RE: Unicycling adventure in the Bhutanese Himalayas
> > This is the first time that unicycles have ever been to
> > Bhutan,
Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but how do you know this? The person who told
it to you probably never saw one before, but unicycles have been around for
a long time. I have to assume unicycles have been there before, at least in
the form of entertainment, in circuses or whatever. Unless Bhutan doesn’t
import entertainment.
Walter Nilsson, a professional performer in the 1930s and 40s had pictures
taken of himself riding his unicycle in strange places all over the world,
such as on the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall, etc. Odds are he never
went to Bhutan, but others may have.
Don’t get me wrong. I have no doubt that you and Nathan were the first
people ever to bring unicycles to Bhutan and do what you did with them. My
guess would be that anyone previous was most likely a performer.
In 1990 when Greg Milstein and I performed at the Riga Circus in Riga,
Latvia, we were told we were the first Americans to ever perform there
officially, as Americans. Since their building had recently celebrated its
100th birthday, we thought this was really cool. And relatively believable,
because the Soviet circus system was good enough to not need to import
performers.
But I remember finding out a few years later about some other performers who
went there in the 80s and were told the same thing… it makes for great
press! Greg and I got our pictures in the Soviet Youth newspaper (it was
part of an international youth circus festival), holding up a big American
flag!
http://www.unicycling.com/cgi-bin/genin.pl?=pictext/cccp.txt,8
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
“Vehicularly-Injured Sperm-Count seat: better known by it’s abbreviated
name, Viscount.” David Stone, on saddle preference