more touristy parts of the country like Lombok or North Sulawesi.