Afghanistan and Syria really were hippy hotspots in the 70s.
Things change, political stances blow over, regimes blow out.
In the last 15 years, the the contemporary traveller has gained access to Turkmenistan, Myanmar and others, and much more simple and safer travel to previously dangerous countries (the Balkans, Rwanda, RDC, North Korea, etc)
It's this shifting landscape that makes travel for the non "me too" crowd interesting..