Suspected Hippie in Transit: Sex, Drugs, Rock ’n’ Roll, and Search for Higher Consciousness on the International Trail, 1971–1977
By Martin Frumkin ()
(Balsam Press LLC, 399 pages; 2022)
What was it like to backpack along the international hippie trail fifty years ago? Martin Frumkin’s pre-tech, countercultural rucksack romp throughout Asia captures the tumultuous, don’t-give-a-damn attitude of such rebellious, nomadic vagabonds as Marco Polo, Ibn Battalu, and Neal Cassady. Martin “tuned in” and “turned on,” but chose not to “drop out.”
Join him as he treks in Nepal within the glacial Himalaya, hangs with royal freak princes in India, partakes of guiltless debauchery in tropical Goa, and enjoys opium-induced romance with willing maharinis. He compares the silky white sand of Sri Lankan beaches to the gritty deserts and Hindu Kush of Afghanistan and searches for enlightenment within Indian mysticism—all while integrating East and West, God consciousness, the Force, and dark chocolate–covered mescaline.
Not knowing the laws, values, and mores of foreign cultures, nor bound to those at home, Martin experienced an inexplicable, free-floating freedom. Written in journal form, Suspected Hippie in Transit takes you on that unique journey of a lifetime.