Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India

There's no denying that the stoned rovers were present at the beginning of a cataclysmic period in history, whose legacy Magic Bus describes in exquisite detail.--The New York Times Book Review

MacLean's ardent eye for detail is lovely, as is the way he sets his more visually descriptive prose against the sturdier explanations of the names and places in his travels....His prose is guided by an informed curiosity about what the trail must have been like 40 years ago and how a Western presence there has contributed to its present state.--Boston Globe

Most impressively, MacLean has a genuine understanding of the mystical and spiritual elements at play. His engaging traveler's voice and descriptive gifts offer a wholly different view of the tortured region from what is currently available via the mainstream media.--Foreword Magazine

MacLean does a fine job finding journalists and local people who remember

the hippies and their impact on both the economy and the sensibility of the places they passed through...Travelers of all kinds, including the armchair variety, will relish the work and love MacLean has put into his latest.--Publisher's Weekly

MacLean's vivid writing shows how much the Hippie Trail changed not only the way we travel, but also the places it passed through and the people who traveled on it.--Utne

A magic journey--lyrical, sympathetic, but gently skeptical.--Colin Thubron

An exciting and lively account of how the ideals of Kerouac metamorphosed into

back-packer travel: organized by Lonely Planet guides, fed with banana pancakes, and connected by hotmail from Peru to Phnom Penh.--Rory Stewart

In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of young westerners in search of enlightenment blazed the hippie trail that ran through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. Forty years later, Rory MacLean revisits the trail, where he encounters the tie-dyed veterans who never made it home, meets locals reaping the rewards and regrets of westernization, and crashes up against Taliban fighters and Islamic extremism, which has turned the hippie trail into a path of dust and danger.

"Travel writer MacLean (Stalin's Nose, Falling for Icarus) retraces the infamous hippie trail trod by fun seekers, drug seekers and seekers of fulfillment and enlightenment in the 1960s and '70s, when Afghanistan was unknown except maybe to readers of Kipling, the Shah ruled Iran and the Khyber Pass was, well, passable. Dubbing these travelers 'The Intrepids', MacLean tracks the history of the trail. Starting out in Istanbul, MacLean meets Penny, one of the original travelers, who, pushing seventy, is still floating about the east in beads and feathers, spewing memories of her sex life and speaking of karma. MacLean does a fine job finding journalists and local people who remember the hippies and their impact on both the economy and the sensibility of the places they passed through. His sometimes romantic vision of the seekers aside, MacLean makes a sincere effort to understand why the trip was so seductive and important historically. Interactions with people along the way and his references to the music of the trail are delightful, and while the writing can seem overly sentimental in the early pages, MacLean hits his stride quickly; making his way through dangerous and hostile Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan brings out his finest writing. Travelers of all kinds, including the armchair variety, will relish the work and love MacLean has put into his latest." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The famous hippie trail--forty years later!

“A magic journey—lyrical, sympathetic, but gently skeptical.”—Colin Thubron

“An exciting and lively account of how the ideals of Kerouac metamorphosed into back-packer travel: organized by Lonely Planet guides, fed with banana pancakes, and connected by hotmail from Peru to Phnom Penh.”—Rory Stewart

In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of young westerners in search of enlightenment blazed the “hippie trail” that ran through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. Forty years later, Rory MacLean revisits the trail, where he encounters the tie-dyed veterans who never made it home, meets locals reaping the rewards and regrets of westernization, and crashes up against Taliban fighters and Islamic extremism, which has turned the hippie trail into a path of dust and danger.

Rory MacLean’s books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Rory MacLean is the a leading travel writer, and author of five books, including Stalin's Nose and Falling for Icarus. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the Executive Committee of English PEN, Rory's work has been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.