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Thanks for your kind comments Bilbo. You have made an ageing hippy happy. As I write this, I should be in the Dam now catching up with those who made it for the 420. Have re-booked for this Wednesday, but whilst some airspace may re-open tomorrow, it ain't looking good.

I could have wrote a load more, you may have noticed that I ended the story rather sharpish when I got to Goa, and there, and afterwards was when the crazy times really began. But I thought if I don't end it and submit it, it would never get posted.

Look forward to a T & T with you sometime. Although I should warn you that many friends have said I talk complete bollocks when I am well stoned! And don't forget, you have the rest of you life ahead of you.
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Don't wear sandals, you can't afford the scandal

Whoa! If you have more memories you wish to share ( or actually remember ) then please do post them up. Espescially since you write/type very well.
As a youngishster, I am quite amazed at the way the world was at one time, a fairly open and relaxed place to travel. Lets be honest, alot of the Places you and the others just like you travelled to, are so out of reach in this super-security-driven world, that it just makes me sad.
Sorry for the ramble
Excellent Report.

Twichaldinho wrote:Whoa! If you have more memories you wish to share ( or actually remember ) then please do post them up. Espescially since you write/type very well.
As a youngishster, I am quite amazed at the way the world was at one time, a fairly open and relaxed place to travel. Lets be honest, alot of the Places you and the others just like you travelled to, are so out of reach in this super-security-driven world, that it just makes me sad.
Sorry for the ramble
Excellent Report.

Thank you Twich, you have inspired me to write more. Despite losing a fair few brain cells on the way, my memory does serve me well. As soon as those ole juices start flowing, I will hack away again
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The pump don't work 'cause the vadals took the handles.

davex4 wrote:

Twichaldinho wrote:Whoa! If you have more memories you wish to share ( or actually remember ) then please do post them up. Espescially since you write/type very well.
As a youngishster, I am quite amazed at the way the world was at one time, a fairly open and relaxed place to travel. Lets be honest, alot of the Places you and the others just like you travelled to, are so out of reach in this super-security-driven world, that it just makes me sad.
Sorry for the ramble
Excellent Report.

Thank you Twich, you have inspired me to write more. Despite losing a fair few brain cells on the way, my memory does serve me well. As soon as those ole juices start flowing, I will hack away again
_______________________
The pump don't work 'cause the vadals took the handles.

I have not been this excited about a write up travel story since Luvtick is over.. hehe.

my dad hitchiked across europe around that time. very cool story.

Wow •_•
What a great story, and a great reading !

Interesting read thanks for sharing Dave

I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I missed out on the 'Magic Bus' overland to India thing and was brought up on tales of it from my folks so again thanx for making the places seem so vivid, nicely told and its got me imagining what it was like back then. I hit India on my own in the very early 80's the minute I left school and there was still a very strong counter-culture feel to places like Arambol in Goa and Poona, the north etc and kashmir before all the political stuff got in the way...you have brought it all back to me and tonight when my youngest goes up to bed I will hit my cheese and ponder these tales..

Really enjoyed reading your post. Hope you dont mind but I wanted to share my own experiences of my first day in India back in 1984 (its a straight copy out of a post I made on another website)


My first experience of India was flying into Bombay in 1984. I was 20 years old and considered myself a seasoned traveller because I had spent six months hitching round Europe and Turkey beforehand.

I hooked up with a couple of Dutch girls off the flight and we managed to get a local bus from the airport to Colaba without any problems. However two minutes into the journey I began to realise how naieve I really was, and started to wonder if I had done the right thing!

The bus trip went alongside a huge slum, and being first thing in the morning, everyone was out squatting by the side of the road emptying their bowels! This was not what I had expected to be my first sight of India!! It was also my first sight of real poverty, and it really shook me.

We got to Colaba as the sun was rising, and everything was shining gold and orange with thousands of pigeons flying around. We found a real cheap hotel in what looked like a quiet street, and crashed out for a couple of hours.

When I woke the quiet street had completely transformed into a really busy market that was overflowing with life. I went out to explore and managed to get instantly adopted by a lovely homeless guy who showed me round the area, and sold me some Keralan grass.

Getting back to the hotel, I lit up a fat joint with the Dutch girls and we then went out into the evening. The grass was absoulute dynamite and we were so stoned we started tripping out, We found ourselves having to navigate our way through thousands and thousands of people who were sat in the road watching a Bollywood movie that was being projected onto a huge sheet strung up across the street. When we finally got to the "screen" we thought we had made it, only to find there were thousands and thousands of people sat on the other side, watching it in reverse!

It seemed like an eternity of tortuously picking our way through a sea of waggling heads! The whole experience was incredibly intense, surreal and unlike anything any of us had experienced before.

I remember that we came across a small petrol station, and we didnt want to leave it because it was the one and only thing that bore any resemblance to a familiar culture. Eventually the effects of the grass began to wear off, and we found the courage to get back to the hotel, and had some fun on the way, sampling all the things that the friendly road-side stalls had to offer.

We got back in the early hours, and I greatfully shut the door to my room and sank into bed exhausted, but relieved to have survived. Two hours later I was woken up by shouts and crashes as the police raided the room next to mine and arrested the two Nigerian guys staying there. Instant paranoia as I still had a large bag of grass!!

However thank god they didnt come crashing through my door, so eventually I got to sleep. The next morning I found out that one of the Dutch girls had already decided that India was not for her, and she had gone back to the airport!

Lord Average wrote:Really enjoyed reading your post. Hope you dont mind but I wanted to share my own experiences of my first day in India back in 1984 (its a straight copy out of a post I made on another website)

Thanks for sharing that Lord A. I enjoyed reading it immensely. Your almost one generation after me, and I guess not too much had changed out there then. You brought back memories to me of Bombay and the hustle and bustle of the place. The cows (sacred to Hindi's) freely roaming the streets and the young girls running up to touch the cows for good luck. The street vendors, guys crushing sugar cane through an old fashioned mangle and catching the juice in a glass, selling it to customers for a few paiswa. So many memories.

Pity the two of us ain't in a Coffeeshop right now reminiscing. We would drive the others nuts - like two old men going on about the war!

Take care mate.

Great reports guys, its so hard to imagine such freedom in this day an age. Look forward to more stories as I am sure you have lots!

I'm glad to see this thread has been bumped. On a website full of fabulous stories, this thread is one of the most captivating. Hope to hear more!

OK B B. wrote part 2 a few weeks ago, but for some reason never posted it. So for better or worse will post it in a new thread in trip reports during/after - Not Amsterdam but India 1968 part 2.
thanxs for the push
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smoke on