A Ticket to South India

On October 16, we visited the Office of the Divisional Commercial Superintendent in India Railway’s Baroda House to buy train tickets for our journey through central and southern India. This building was once the residence of the Maharaja of Baroda. The walls of the office were covered with shelves stacked with binders and piles of papers behind a paper-filled desk sat an official in a white shirt. He looked over the “Letter of Identification” we had received from the Swedish Embassy, which attested that we were “bona fide students.” He then took out a form and began to fill it out on his typewriter.

The result was a Student Concession Voucher that allowed us to travel to the cities we had specified.

New Delhi - Jhansi-Sanchi - Bhopal - Khandwa-Jalgaon (by bus) - Aurangabad - Hyderabad - Bangalore City - Madras Central/ Egmere - Madurai - Rameshwaram - Madras Egmere/ Central - New Delhi.

Read the story of my journey in my new book on Amazon.

After a Week in Srinagar, the Buses Were Parked in New Delhi. We Were on Our Own...

After a week in Srinagar, Kashmir, our buses continued to New Delhi, where they were parked. We now had five weeks to travel on our own. I and my girlfriend decided to explore central and southern India. 

”A Swede on the Hippie Trail" -- soon available as an ebook, paperback and hard cover on Amazon. 

Dal Lake, Srinagar.

Srinagar, Kashmir.

New Delhi.

Stone cutters at the Red Fort, Delhi.

Jama Mashid, Delhi.

Nomads, Kabul, and the Khyber Pass

We drove south-east from #Herat, stopping to visit a camp of #Kochi nomads, who exuded pride and independence. I approached one tent, where a man sat next to his two children. I asked using sign language if I could take a photo. He nodded, reached back and took out his rifle which he placed on his shoulder. After #Kabul, we headed for the #KhyberPass, but were not allowed to cross at night. To dangerous! 

Kochi nomad.

Kochi children.

Dromedary and a Kochi tent.

A typical black goat hair tent.

Proud Kochi nomad

Kabul

The Khyber Pass

Read more in  ”A Swede on the Hippie Trail.” 

Find it on Amazon.

Herat - Love At First Sight

We immediately fell in love with Herat in western Afghanistan. It was truly an oasis after having driven through the arid desert. Read more in A Swede on the Hippie Trail (1974) which in a couple of days will be available on Amazon.com as a richly illustrated ebook, paperback, as well as a hard cover book. 

In Iran, Most People Were Friendly, but We Did Get Stoned In Golestan….

From Istanbul we drove east for a long time, passing Mount Ararat before entering Iran, which then was ruled by the Shah and his secret police. Most people were nice and friendly, but we did get stoned in Golestan…. 

You  can read about it in “A Swede on the Hippie Trail,” which will be available as an ebook, paperback and hard cover on Amazon on September 3rd.

 

In a Thessaloniki Market, the Butchers Warned Us About the Turks...

Having crossed the Alps, we found ourselves in Yugoslavia and then in Greece, where the butchers in Thessaloniki warned us that the Turks would cut our heads off, which fortunately did not happen. Like H.C. Andersen – who visited Istanbul a century before us – we found the Turks friendly and generous. Read more in ”A Swede on the Hippie Trail” which will be available on Amazon.com on September 3.

Read more in ”A Swede on the Hippie Trail” which will be available on Amazon.com on September 3.

The Way We Traveled to India in 1974

We traveled privately with little money and without political or social power. We were not spies, emissaries, traders, scientists, explorers, diplomats, or luxury tourists. We traveled on two old buses to and from India, and while in India, we rode train and local buses.

Each mode of traveling has its pros and cons, whether you walk to India like Thomas Coryat in the 16th century, or travel with caravans like John Mildenhall in the 17th century, or cycle, hitchhike, drive, take a bus, train, plane, or boat. Of course, walking or cycling from Stockholm to New Delhi was possible, but it would have taken a long time and been risky in more ways than one.

The book will be published on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, and an elegant hard cover book.

A Swede on the Hippie Trail - 50 Years Ago

In two weeks, My illustrated book “A Swede on the Hippie Trail” will be published – 50 years after I and 40 other young Swedes stepped onto two old buses that were to take us overland to India. 

The book will be published on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, and an elegant hard cover book.