Hippie trail

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Routes of the Hippie Trail
A 1967 VW Kombi bus decorated with hand-painting of the hippie style
Visiting hippies in Kabul, 1976
Musician Goa Gil in the 2001 film Last Hippie Standing

Hippie trail (also the overland

West Asia through South Asia such as Afghanistan, Pakistan,[3] India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh to Thailand. The hippie trail was a form of alternative tourism, and one of the key elements was travelling as cheaply as possible, mainly to extend the length of time away from home. The term "hippie" became current in the mid-to-late 1960s; "beatnik
" was the previous term from the later 1950s.

In every major stop of the hippie trail, there were hotels, restaurants and cafés for Westerners, who networked with each other as they travelled east and west. The hippies tended to interact more with the local population than traditional sightseers did.[1]

The hippie trail largely ended in the late 1970s primarily due to both the Iranian Revolution resulting in an anti-Western government, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, closing the route to Western travelers.[4][5][1][6]

Routes

Journeys would typically start from cities in western Europe, often

Pakistan-India border at Ganda Singh Wala (or later at Wagah
).

Common destinations in the east included

(then called Ceylon) was sometimes also undertaken.

Kathmandu was usually the terminus of the hippie trail, since

Calcutta) and then continuing on to India and eventually to Europe.[8]

Hippie market in Anjuna, Goa, 2011
Freak Street in Kathmandu, 2009

Beyond the major route, Jimi Hendrix also popularized Essaouira as a hippie destination in Morocco.[7][9]

Methods of travel

To keep costs low, journeys were carried out by hitchhiking, or cheap, private buses that travelled the route.[10] There were also trains that travelled part of the way, particularly across Eastern Europe through Turkey (with a ferry connection across Lake Van) and to Tehran or east to Mashhad, Iran. From these cities, public or private transportation could then be obtained for the remainder of the trip. The bulk of travellers were Western Europeans, North Americans, Australians, and Japanese. Ideas and experiences were exchanged in well-known hostels, hotels, and other gathering spots along the way, such as Yener's Café and The Pudding Shop in Istanbul, Sigi's on Chicken Street in Kabul or the Amir Kabir in Tehran. Many used backpacks and, while the majority were young, older people and families occasionally travelled the route. A number drove the entire distance.

Decline of the trail

The hippie trail came to an end in the late 1970s with political changes in previously hospitable countries. In 1979, both the

military dictatorship in Pakistan (1977) that banned many hippie attractions.[11]

In the Middle Eastern route, the Yom Kippur War in 1973 also put in place strict visa restrictions for Western citizens in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil War had already broken out in 1975.[1] Richard Nixon started a drug war which also included cannabis. Due to the constant pressure from USA, in 1976 Nepal enacted Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act prohibiting the trade, farming or any kind of cannabis activities in the country.[12][13]

Locals also became increasingly wary of Western travellers – notably in the region between

cannabis.[14]

Travel organizers Sundowners and

Balochistan. Topdeck continued its trips throughout the Iran–Iraq War
and later conflicts, but took its last trip in 1998.

From the mid 2000s, the route has again become somewhat feasible, but continuing conflict and tensions in Iraq and Afghanistan mean the route is much more difficult and risky to negotiate than in its heyday. In September 2007, Ozbus embarked upon a short-lived service between London and Sydney over the route of the hippie trail,[15] and commercial trips were offered in 2010 between Europe and Asia, bypassing Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, by going through Nepal and China to the old Silk Road.[16]

Guides and travelogues

The

chicken buses, third-class trains and long-distance trucks. They crossed Pakistan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and arrived nine months later in Sydney with a combined 27 cents in their pockets.[8]

Rory Maclean — also retrace the original hippie trail.[19][20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "A Brief History of the Hippie Trail". Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. ^ Ireland, Brian. "Touch the Sky: the Hippie Trail and other forms of alternative tourism". Archived from the original on 7 June 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "The Lonely Planet Journey: The Hippie Trail". Independent. 5 November 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b Kurzman, Charles, The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran, Harvard University Press, 2004, p.111
  5. ^ "The Hippie Trail: See how Lonely Planet was born". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b Maclean, Rory (13 August 2007). "Legacy of the hippie trail". the Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Day, Meagan (20 October 2016). "The 1970s Hippie Trail: drugs, danger, and a magical pudding shop in Asia". Timeline. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  8. ^ a b Across Asia on the Cheap 2013-03-19 blog.waterstones.com
  9. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  10. ^ "The Lonely Planet Journey: The Hippie Trail". Independent. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Photos of a forgotten Pakistan: Hippies in Lollywood, suave bands in Karachi nightclubs". scroll.in.
  12. ^ diwakar (25 May 2021). "Narcotics law in Nepal: Everything you need to know about - OnlineKhabar English News". Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  13. ^ Mahat, Sunny. "How the ban came about andhow long it will stay in place". The Annapurna Express. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  14. . Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  15. ^ Sethi, Anita (10 December 2007). "End of the road for the OzBus after 84 days of mishaps and mayhem". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. ^ "Overland Tours - Overlanding Expeditions - Overland Adventure Holidays". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  17. ^ "Before Lonely Planet there was the BIT Guides". crowthercollective.org/Ashley Crowther. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  18. ^ Page 302
  19. ^ "The Wrong Way Home". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  20. ^ Magic Bus Archived 17 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading