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Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India
 
 
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Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India (Paperback)

by Rory MacLean (Author) "My wonder at that first step moves me still, that stride into the unknown, that grasping for stars; the open road before me, the Blue..." (more)
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (5 Jul 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141015950
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141015958
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 33,347 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #33 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > India

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Product Description

Review
'Utterly absorbing; if you read only one travel book this year, this should be it' - Alexander Frater, author of, Chasing the Monsoon 'A disturbing, gripping and intensely passionate story' Esther Freud 'Rory MacLean is one of the most strikingly original and talented travel writers of his generation' - Katie Hickman, author of, Courtesans

Spectator
`The magical beauty of MacLean's prose and the vividness of his
descriptions are . . . mind-blowing'

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
My wonder at that first step moves me still, that stride into the unknown, that grasping for stars; the open road before me, the Blue Mosque at my back, the Beach Boys in my ear. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A new Nicoles Bouvier?, 14 Jul 2007
By Padraigbo (France) - See all my reviews
It is an understatement to say that I have devoured "Magic Bus" !
A Frenchman (so sorry for my broken English !) in my fifties now, the book took me back to my twenties.
In 1973 I made it to Varanasi (then Banaras) with two friends in a battered old Peugeot 404 station wagon in three weeks time. I am still very much influenced by this era, its culture and its extraordinary musical creativity.
I haver rediscovered all that in "Magic Bus" thanks to Rory MacLean who is a travel-writer of the calibre of Nicolas Bouvier.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Time-travelling on the hippie trail, 15 Jul 2006
By R. Thomson "Robin" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India (Hardcover)
Thanks to Rory Maclean the bus still runs, and I was able to catch it a generation and a half after the departure of the original Intrepids to the once-wild East. That East that was the world of dreams for a tired Europe whose kids desparately needed vision and freshness, for whom there was nothing at home that could hold the imagination, and whose parents' lives had been consumed and formed in the horror of war, the collapse of empire, incredible technological changes and the struggle to hang onto something familiar.

Rory Maclean balances the sentiment of the original journeys, thousands of them, gained by a brave attempt to trace their route under very changed, and more dangerous circumstances than they once were, with an updated perspective on the trail as it appears today. Those early travellers were gullible, naive and inexperienced. They were also passionate and committed to a new world of real relations - and of pleasure.

It may be that the passage of those early hippies laid something of the foundations for the present tensions and unhealthy religious and political conditions. Yet this too will pass. Maclean's account, meanwhile, consists in the main of encounters along the way with a brilliant Afghan rug of characters, from the ancient hippie soulmate he meets in Turkey to the Iranian city guide who opens his mind behind closed doors, the Englishman who converted to Islam in Pakistan and created for himself a spiritual path from the land and the people and the ecstasy of the meeting. Old hippies, musicians, their admirers along the way, NGO employees who wished they had been part of it... they are all here. And in each case there is a true encounter, a meeting of minds - surely the purpose of all travel, then and now and henceforth.

For anybody who did not travel on the first trail, this is a superb synthesis of many strands that gives a good picture of how it was. For anybody who has visions of a closer world and a new paradigm for living, this account shows much of what was achieved before, and some of the mistakes, and inspires one to try again. For those who did travel the Trail, I doubt that they will have much to argue with Maclean about.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read, 5 Sep 2006
By Mr. David T. Cooper - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India (Hardcover)
Many books have been written about the sixties, but Rory Macleans "Magic Bus" is the first to my knowledge which describes the journey many thousands of us made in those tumultuous years, overland from Istanbul to Kathmandu. The author retraces the route, describing with accuracy and humour the old haunts that many of us knew so well. From the Pudding Shop in the shadow of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the Amir Kabir in Tehran, the cafes on Chicken Street in Kabul, the magnificient statues of Buddha in Bamyian tragically destroyed by the Taliban, to the dope filled dives of Freak Street in Kathmandu. For me the book brought the memories flooding back as I am sure it would for others familiar with the "hippy trail" But the book is not just for those who made that journey in the sixties and seventies, it's a fascinating travelogue in its own right, a piece of our cultural and social history, and a wonderful description of an era and a journey which will never be repeated in quite the same way. A five star read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good in parts
I found this book very interesting to begin with - the author went into great detail about his earlier locations but towards the end it seemed as if he kind of lost interest and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by jkennedy

5.0 out of 5 stars I missed the bus!
Although I was the right generation, sadly(?) I didn't take the hippie trail in the 60s/70s - nonetheless I really enjoyed this book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by G. E. Harrison

5.0 out of 5 stars A travelogue with a difference
To make a travelogue different from those that have gone before takes talent but to inject a sense of documentary evidence and current reportage takes great skill. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Fiona Stewart

5.0 out of 5 stars Time-travelling on the hippie trail
Thanks to Rory Maclean the bus still runs, and I was able to catch it a generation and a half after the departure of the original Intrepids to the once-wild East. Read more
Published 24 months ago by R. Thomson

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book
Many books have been written about the sixties, but Rory Macleans "Magic
Bus" is the first to my knowledge which describes the journey many thousands of us made in those... Read more
Published on 3 Jul 2007 by Mr. David T. Cooper

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for past, present and future
This book, honest and warm, is powerful in its attention to the small details of human characters that fill us with laughter and with sorrow. Read more
Published on 2 Jul 2007 by Emily Ferenczi

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing together East and West
This book, honest and warm, is powerful in its attention to the small details of human characters that fill us with laughter and with sorrow. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2007 by Emily Ferenczi

5.0 out of 5 stars A new Nicolas Bouvier?
It is an understatement to say that I have devoured "Magic Bus" !
A Frenchman (so sorry for my broken English ! Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2006 by Padraigbo

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Book
This book is beautifully written, extremely well researched and very engaging. It is evident that in researching his book Rory Maclean has recently travelled the hippie trail, and... Read more
Published on 5 Jul 2006 by Mary Francis

5.0 out of 5 stars Groovy Journey ...
A few years ago, Rory Maclean retraced the steps of the Intrepids, adventurous travellers who journeyed from Europe to India in the 1960s and 1970s. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2006 by A Reader

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