On the Hippie Trail: going home


On my way home a number of peculiar incidents occured:

Wildbunch
A bunch of 'hippies' in the no man's land between Afghanistan and Iran, waiting to get access to the Iranian quarantine camp (1968). After an outbreak of cholera in Pakistan, the Iranian authorities closed the border. Weeks later, rumour reached Kabul that a quarantine camp had been opened. We moved to the Afghan-Iranian border, where a huge crowd was gathering. Unfortunately, the camp's capacity was rather limited. This meant endless waiting and chaotic scenes in the no man's land. After five days they finally let us in. Our group included a variety of nationalities: American, British, Dutch, German, French and Swiss. Some of these guys were my companions on the way home.



flooded highway
The bus between Mashhad and Tehran ran into a flooded highway. It took a while before we could get across.


Swiss truck in Turkey
This Swiss truck - driving in convoy - gave us a ride from the Iranian-Turkish border to Istanbul. On the road at night, our driver noticed that one of his collegues had lost his trailer ("Du hast deinen Anhänger verloren!"). So, in the middle of the night, the unfortunate driver had to turn back, looking for his trailer and praying that the stray waggon had not caused a serious accident. He was lucky to find his trailer alongside the road, without having inflicted any damage.


train in Yugoslavia
The train from Istanbul to Munich, somewhere between Belgrade and Zagreb. The Yugoslavian police took me away for taking this picture. Railways were considered a strategic object, the photographing of which was strictly forbidden. While the train was about to leave - with my rucksack, but without me - I managed to talk my way out of this precarious situation and - hailed by my fellow passengers - jumped on the train just in time.

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© Hans Roodenburg (The Netherlands), 2006
hansroodenburg.nl

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