Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India

by Rory MacLean

In the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of young Westerners, inspired by Kerouac and the Beatles, blazed the 'hippie trail' overland from Istanbul to Kathmandu in search of enlightenment and a bit of cheap dope. Since the Summer of Love, the countries that offered so much to these dreamers have confronted the full force of modernity and transformed from worlds of Western fantasy to political minefields. Through a landscape of breathtaking beauty Rory MacLean retraces the path of the once well-worn 'hippie trail' from Turkey to Iran, Afghanistan to Pakistan, India to Nepal, meeting trail veterans and locals on his way, and relives wide-eyed adventures as he witnesses a world of extraordinary and terrifying transformation.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, India, History, Asia, Memoir, Middle East

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Canadian Rory MacLean is one of Britain's most expressive and adventurous travel writers. His twelve books include the UK top tens Stalin's Nose and Under the Dragon as well as Berlin: Imagine a City, a book of the year and 'the most extraordinary work of history I've ever read' according to the Washington Post. He has won awards from the Canada Council and Arts Council of England and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary prize. His works – according to the late John Fowles – are among those that 'marvellously explain why literature still lives'. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he divides his time between the UK, Berlin and Toronto.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who travels as lifestyle, I'm enchanted by stories of the overland journey from Turkey to Kathmandu which hundreds of thousands of young Europeans and Americans embarked upon in the 1960s and 1970s. For such an amazing scene, there are remarkably few books about it. I picked up Rory Maclean's MAGIC BUS hoping to learn more about those halcyon days of hippies and seekers. Unfortunately, the book was a disappointment.

Maclean traveled over the trail himself after Afghanistan was opened again thanks to the NATO-led overthrow of the Taliban. He claims that his goal in undertaking the journey and writing this book is to show how the hippie trail has changed from what youngsters saw 40 years ago. It doesn't really live up to this. While Macclean does dedicate some space to the trail, he doesn't really give much detail about it besides the general outline that social radicals went along it. I am sure that I am not alone in reading Macclean's book to get a better glimpse of the 1960s and 1970s scene, what it consisted of and what happened to all those myriad elements. MAGIC BUS fails here.

Much of Macclean's reporting about the current state of trail concerns only the general state of the countries involved, not about many of the specific locations connected to the hippies. And his writing about the current state is uninspired and little more than the generalities offered by the mass media. For example, he claims that Afghanistan sees no independent travel and everyone is staying away, but in the years between the overthrow of the Taliban and the publication of his book, the Russian hitchhiking club Academy of Free Travel carried out two expeditions in Afghanistan. A number of solo hitchhikers soon followed, and everyone reports Afghanistan a lovely country for the truly independent traveler. At one point towards the end of the book, we find out that it took Macclean three months to cover the trail, and yet all he could come up with was the fluff here.

There are factual errors that bothered me. During a long and worryingly out of place paen to how great Islam is, Maclean claims that Muhammad brought peace to Arabia "through non-violence". While Muhammad did unite formerly inimical Arab tribes, he was also one of the most formidable warriors in history. There's an issue of reliability, as Maclean just happens to run into a woman in the street in Turkey who turns out to have been connected to all sorts of counterculture events, from the Beatles to Woodstock, without ever showing us why we should trust this. And a lot of details seem suspiciously similar to David Tomory's A SEASON IN HEAVEN, but Tomory's book is not given credit in the bibliography.

If you are looking for reading material on the Istanbul-Kathmandu trail, the best place to start is Tomory's A SEASON IN HEAVEN, a fascinating collection of oral histories. Maclean's book has a couple of interesting vignettes--such as its moving ending with one of the first Lonely Planet writers, an old man who drowns his sorrow that world travel has become commonplace and average in drink after drink. But all in all I cannot recommend it.

[Michael Andersen-Andrade · Rating 1 out of 5]

I traveled the "hippie trail" from Istanbul to India in the mid 1970's and I was looking forward to reading this account. Sadly the book is terribly written and full of cliches. It's a "journey" you'll want to miss.

[Charity · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book's writing was fine and the material was interesting, but for some reason I just didn't like it. I think the author was just kind of dry and I didn't really like him throughout the book. I can't put my finger on it but to me he seemed kind of condescending. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy learning about the counterculture of the 60s, as well as any Overland trail veterans. Just because I didn't care for the book doesn't mean that someone else won't like it either.

[Louise Armstrong · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was interested in this because I caught the Magic Bus to Athens once, - it took a week from London. It was cheap, which was why we took it, and a girlfriend and I spent a few weeks in the caves at Matala in Crete. And it's this nostalgia the author tries to tap in to. Not very successfully in my opinion because he doesn't know what he thinks. Very modern.

I think it was AA Gill, who is a superb travel writer, who pointed out that it's not enough to go on a trip, you have to know what you think about it. And modern writers are so afraid to make value judgements. But then it ends up dull, because I've seen the pictures of those places for myself. What I want is to know what the writer thinks about it, even if I disagree.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite shallow and superficial; I expected much more from this book. The author comes off as a real jerk, making sure to belittle the old hippies he meets in his travels by suggesting that their good memories are a product of drug intoxication. Marked by what seems to this layman to be poor editing and a frustratingly disjointed writing style. Read Karma Cola instead.

[Jake Goretzki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as a bit of a tribute to my uncle and aunt, who did the Hippy Trail from Germany in 1971 and dined out on it for the next fifty years (echoes of that Onion report about the women who spends a week in a Brazilian all-inclusive resort and who ever after 'knows Brazil'). They actually came back with some pretty amazing photos and some lasting friendships. I myself was always moved by their story of a German they briefly knew in Afghanistan who took off on a day trip in his car somewhere and died after breaking down in the desert. How lonely that all sounded.

This is a strong, thoughtful investigation - more about following the journey anew perhaps than a fully fledged 'what happened afterwards' study. It's pretty lyrical and well poised and the witnesses that MacLean managed to find are pretty interesting (it's kind of tragic that the BIT's original author and original Lonely Planet progenitor ended up such an outrageous boozer). At times, I felt things were a little set up perhaps (given the sudden appearance of witnesses with apparently impeccable hippie creds - 'Penny' in particular). Still, very enjoyable. I personally love the kind of ephemeral, barely recorded history of X cafe and Y hotel. I also like the reminder that the Bamayan Buddhas were a bit shit, sculpture-wise.

All told, it's pretty generous to the subjects themselves. Those Boomers draw praise for their willingness to strike out, break with convention and seek some sort of enlightenment in travel and other cultures - which is fair enough. Observing them today (and comparing them to how we are with travel), I'm less admiring. Boomers are great ones for picturesque poverty and exoticism, and the sheer thrill of LOOK! I am having breakfast with some Nepalis! And they like their locals smiling, holding up snakes and naming rockstars. They're much less reliable when it comes to Indians and Afghans and Persians wanting to get a work permit and a Right to Remain. In fact, the Boomers' appetite for different cultures was, it turns out, more slender than a Roti Canai.

Still, that's not the author's fault. Good effort.

[Catherine Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've decided to start reviewing every book I read, and 'Magic Bus' by Rory Maclean happens to be the first installment of this trend.

The colourful bookjacket caught my eye on a charity shop shelf in the old Elephant and Castle. Many days later I returned during the opening hours of the shop to purchase its golden form but unfortunately it was missing from the window display.

A short delve into the collection of books at the shop soon revealed it was still there, and I started reading it immediately. Expressing its subject as the 1960's hippie trail, from Instanbul to India, what you got from this travelogue was quite different.

A mixture of sixties nostalgia, commentary on the state of affairs in the modern middle-east and spark notes history, this book was definitely an interesting collection of cultural phenomenons. I found it a little meandering in the middle, much like the writer who has a tendency to get sidetracked by events on his journey.

The writing style was beautiful and there were many memorable sentences. Maclean has a talent for writing and a poetic soul, and I would rate this only a three as although it was inspiring in many parts I don't think it came together as a whole. This writer has a lot of potential and I would definitely read more of his stuff.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone recommended a movie to me called the magic bus and when I didn't find it, I took this book out of the Library. The author's premise was to travel the path that the 60's hippies took from Turkey through Iran, onto Afghanistan and farther east while finding out from those who lived in these places where the hippies had gone if hippie travels had changed their landscape or culture.

So Rory talked to people who lived in the places and got invited into homes.
He described places and what was said and his conclusions were not clear but seemed to be that hole one would think that the hippies had brought openness and modern culture, their living style probably pushed people into stricter observance of their traditional values.

I did not finish the book. Although written in 2006, it's views of Afganistan's bombed building areas was too depressing for me to continue because I have a sone there.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big regret of my life was that I was too young to be a real hippie. At least that is what I’ve always thought. But the more books I read about hippies, the less interesting they are. Turns out, it seems, most people who went off to become hippies either (1) quickly realized the search was futile or (2) are still out there somewhere, probably sitting in the park in San Francisco waiting for their next high.

Maclean follows the road the hippies traveled to see what is there now and what hippies are still left out there doing their hippie things. He finds a few hippies, notably Penny, who struck me as a sad figure. It could have just been me, but Penny still felt very lost. And what’s there now? Tourists, tourists, tourists.

Doesn’t look like I’ll ever hit the hippie trail. Not terribly sure I am really a hippie kind of person, anyway.

[Andrew]

Hit or miss. Some of the old tales from the “intrepids” who traversed the hippie trail in the '60s are pretty fun, especially considering what weirdos they've turned into since the dream of that decade got Nixon'd and Manson'd and Thatcher'd into oblivion. When MacLean is simply interviewing people and documenting his travels, he's a passionate and intelligent storyteller. But when he tries to ascribe any actual social value to the hippie trail-- that it brought liberating Eastern spirituality to the West, that it played a role in national liberation in Asia-- I gag at his naivete.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book just didn't do it for me. I found myself questioning a lot of the people the author supposedly met along the trail, like Penny, the burnt out hippie chick trying to reclaim the trail of her youth. She seemed like such a cliche I couldn't help but question whether or not she'd been made up. The writing is pretty dry as well. A disappointment.

[David Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail From Istanbul to India by Rory MacLean (Penguin Books 2007)(910+/-). It sounds like a great tale of drug taking and depravity, but the book was a serious bummer. The author attempts to be Castenada-like and even features a made-up guide. The book has a great looking cover, but the inside is a disappointment. My rating; 2.5/10, finished 2008.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly quite boring at times...but wow...lots of different perspectives on history, politics, culture... so, not all bad. quite a heavy read. i'm glad i read it but i'd most likely not read it again. but great effort by the author, not easy researching and trying to replicate the hippie trail, as evidenced by the book's contents.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful reading although the chapter on the American army base in Afghanistan kind of made this book lose its magic - all too real and all too 2012. I definately need some sort of closure with this book. What happened to Penny and all the other characters? Would love to see a Part II to this book.

[Claire Ralphson-cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really good read that can make you think about the impact of tourism on local populations. Particularly strong in the chapters on Turkey and Afganistan - but then fades away a bit in India.

Well worth a read!

[mano manoj]

back then the earth was unexplored ....the hippie way to travel ...no lonely planet guides no packaged tours...........now everything is so neatly packed it just took the nirvana out of travel...travel is no longer about discovery or exploring...its just another job

[Simon McCrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book slightly disappointing; the premise was interesting but the narrative failed to truly entertain or entice. I've read many of the authors other books, but this one really didn't do it for me.

[Amine Boushaq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiration ❤️

[Eurasiaoverland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would firstly say that I consider MacLean a skilled writer and enjoyed reading this book. MacLean's prose, whilst sometimes a little too poetically florid, certainly sets the theme. I also think that, while it does not perhaps show explicitly, he has researched the Hippe Trail and presents some nice (if most likely fictional) flashbacks through his characters to 'back in the day'.

I was not even born when the Hippie Trail was abruptly ended in 1979, but I have more recently travelled overland through all the countries MacLean visits, in fact I think that my first overland trip, starting from Istanbul in 2003, must have been just a year or so before he made his trip. With this perspective, I was rather disappointed by the book as, beyond his smooth prose, MacLean comes across more as a journalist than a traveller - his travel narrative really lacked depth for me, with seemingly little appreciation on his part for the countries he travels through. One wonders exactly how much of the trip he describes, he actually carried out.

This leads me onto my second major criticism; the obviously fictional elements of his journey. For me this rather spoiled the book at the point he enters Nepal. It reminded me slightly of the feeling when reading 'Shantaram' by Gregory David Roberts (though Robert's novel is far deeper); great story but disappointing that much of it is likely to be untrue. Did MacLean really get into Bagram Air Base? I doubt it. Was Hetty's character at least slightly true? I could not find any founding member of The Grateful Dead (apparently her 'third and best husband') who was named Angus, nor who died in 1979. I liked the meeting with the former Trail driver in Tehran for the insight into the past he brought, though find it very unlikely to be true (nobody chooses to hang around in Tehran), far more likely he interviewed a former driver and made up a character. One does occasionally meet veteran hippies out in India or Nepal - often gaunt, drug addled and in questionable mental health - but these characters were too unlikely.

What I did find very interesting was the meeting with a slightly hostile Geoff Crowther, which one assumes to be true, or it would be faintly libelous, and I think it's a powerful image to finish the book on; the old pioneer of the trail, in guidebook terms a historically important person who made it big but eventually succumbed to the excesses of the 'Trail' way of life.

Overall it was a nice book to read, but it's not a good travelogue, it's not anything like a history of the trail; it's more of half cooked novel.

[Natalia Pì · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good book about the Hippie Trail in the 60's, and the countries it ran through. it is very well-written, and the writer tries to strike a balance between telling stories from the past and retracing that, and trying to understand the countries he is driving through. i think he manages this quite well.

it is interesting to see how, of the countries that were on the trail, some of them - mainly Iran and Afghanistan - basically bear almost no trace at all of the people who passed through them a long time ago.

the writer tries to have a critical approach both when talking to (ex-)travellers from that era, as well as to local people who expose a particularly one-sided view of things, for the good or the bad, and i think this is what makes the book a good read. as someone who likes travelling, i also very much appreciated all the reflections about travel itself, about how we influence the countries we go to by our sole presence, about how guidebooks both promote and condemn a place at the some time.

another thing i liked very much is how vividly you can imagine how being on the trail must have been on both sides.

definitely a recommended read, loved it and read it very quickly!

[Amy Eighttrack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, okay. I was a little disappointed. Truth be told, I was looking for stories of drug-taking and depravity.

It did lead me to further research into the hippie phenomenon, in other books. The result? I was already familiar with most of that stuff! It's been exhaustively documented, championed, mystified and rehashed.

And it led me to one telling anecdote of sexism I found on the internet. It made me wonder how much of that got glossed over. A lot, I suspect. (See: http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com... )

Then there was the amusing anecdote of Allen Ginsberg's participation in a leadership meeting of the hippie communes of NYC in the period-piece (1967) 'The Hippies' by Joe David Brown.

Anyway, what I got from THIS book was - instead - a thoughtful, insightful analysis of the cultural impact the hippies had on the countries along the 'Hippie Trail'; indeed, the wider impact of Western mores on these societies. Fascinating, vital and timely - a lot of this history and perspective would've been lost, without this book. I think it's very good sociological reportage.

My compliments and thanks to the author for having the courage to address this story without rose-colored glasses.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected, and perfectly so. Rory remade the hippie trail relevant by including the stories of the magic in the past, as well as the wonders, sometimes terrible landscapes to experience today. Travelling to India in two months, I am ecstatic to have been gifted this book. I feel free to avoid the everyday travel guides with ritzy restaurants or the 'must-sees', and just truly navigate my way following the path of my curiosity as did the Intrepids in the 60's, of course with caution, knowing the times have changed, as MacLean so accurately relays in this fantastic read.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more than the sum of its parts.
Much more than a re-enactment of the path taken by those first hippies who, map-less and guide-less, traveled thru what was then a friendly and welcoming Middle East to get to eventual 'enlightenment' in India.
Way more philosophical and revelatory than I expected.
The cover leads a prospective reader to anticipate something a bit silly as it retells/relives history...but it's far deeper than the cover implies.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the title (and acid cover) this is certainly not a laid back road trip book. It is really packed with historical and geographic detail, as such I found it really hard work. I really did want to like it as I was using it for research but it never grabbed me and the prose lacked the human touch and insight into fellow travellers I was expecting.

[Ellison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Canadian travel writer aspires to revisit places that people visited in the 1960's as they traveled from Turkey through Iran and Afghanistan on their way to India. Shares people he encounters and local traditions/history while aspiring to see the places people would have visited along the way. Some swearing. Includes B/W photos at the end and a list of travel books to read.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impossible to find but worth it. A great on the road breakdown of the interesection of hippiedom and the Eastern mystique.

[William Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book in the tradition of Paul Theroux, using personal experience - sometimes possibly fantasised - to create a travelogue which explores the West's orientalist fantasies of LSD and guru-fuelled liberation.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Fun, really easy to read and to follow. As well as recounting the story of his journey, the author also gives enough background story and facts to make the book relevant and interesting.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

An Welsh couple gave me this book in a hotel lobby in Delhi. Amusing, but cheesy in the way travel books can be...a good escape from the polluted roads of Kathmandu on the way out of town.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it 3 times. great travel, adventure, history, cultural stories.