The hippie trail (also the overland) was an overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s travelling from Europe and West Asia through South Asia via countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh to Thailand.
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Oh, so that’s why my old history teacher had so many stories about travelling in places like Syria and Afghanistan.
I borrowed this image a few months to explain the meaning of a 60s song. Iirc, it was Kashmir by Led Zeppelin.
I also think this is the “Hippie Trail” referenced in Down Under by Colin Hay / Men at Work.
wp:Down Under (song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(song)
The lyrics to “Down Under” depict an Australian man travelling the globe (specifically mentioning Brussels and Bombay, as well as the hippie trail), meeting people who are interested in his home country. The story is based in part on singer Colin Hay’s own travels abroad, including a prominent reference to a Vegemite sandwich (a popular spread in Australia, which was nowhere to be found in Brussels in that time, whereas the character is supposed to receive a Vegemite sandwich), which derived from an encounter with a tall baker from Brussels who emigrated from Brunswick, Melbourne.[15] Hay has said the lyric was partly inspired by Barry Humphries’ character Barry McKenzie, a comically stereotypical Australian who tours abroad.[18]
😁🙂
🎵 Where women blow and men chunder 🎶
But what if I want to go to Constantinople?
Hypothetical question: if one were to travel this route today, what would be a good passport to hold?
A Singaporean passport is the strongest in the world. It gets you access to 193 countries, so everywhere but NorK or Somalia. Japan, South Korea, and most of the EU are close follow ups, although I don’t know how well Schengen passports would do in either Iran or Afghanistan right now. Probably best not to navigate through Kashmir right now either regardless of where your passport is from.
Interesting question. The two problems with the Hippie Trail today are Iran and Pakistan. So perhaps a Chinese passport. That will get you royal treatment in Pakistan, which is basically a Chinese vassal state. The other problem, Iran, is more complex. The risk there is kidnapping by its rogue government on spying charges, and so the main priority is not to be Western. But I’m guessing that these days nobody in that region, including the Iranians, wants to be on the wrong side of the Chinese.
BTW, as the article says, people do still complete the Hippie Trail. Apart from borders, the main obstacle is Baluchistan, a 600km stretch of desert in western Pakistan. It’s the only way to get to India without going thru Afghanistan, but unfortunately it’s just as infested with jihadists and other insurgents. So the train line is off-limits and the handful of tourists have to travel with police escort the whole distance, sleeping in the fortified police stations. An ordeal that takes a week or so.
I know this because I looked into doing it a couple of years back.
That sounds like a it merits a complicated threat matrix of who hates who, lol
I’m not sure there is one. Maybe China?
India and China have some drama in border areas, but maybe tourism is fine
